by Abhi Parasher
“I’ve had some sort of ecological message in my last few works,” Smith tells us prior to the launch of the Art Gallery’s Volume: A Festival of Sound and Vision. “For example, in the last film I made, I disassembled a Blackmagic camera and did a mineral analysis on it to see where everything comes from in a camera. I wanted to explore this idea of extraction and taking stuff out of the earth for whatever purpose, whether it is filmmaking or gas.”
Smith has previously worked with the Art Gallery on an online piece during the COVID-19 pandemic. With A Concave Space, he was able to explore his art in a more physical way.
“I actually worked with the Art Gallery on an online work with similar collaborators,” Smith says. “With this one, because we are in a physical space, I really wanted the sound to encapsulate you. If we think of this piece as a culmination of video, sound, and lighting, it’s that sound that really grounds the audience in the space, because it really does feel like the sound is coming from the tank. The subject matter is intense, so I wanted the sound to push that emotional and physical response to it.”
Featuring April Lin 林森 as an eerie sci-fi avatar, A Concave Space explores the tank’s history as a World War II oil bunker in light of the fossil-fuelled environmental crisis. Reaching out through vegetal eyes, the multi-vocal narrator makes kin with microbes and mycelial membranes, streams and soils.
“April plays this conceptual entity that is coming to us humans to deliver a message about our treatment of the planet,” Smith says. “The key thing for me was this idea of interconnectedness, meaning that we are not separated from the earth like people seem to think we are. The idea that we are not a part of the system can make us quite passive with our relationship to the earth, which can be quite destructive, so this film is asking people to be a little more active in their connection with the planet.”
Although his work has an upfront message, the audience’s response is far from Smith’s focus for good reason.
“You can never predict people’s response to anything. Especially in a piece like this, that is so confronting, both in terms of message and the senses. Everyone is going to have a different response to it. I think what matters most, and what people can pick up on easier, is the artist’s intent, so that is what I focus on.”
Luckily, Smith has a trusted group of collaborators who can expand on his intent to create an all-encapsulating experience that packs a punch.
“This is the second work me and Ama [Josephine Budge, British–Ghanaian speculative writer, artist, curator and pleasure activist] have worked on together and so we’ve developed this really seamless collaboration,” Smith shares. “Much of the idea and story comes out of this joint conversation between us. Ama comes to me and talks about ideas she wants to speak about, while I bring back shooting locations and rushes, so we both sort of inspire each other and move forward together. She is writing to what I am shooting, and then I am re-shooting to what she is writing.”
A Concave Space is open now until October 5, as part of the Art Gallery of NSW’s Volume: A Festival of Sound and Vision.
