In some cultures, it is not just humans who carry a spirit or soul. Objects too can maintain such qualities. In November 2019, one-hundred-and-four stowaways, simplistic Russian educational robots, boarded a container ship in the Chinese port city of Shantou. For three weeks they sat in darkness, their only certainty a variable state of undulation and a dull hum of engines pushing through water. Arriving without purpose and alienated from their intended use and country of destination, they find themselves exposed to a tropical storm outside a warehouse in Rocklea, Australia. Four years slowly pass, their bodies trapped in the stasis of storage, their sense of purpose still unclear, until now. Unpacked, devolved and unbounded, their constituent parts begin to imagine new uses and possible futures. In their de-evolution comes a new order, an unimagined sense of becoming, and in turn, purpose.
Heinz Riegler, born in Vienna in 1969, is an artist based in South East Queensland. He works in sound art, installation and performance. Since 1989, Riegler has been releasing musical works with various imprints such as Room40 and many others – and has performed in Great Britain, Australia, the USA, Europe and Japan. Riegler works alone as well as in frequent cooperation with artists from a variety of disciplines. He co-founded minus20degree, a biennial art and architecture exhibition in Flachau, Austria, and acted as its Artistic Co-Director from 2012-2018.
Opening Event: Saturday, 12 of August, 11am: Artist talk with Heinz Riegler
Image: Found Objects, various plastics, adhesive tape, cable ties.
