Uprise 2019
4 channel projection installation
with sound by Michele Vescio
In UPRISE we
see every drop, every swell, and watch the peaks crashing and colliding with
the walls of the gallery. The water subsumes everything with an intensity that
is frightening and makes clear that our current way of life is unsustainable.
While we cannot stop the oceans from going where they will, we can choose to
plan and design our cities and our resource consumption to adapt to the rising
seas. By immersing us in this speculative deluge, UPRISE makes palpable the
urgent need for action and insists we pay heed before our window of opportunity
is washed away.
As the digital tidal wave of UPRISE engulfs the gallery, the terrifying power of water overwhelms and suffocates; it is an all–consuming, visceral reminder of the very real —unavoidable — threat of rising seas. Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, mostly in seas and oceans. With increasing temperatures, water expands and the ice sheets on the north and south poles melt.
Even if we manage to slow the rate of global warming, the seas will continue to rise — and sea level rise is increasing.
If it continues at the current rate we will see an average rise of 65cm by 2100, and it’s predicted that sea level rise will be higher off the southeast coast of Australia than the global average. Current predictions are that an estimated 275million people are now living in areas that will be flooded by 2100. Coastal communities and island nations are under threat, and when the water comes there are no safe places: it floods streets, houses, schools and subways.
-Emma McRae 2019 Shifting Surrounds, Speculative Futures Catalogue
As the digital tidal wave of UPRISE engulfs the gallery, the terrifying power of water overwhelms and suffocates; it is an all–consuming, visceral reminder of the very real —unavoidable — threat of rising seas. Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, mostly in seas and oceans. With increasing temperatures, water expands and the ice sheets on the north and south poles melt.
Even if we manage to slow the rate of global warming, the seas will continue to rise — and sea level rise is increasing.
If it continues at the current rate we will see an average rise of 65cm by 2100, and it’s predicted that sea level rise will be higher off the southeast coast of Australia than the global average. Current predictions are that an estimated 275million people are now living in areas that will be flooded by 2100. Coastal communities and island nations are under threat, and when the water comes there are no safe places: it floods streets, houses, schools and subways.
-Emma McRae 2019 Shifting Surrounds, Speculative Futures Catalogue
For Drift Festival 2022 UPRISE is located within the Foul Luggage Room, Quarantine Station at Point Nepean National Park.
This event is proudly supported by The Centre for Projection Art.
O_C_E_A_N, a multidisciplinary project encompassing contemporary art, story and spiritual practice across a series of iconic, unique and hidden locations around the Peninsula. Developed by Shoreham based artist and curator Janenne Willis, O_C_E_A_N explores and pays homage to the transformative nature of our water environments.