Wish You Were Here Too (2022)

Wish You Were Here Too (2022)

22 July — 25 August 2022

Outerspace

Outer Face is an iteration of Outer Space’s digital projection public art program, on display across the building façade of Judith Wright Arts Centre.

Curated by Alice Rezende

Wish You Were Here Too (2022) is a reimagining of Kellie O’Dempsey’s exhibition Wish You Were Here (2021), displayed at Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland, in 2021, and NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, in 2022. In this façade-specific iteration, readymade collages constructed from billboard poster strips – which O’Dempsey has been collecting for years – appear mountain-like and menacing. Meanwhile, a rendition of ghostly silhouettes of the artist hold their balance precariously, their movements softened by a stack of echoing frames. Nearby, mechanical-like fish with giant eyeballs for bodies float by without a care in the world. Taken together, these minutely considered elements allude to O’Dempsey’s similarly complex inner world. They are reflections on the balancing act of holding space for family, which O’Dempsey has experienced as the primary carer of a sick and elderly parent: “For me, the unknowable and surreal landscape of transitioning from daughter to [the] parent of my parent is one of endurance” (1). Conscious of not falling over, O’Dempsey’s senses seem heightened to the “rocky landscape that is contemporary living,” one that she likens to an absurd abyss, or a “post-Covid treadmill” (2). Yet the artist understands the need to forge ahead into a “psychedelic continuum” (1): a rhythm beyond linear time. I imagine that for O’Dempsey, this room of one’s own, this rich euphoric world, lies very presently within.

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Notes
(1) Wish You Were Here exhibition excerpt, courtesy of the artist.
(2) O’Dempsey, Kellie. ‘Re: Final video - Kellie O'Dempsey’. Email, 2022.

Photographer: Louis Lim

Queensland Regional Art Award 2022

The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The program aims to provide a platform for further professional development.

The 2022 QRAA explored the concept of ‘Reframe’, calling artists to enter work which drew upon experiences and observations, reflecting upon the past year or two and responding to our changing world.

‘Reframe’ is an opportunity to see our current situation from a different perspective, to inspire problem solving and decision making and apply learning, whilst constructively responding, shifting and evolving.

2023 TOURING EXHIBITION LOCATIONS

Mulga Lands Gallery, Charleville – 29 March to 29 April 2023

Longreach Community Library, Longreach – 17 May to 28 May 2023

Bushmans Art Gallery, Blackall – 15 June to 2 July 2023

Coalface Art Gallery, Moranbah – 26 July to 13 August 2023

Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, Cairns – 1 September to 24 September 2023

Goondiwindi Regional Civic Centre Gallery, Goondiwindi– 25 October to 28 November 2023

REFRAME

In 2022, the QRAA is an invitation to explore the concept of ‘Reframe’, calling artists to enter work which draws upon experiences and observations. It is a cause to reflect upon the past year or two and respond to our changing world. 

‘Reframe’ is an opportunity to see our current situation from a different perspective. It inspires problem solving, decision making and learning, whilst constructively responding, shifting and evolving.

2022 QUEENSLAND REGIONAL ART AWARDS JUDGING PANEL

Aven Noah Jr., Curator, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Bulmba-ja Arts Centre, Cairns.
Rebecca McDuff, Gallery Director, Bundaberg Regional Galleries, Bundaberg.
Elisabeth Findlay, Director, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.
Hamish Sawyer, Independent curator and writer, Brisbane.

WISH YOU WERE HERE 1

Artist: Kellie O’Dempsey
Artist Location: Coolum Beach
Medium: mixed media collage and projection, 2021
Dimensions: 120 x 0 x 120 cm

Wish You Were Here 1 began as a re-imagining of post-pandemic life. Here, the uncanny collides with the uncertain. In search of progress a figure attempts to travel yet goes nowhere. Wish You Were Here 1 is a moving drawing of collaged works on paper with projection. Using repetitive rhythm and monotonous loops in a non-specific location and an unspecified time, this works blends the physical and the psychological for a moment of hypnotic and absurdity in an attempt to find balance in an uncertain world.

Photographer: Kellie O’Dempsey

Wish You Were Here: Northsite

Wish You Were Here

23 APRIL — 11 JUNE 2022

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Northsite Contemporary Art Space, Cairns, Queensland

NorthSite  Gallery 1

An immersive installation of collaged works using paper, projected animation, sound and Augmented Reality (AR) that transports the viewer into an uncertain landscape. 

Created throughout the early days of the pandemic in 2020 and refined in 2022 during post-covid living, Wish You Were Here began as a response to lockdowns and has continued to develop with transforming elements of humour and oddity. In this site-specific installation, uncanny household objects collide with uncertain landscapes. In search of progress, multiple figures attempt to travel, yet go nowhere in this oddball world. Their figurative and abstract forms gently smash together as we all fumble for connection. 

Through repetitive rhythm, monotonous loops, neon lights, Augmented Reality objects in non-specific locations and an unspecified time, Wish You Were Here blends the physical and the psychological for a moment of hypnotic but joyful reprieve.

Sound by Mick Dick and AR by Helena Papageorgiou.

SCCA Sunday Coaster: Hearing Line Seeing Sound

Hearing Line Seeing Sound

March 30th 2022

Kellie O’dempsey with sound artist Mick Dick Live drawing and sound performance in the Bunker at the Eumundi Hotel for the Sunshine Coast Arts Alliance Program Suncoaster.

Many years ago, I was at a talk by the German film director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Paris Texas, Pina and so on). He spoke about film as an amalgam of sound and vision. Of course, I immediately recalled David Bowies’ song from the Low Album Sound and Vision. 

            “Blue, Blue electric blue that’s the colour of my room…. Waiting for the gift of sound and vision.” 

From memory (which is not my best attribute) Wim Wenders went on to say that when sound and vision occur together, a 3rd sensory experience happens. A sense of wonder—a phenomenon where the audience can be transported.   

This is called multisensory integration where simultaneously experienced sensory modalities become a single multisensory perception. Since humans are animals, we use sight, touch, taste and so on to affect how we make meaning and perceive our experiences in the world. 

Operating as a shared experience, Hearing Line Seeing Sound is a moment in Kellie and Mick’s ongoing exploration of sound and vision as a collaborative improvised performance of line and tune. Simultaneously Kellie’s line drawings of light are site generated in direct conversation with Mick’s evolving tonal audio. They attempt to enter together as they trace their location at the intersection of drawing and audio sound and vision. 

Kellie and Mick collaborate in developing site-generated improvised performances that attempt to transfix as they trace their location at the intersection of line and audio, sound and vision. Performances include MONA FOMA, Biennale of Sydney, White Night Melbourne, National Gallery of Australia and Museum of Brisbane. 

Photographer: Timothy Birch

Presented by

What did you say 2022: Orange Regional Gallery

Artist Kellie O’Dempsey , Sound Mick Dick , AR Animations Helena Papageorgiou

Kellie O ’Dempsey’s What did you say? 
Robertson Park, Orange NSW
Thursday 20 – Sunday 30 October 2022. 

This interactive installation was a part of Orange City Council’s Future City Public Art Project. 

Microscopic pores called stomata cover the surface of leaves to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. The word ‘stomata’ comes from the Greek word ‘stoma’ meaning ‘mouth’. What did you say? reimagines a tree’s stomata as the mouth through which the planet breathes. Viewers are asked to listen and engage in deep breathing, to be present in the moment and to connect, consider and rest. Using augmented reality, projected imagery and a soundscape of breathing, the artwork responds to our strange and ever-shifting social and environmental climate. 

What did you say? is a free Future City Public Art installation funded by the NSW Government and Orange City Council.

Videographer: Madli Duff – Nomad Collective
Photography: Mitch Duff – Nomad Collective

What did you say 2022: Horizon Festival

What did you say 2022

Fri 26 Aug | 5.30–9pm
Sat 27 Aug — Sat 3 Sep | 5–9pm

Wonderland Spiegeltent, Cotton Tree Park, Maroochydore | Kabi Kabi Country

What did you say? reimagines a tree’s stomata as the mouth through which the planet breathes. The use of video and sound causes the mouth to breathe via animation and augmented reality. 

What did you say? responds to the strange shifting social and environmental climate. Some mouths breathe with ease; others struggle to catch their breath; a silent few are deathly still. Viewers are asked to both listen and engage in deep and conscious breathing, to be present in the moment and to connect, consider and breathe.  

What did you say? Was projected onto the trees around the gardens of The Wonderland Spiegeltent garden each night. 

Creative team:

• Projection: Kellie O’ Dempsey

• Sound: Michael Dick (sound)

• Augmented Reality: Helena Papageorgiou