Relay to Spark Interest at City’s Gallery

The exhibition, Relay, will show the outcome of Mr Gamblen’s work from having been an artist-in-residence at the Wireless Hill Telecommunications Museum in Ardross in 2009. This is in the lead-up to the celebrations for the museum’s centenary in 2012. The artist has also been selected on the basis of this work to be one of the featured artists for this year’s Perth International Arts Festival.

Relay will be on from Saturday, 13 March to Sunday, 18 April 2010. It takes its name from the electromechanical switch – invented early in the history of electronics – that was first used in long-distance telegraph circuits. Relay also refers to ‘relaying information’ – a reference to communication in general. Most of Mr Gamblen’s work is generally kinetic in form and involves the use of various mechanisms and electronics.

Curator Soula Veyradier said – drawing from Wireless Hill Telecommunications Museum’s unique collection as a starting point – the exhibition would explore ideas related to a whole range of technologies. “Relay will investigate the notion of communication from both a scientific and social point of view,” she said. “By stimulating the curiosity of the viewer, the artwork will give an understanding of some of the basic aspects of wireless communication and associated technologies.”

The artist, who was born in the UK and spent his formative years in Canada, has extensive experience in exhibitions both locally and overseas, including in New York, Moscow, Spain, and Austria. His work is represented in numerous collections and he is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia (UWA).

Mr Gamblen said the works in Relay utilised unseen forces of nature in order to realise their potential. “Radio waves and magnetic fields are harnessed; they are then modified, shaped and (metaphorically) sculpted to produce a series of artworks that through combinations of various materials are visually and conceptually evocative,” he said.

The artist explained that while the origin of radio was the starting point for much of the work in the show, the exhibition as a whole attempted to reach further and explore broader areas of communication in society.

“The human need to communicate with one another is fundamental to our existence and this often happens in unexpected and quirky ways. The works have certain oddities that reflect on the eccentric and compulsive side of human nature. A spark is representative of an initial idea or starting point and is also a symbol of innovation. Using the spark as a motif, the exhibition explores the core essence of what technology is and what it means to us,” he said.

Relay will be opened by the UWA-based SymbioticA’s Director Oron Catts on Friday, 12 March at 6.00pm. Heathcote Museum and Gallery is on Duncraig Road, in Applecross. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 10.00am to 3.00pm, and weekends from 11.00am to 3.00pm. For more information, call the gallery on (08) 9364 5666. 

*Short Term Artist Residency