Stony Rises Project -- part of the Affective Atlas

Over the past year, I've been involved in the Affective Atlas project by RMIT. We've travelled all over the remarkable country, met people, conceptualised artworks and texts that will be exhibited across Victoria in 2010. We've found all kinds of assets and sentiments invested across this country that Thomas Mitchell called 'Australia Felix' and that indigenous people have settled and engineered for thousands of years.

Here's the basic blurb:

Summary

The Stony Rises Project brings together a group of designers and artists to respond to the particular landscape of the Western District of Victoria. The project comprises a number of different activities and outcomes; a four day residential artist camp in April 2009; the creation of new artworks by the artists and designers; a 90 page colour catalogue and a touring exhibition in 2010 and 2011.

Origins

The origins of this project lie in the intersection of two areas of interest for curators Harriet Edquist and Laurene Vaughan - the European settlement of the Western District of Victoria, in particular the homestead and associated designed landscapes, and the extensive network of dry-stone walls and the stories of translation and migration that they tell. Developed over the past year during excursions into the District for preliminary research and comparative study in Devon and Cornwall, as well as in conference papers, the project has grown into a multi-faceted event with strong community involvement.

Collaborators in the Stony Rises Project

Winda Mara Land Council at Heywood Corangamite Arts Dry Stone Wall Association: Secretary Andrew Miller and stone waller Alistair Tune Local property owners with significant dry stone walls and geological sites and the galleries to which the exhibition will be touring: Neil Black and Josie Black ('Noorat') Jason Ritchie ('Blackwood') Edward Manifold and Marion Manifold ('Wiridgil') Ann Magilton and Max Magilton ('Purrumbete') Fiona Morris and Alun Morris (Gnotuk) RMIT University www.rmit.edu.au RMIT Design Research Institute www.rmit.edu.au/research/institutes/design NETS Victoria www.netsaustralia.org.au RMIT Gallery www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery Art Gallery of Ballarat www.balgal.com Horsham Art Gallery www.horshamartgallery.com.au Warnambool Art Gallery www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au Riddoch Art Gallery (S.A.) www.riddochartgallery.org.au Corangamite Arts corangamitearts.com Dry Stone Wall Association www.dswaa.org.au Glenelg Shire Council www.glenelg.vic.gov.au Corangamite Shire Council www.corangamite.vic.gov.au Built on an extensive consultative process carried out on frequent research trips to the District during 2008, the Stony Rises Project actively sought the engagement of community groups, galleries and individuals in the region. These include the Winda Mara Land Council at Heywood, Corangamite Arts, Dry Stone Wall Association Secretary Andrew Miller and stone waller Alistair Tune, Neil Black and Josie Black ('Noorat'), Jason Ritchie ('Blackwood'), Edward Manifold and Marion Manifold ('Wiridgil'), Ann Magilton and Max Magilton ('Purrumbete'), Fiona Morris and Alun Morris (Gnotuk), numerous local property owners with significant dry stone walls and geological sites and the galleries to which the exhibition will be touring.