Sydney College of the Arts proudly presents:
Ontologías y Códices
Artist: David Corbet
Curated by: Dr. Michael Goldberg
When: 22 Sep – 29 Oct 2015
Where: Fisher Library F03, Levels 1,2 and 3
“This exhibition is inspired by my adventures in the worlds of hispanic literature, poetry, song and art-making. Drawing from diverse sources, it is a personal homage to the vitality and richness of the worldwide cultures expressed and celebrated predominantly in the Spanish language – la lengua española. Such an assemblage constitutes, in a sense, a series of indices or, in a library context, codices. Among the random we seek order and likeness, we may find seriality and continuity of meaning. My studio practice and research into language systems has pursued this notion of seriality, subtitling an earlier exhibition ‘Ontologies for a small planet’. Among these disparate references my own studio work is interspersed, largely on paper, ranging from etchings and drawings to notebooks and notations.” – David Corbet
The exhibition is made up of three parts:
Level 1
“Entre irse y quedarse”
(English: “Between going and staying”)This display is inspired by the text of a poem by the late Mexican Nobel Laureate Ocavio Paz, and the late Catalan printmaker Antoni Tàpies.
Level 2
“Las vidas de otros”
(English: “The lives of others”)This display is a collection of works, books and objects obliquely exploring our human power relationship with animals, through ontologies of classification, patterning and adornment.
Level 3
“La lotería de la existencia”
(English: “The lottery of existence”)This display celebrates ontologies of chance, of religion and mysticism, and of altar-making. It explores how objects can become imbued with ritualised power through their organisation, and transformations of meaning brought about by context.