11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

NOTE 1 University of Queensland, ‘The 2023 Threatened Bird Index’, November 2023, Threatened Species Index , <tsx.org.au/visualising-the-index/ the-2023-threatened-bird-index/>, viewed July 2024. BORN 1984, GADIGAL/SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA LIVES+WORKS INHONGKONG Birds twitter to one another across the gallery’s interstitial spaces. It is unusual to hear sounds of the natural world in the art museum, which is designed to control humidity, temperature, dust and insects to keep works safe from environmental changes and the effects of time. Although it sounds like wayward birds have made their way inside, on closer inspection it becomes apparent that the tunes are coming from ceramic water whistles in the shape of birds. This is Bird Song 2024 by Tully Arnot. This installation is informed by Arnot’s interest in mediated relations between humans and nature. The birdsongs are in fact lines of code, translated into sound by electronics and air pumps. The artificial and the natural, and the inanimate object and its performance are intertwined in Bird Song . The artist’s synthetised birds are perched on eucalypt branches above walkways, under stairs and on the side of structural columns around the gallery. The manufactured context of the museum is heightened by these natural wooden sticks fixed directly into its white plaster walls. The work presents an uncanny combination of a mass-produced, artificial setting and the natural world. TULLYARNOT Arnot’s interest in water whistles developed during a 2019 residency in Mexico City. Water whistles date back to the Chorrera culture (c.1300–300 BCE), from the area extending across what is now known as Ecuador, to Peru and up to Mexico. It remains unclear if these instruments were originally created for ritual practice or solely for amusement and fascination. Most ancient water whistles in museum collections are left silent due to concerns that their structural integrity will be compromised if water and air pressure are used to animate them. In an aim to preserve these objects, therefore, they are alienated from their maker’s intentions. In the age of mass production, bird whistles became a ubiquitous children’s toy around the world. Many people, including Arnot, have a nostalgic connection to the object that bears little connection to its Chorrera origins. Arnot’s development of Bird Song was further enhanced by a trip to the biodiverse Gamboa, Panama, for a conference with field biologists, designers, engineers and artists. He was taken by the way scientists were using technology to mimic and attract animals and plants in natural settings for observation purposes, compromising the idea of objective observation of nature in order to gain more data. Referencing this point of inspiration, Bird Song encourages museum visitors to observe techniques of mimicry and the deployment of technology, in not only the gallery but also the world at large. A dystopian allusion enters the mind when you first realise the ornithological sounds of Bird Song are in fact artificial. The work forewarns of an age of mass extinction when we can only access wildlife through the museum context. Across Australia, populations of threatened and near-threatened bird species have declined by an average of 60 per cent over the past 40 years, with some of the largest declines taking place in the state of Queensland. 1 While such statistics are a sobering reminder of the environmental devastation humans are causing, Arnot hopes that the dispiriting notion of needing to artificially replicate nature might conjure greater support for conservation efforts. ELLIE BUTTROSE Bird Song (details) 2024 / Ceramic, plastic, wood, metal, electronic equipment and air / Nine pieces: 30 × 10 × 5cm (each) / Courtesy: The artist / Photographs: Matthew Stanton ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 48 — 49