Unearthed Seed Bank
Unearthed Seed Bank is a new site-responsive intervention by Sally Kidall created for the deep reservoir site in Eden Gardens, Macquarie Park Sydney. The complex subterranean seed vault exists only in the viewer's imagination with the help of the plans, a cross sectional elevation and concept video. The timber access platform is visible to visitors as it floats on the the water's surface of this dynamic reservoir.
Artist's Statement
Located deep below the gardens, this site-specific stage-set reveals the entrance to the precious Unearthed Seed Bank; the reservoir offers a secure access point via the landing platform and ladder. The viewer is invited to engage with this fictional narrative via their imagination to recreate this subterraneous project within their minds eye using an informative website QR code access.
This work aims to increase community awareness of growing threats to our botanical diversity and the importance of secure seed storage to aid in the ongoing botanical research as our climates change & the increasing impacts of urban development
Artist's Statement
Located deep below the gardens, this site-specific stage-set reveals the entrance to the precious Unearthed Seed Bank; the reservoir offers a secure access point via the landing platform and ladder. The viewer is invited to engage with this fictional narrative via their imagination to recreate this subterraneous project within their minds eye using an informative website QR code access.
This work aims to increase community awareness of growing threats to our botanical diversity and the importance of secure seed storage to aid in the ongoing botanical research as our climates change & the increasing impacts of urban development
Sally Kidall
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Sally Kidall is a site-responsive environmental artist she travels internationally creating her vast interventions within challenging locations beyond the restraints of the gallery. Her background is in sculpture with an MA at Portsmouth Uni, UK and over 35 years of making her site-responsive practice. She has exhibited throughout the UK & Australia, India, Spain, USA, Ukraine, South Korea, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, Andorra, Italy, Germany, Finland, Canada and Croatia.
Recent shows include Site-Responsive Biennale 2019_ I-Park, Connecticut, USA. L’ANDART’19 International Biennial of Andorra, GroundSpeak_LandArt 2019 & 2021 _Schokland Island Museum, NETHERLANDS, regularly showing at Sculpture by the Sea. Recent prizes include Transfield Australian Invited Artist_SXS 2022, Andrea Stretton Memorial Award 2018, Sydney Water Environmental Award 2013, Big Ci_Director's Choice Environmental Award 2021, Innerwest Council_Environmental Award 2019. |
Artist's Statement
Through site-responsive environmental installations, I seek to challenge the predictability of expectations & ‘cultural homogeneity’. My practice aims to create experiential encounters with site through conceptual listening, interaction and engagement with place, while exploring metaphorical spaces/environments that express the anxieties and insecurities of our contemporary society.
My art practice is inspired by the complexities, equilibrium and fragility of the natural environment and by how our human-made systems work within, or in opposition to, these natural systems. The focus of my practice is the concept of transition, including notions of unpredictability, vulnerability and ephemerality. It is informed by issues relating to ecology, cultural displacement, consumption, materialism and changing climates.
‘Now more than ever we need to understand the underland…it is vital to the material structures of contemporary existence, as well as to our memories, myths and metaphors.’ (Robert Macfarlane 2019)
Through site-responsive environmental installations, I seek to challenge the predictability of expectations & ‘cultural homogeneity’. My practice aims to create experiential encounters with site through conceptual listening, interaction and engagement with place, while exploring metaphorical spaces/environments that express the anxieties and insecurities of our contemporary society.
My art practice is inspired by the complexities, equilibrium and fragility of the natural environment and by how our human-made systems work within, or in opposition to, these natural systems. The focus of my practice is the concept of transition, including notions of unpredictability, vulnerability and ephemerality. It is informed by issues relating to ecology, cultural displacement, consumption, materialism and changing climates.
‘Now more than ever we need to understand the underland…it is vital to the material structures of contemporary existence, as well as to our memories, myths and metaphors.’ (Robert Macfarlane 2019)
NOTE: This project is fictional & has been created for the Eden Unearthed 2021 art installation exhibition at Eden Gardens NSW Australia @sallykidall2021
I would like to acknowledge that this art intervention has been created on the traditional lands of the Darug Wallamatta People and pay my respect to Elders both past, present and future.
