James Cunningham. Juried Artist
Constellations
The Loft at QUT Kelvin Grove
Artist Statement
Slow movement offers a counterpoint to the rush of contemporary life, a way of being in the present moment which draws attention to the life in and around us: from momentary flickerings to patterns of change that occur on large scales and over long periods of time.
I enact ultra slow quiet walks in different environments, capturing hi-resolution photographs and binaural audio recordings that I later use to make video artworks.
With these works I am exploring presence and the taking of time, using time-based media to extrapolate beauty from the everyday. These are slow artworks that speak to the need for pausing, for lingering awhile, and for awareness of the environment, the present moment, and the worlds within ourselves.
The audio represents the present moment. It places the listener on a slow journey within and through a 3-D environment.
The image represents multiple moments appearing simultaneously. It is a multi-layered trajectory, an abstraction of the pathway walked, an ‘x-ray of time’, an ever-changing ‘painting’.
‘Melaleuca Swamp #1’ is based on a slow walk in a wetland on Minjeeribah (Nth Stradbroke Is.).
About the artists
James Cunningham is a performance, movement, video and networked performance artist working in social, environmental and architectural surroundings, exploring the limits of bodily perception, performativity and the relationality of one’s self with others, objects, and environment. He graduated in Dance Performance from the Centre for the Performing Arts, Adelaide, in 1988, and has been co-artistic director of Igneous Inc. since 1997.
Since 2007, he engages in durational stillness and conscious walking, in built and unbuilt environments, with and without audience, and with and without the participation of others. He explores the performative possibilities of these elements in live art festivals, conferences and through video and photo-media artworks.
In 2023, he enacted a participatory performance in the symposium ‘Walking Is Still Honest: About Being and Walking Together’ in Vilnius, Lithuania; he undertook a residency in the’ Walking As Practice’ program of Björkö Konstnod in the northern archipelago of Stockhom, Sweden; and he exhibited in the group exhibition ‘5’ in Brussels, Belgium. His immersive audio-photo slideshowsare available for streaming at evidenceearthexisted.vhx.tv
Credits: James Cunningham
URL: cunninghamwalks.com