Fusion Strength 2005

FS'05 = 24HR Art, Darwin

FS'05 = 24hr Art, Darwin
from 16 - 30 September 2005
at 24Hr Art, Darwin

Artists:
Elka Kerkhofs, Hayley West, Jason Lim, Juliana Yasin, Lina Adam, Lucas Ihlein

Fusion Strength as a project began by seeking to address and invigorate various links / networks by advocating contact and process above product. It has had the opportunity of testing itself at two different places, namely Singapore and Indonesia, where assumptions were put to the test and barriers were broken. FS (in short) has affronted each of the artists' immediacy, inventiveness and resoluteness of engaging with the various issues put forth by FS as a project. Primarily, FS still seeks to create a room for further growth within the discourse of performance by utilising 'intervention' and 'collaboration' as modus operandi.

Retaining the basic structure of FS; a systematic cycle where a group of artists responds / interacts / intervenes with previous groups' installation and performance, FS: Darwin is where an expansion or concentration on FS core structure occurs, as time and resources have always been an issue. Contact with foreign artists and collaboration time is limited much less an ongoing dialogue on practise, methods and an objective assessment of the collaborative enterprise. With this in mind, we are proposing at a single already existing component within FS framework to extrapolate Fusion Strength's system of responses.

Fusion Strength at 24hrt Art, Darwin will be entitled as FS'05 = 24hr Art, Darwin. An equation. The titling refers to a symbiotic relationship between a project and a space/place, which is in effect, a partnership that equals each other in an atmosphere of equal giving and taking.

Travelling, is FS'05 = 24hr Art, Darwin's subtext. It is not a theme. It is rooted in the very act of travelling. Be it Singaporean artists travelling to Darwin, Australia and coming into contact and context with Australia's Northern Territory Darwin artistic community. Or, the Australian artists very journey of meeting someone new. Removed from their comfort zones, what happens when artists from different countries and with etc, etc, interact and attempt a collaboration?

FS'05 = 24hr Art, Darwin, is an intense and fruitful project for all. For Darwin, we are proposing shorter cyclic system of collaboration, intervention and performance.


A fusion. Not fusion food! But the fusion of art, ideas, art practises and art approaches. Fusion Strength is as the title suggests a fusion of strengths.

It is an adventure for the participating artists and equally for the audiences. Amalgamating strengths, rooted within these three notions; collaboration, intervention and performance and its discourse, FS (Fusion Strength) is a heady mix. A Singaporean blend concocted by Juliana Yasin, its initiator and artist, has proved remarkably successful in Singapore (26 May – 13 April 2001) and Indonesia (20 Jan – 20 Feb 2003). FS'05, NOW, makes its round in Australia.

FS humble beginning is an inquiry into the many question marks, commas, what ifs and in between spaces of an artist's life and art practise, namely Juliana Yasin's very own. This search for an approach that seeks an open and mutual parting and exchange of knowledge and ideas became its driving force. Fusion Strength is about collaborating through intervention and performance. At the heart of it is the artist’s own interests and practises. FS creates a situation where time and other factors are taken into consideration, yet what ultimately surfaces is an Artists' resolve, creativity and inventiveness to various problems that arises within FS.

FS is structured around the idea that an art practise is organic and rhizoid. It is a living organism that breathes, expands and contracts, and grows.

FS'05 subtext is travelling (tourist/agent). It is not a theme. It is a strategy where each of the participating artists has already considered the subtext with regards to their own practise or possibly in the very act of travelling itself. Execution of the project begins by a Singaporean artist selecting an Australian counterpart forming a single cell. Each cell will then be given the opportunity to work together (pre and on site) but nothing is made nor prepared before arrival at Darwin. At 24Hr Art is where it all sets into motion. Tapping into the community and Darwin, the first cell will work towards a piece that will take form in any shape or form (Installation, performance or otherwise) the cell decides it to be. This work, then, could be altered in any way by another cell, based on a planned schedule. Three cycles of actions then form for FS in Darwin, Cells A to C, with three outcomes. All potentially beguiling.

This structure was also introduced in Indonesia but with a larger number of artists. Managing such an enterprise proved to be difficult, thus, in 2005 the numbers are cut back.

A chaotic experience ensues within the gallery. The fresh white walls of a gallery space then become a conference room, an archive, a workspace, a performance space, a studio, a lab, a gathering spot for these cells to interact, intervene, and perform in. What and where could be more explosive than six artists given the creative freedom, the space and time to collaborate?

Fusion Strength is where you will find such an experience.

posted by Fusion Strength @ 12:08 AM