STANTON CORNISH-WARD + ALEXANDRA KIRWOOD

While undertaking their FAC residency Stanton Cornish-Ward & Alexandra Kirwood will work on their new project Composition for Mnemosyne, an installation consisting of a two-channel video work accompanied by six wall works which will be displayed for A.I focused show at The Lock-Up, Newcastle in November. Exploring the dynamic relationship between real and artificial experiences, the project weaves together authentic, manipulated, and purely synthetic imagery, coupled with experimental sonic techniques.

The pervasive influence of synthetic media is transforming how we perceive reality and understand ourselves. This work explores the ‘machine gaze’ and ‘mediated body’, where the use of the human body and voice in the form of a youth choir act as conduits, symbolising Generation Alpha’s immersion in an increasingly synthetic online environment. Positioned at the cusp of the post-industrial age and the onset of the next technological leap we ask the question: How does the concept of the self evolve as the lines between human and non-human blur?

The video work features The Hunter Singers, a youth choir translating and performing a synthetic A.I assisted score composed by long time collaborator Mitchell Mackintosh, using their voices and hands to emulate digital sounds into a choral piece. Their vocal fluctuations score the second video channel, featuring cinematic tableaux of youth captured through a combination of live action and synthetically altered data. The wall works blend staged photographic scenes with synthetic imagery, coexisting within the same frame. Creating a feedback loop reflective of the evolving nature of our interactions with synthetic media.

Alexandra Kirwood & Stanton Cornish-Ward have been working together since 2018, when they founded Hiball, a collaborative artistic practice based in Naarm Melbourne. Their work has been accepted into esteemed BAFTA Award-qualifying festivals such as Cork Film Festival and Aesthetica Film Festival, as well as other notable festivals such as Dublin International Film Festival, Leiden International Short Film Festival, and Sydney World Film Festival. They have been part of official selections of film festivals in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Mexico, U.K, and U.S.A.

SHERRY QUIAMBAO

Sherry Quiambao is our current Artist in Residence, in the process of developing a body of work for an upcoming exhibition in July 2024. She intends to explore the intricate interplay of memory, cultural heritage, and materialism and investigate the ways in which we navigate our aspirations, through the mediums of still life photography, video, and sculptural installation.

Sherry is a multi-disciplinary artist of Filipino heritage, born and raised in regional Western Australia. Her work explores the relationship between found objects, memory, cultural heritage, and consumption. Using various mediums such as photography, sculpture, and installation, Quiambao challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship with possessions and their impact on self-image and status. Her work often explores themes of identity, belonging, and the intersection between culture and consumerism.

She completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Sculpture, at Curtin University in 2003, followed by postgraduate studies in art curation and secondary education. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia, the Philippines, and the United States of America.

Susie Conte

Fremantle Arts Centre (FAC) & Incheon Art Platform (IAP) Artist in Residence Reciprocal Exchange Recipient.

Following a competitive application process Susie Conte was selected as the inaugural WA artist for the FAC IAP exchange program and will take up her 3-month artist residency in South Korea from September 2023.

Susie Conte is a PAWA award nominated performance artist, theatre director and producer who specialises in the adaptation of classical works and myths into new feminist works for performance. Conte is best known for producing and directing textural, magnetic and visceral female centric shows through her theatre company Tempest.

Conte is a PhD doctoral candidate at WAAPA and a graduate of WAAPA’s Directing Program (2018), holds an MA in Classics from Birkbeck University London, as well as a BA in Italian from University College London.

Conte has experience working with major independent companies in Perth, including the Blue Room, WAYTCO and Black Swan State Theatre Company. She is a teaching artist at WAAPA and John Curtin College of the Arts and an was Artist in Residence at Perth College in 2022.

Images: Susie Conte in Monstrous Woman 2021, photography by Meagan Welsh