Virtual Foyer of the gallery space where you will find information relating to the performance work of Arthur Wicks.
Take a seat and check the list to identify the works and which gallery wing you wish to visit on yout virtual tour.
You can always return to your seat here and check the list again.

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library & research material
performances
Performance Title Events runnning commentary
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RCAE, Wagga Wagga 1974
Tin Sheds, Sydney University 1975
Abraxas Gallery, Canberra 1976
Central Street Gallery, Sydney 1976
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, 2016?




A pre-emptive excursion into the arena of information overload & globalisation,
1972 to 1976 initial development.
Sand Memories

 

Durras Beach, South Coast NSW, 1980
Broome St, New York, New York
Venice Biennale (see commentary)


First work performed on the south coast of New South Wales, at Durras beach; 1976.
Second work performed at the Broome St & West Broadway intersection, New York City, 1977.
Performed & installed intermittently till 1979.
Video clip available.
Against the Tide



Durras Beach, South Coast NSW 1980
Glenelg Beach, Adelaide 1981


First performed as a video work on Durras Beach, betwen low & high tide, & then re-enacted at Glenelg, Adelaide, 1980.
Video clip available.

"Against the Tide"
An interior performance using "Measuring Stick" as its benchmark, 1980 and 1981.
Video clip available.

Measuring Stick

 

RCAE, Wagga Wagga 1980
Sculpture Centre, the Rocks, Sydney

 

 

Journey from Low to High Tide

 

Durras Beach, South Coast NSW 1981 (see commentary)

Performed on Durras Beach as a video work for Pierre Restany, later shown at the Pompidou Centre "Equinox 80", Paris; winter equinox 1980.
Video available.
San Andreas Series   Series of performances/ installations along the San Andreas faultline from Salton Sea (south) to Reyes Point (north), California, 1981.

 

The Survival Boat for the 21st Century


First Sculpture Triennial Melbourne, 1981. Boatman's first appearance. Video clip.
Survival Boat for 21st Century, Swanston St 1985 video clip

 


Video available.
Solstice Voyeur series


Initial work 1981, to witness & record the Winter Solstice from the rooftop of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This did not take place at that time, but later performances were enacted on the roof of art institutions in Hamburg, Berlin, Auckland, & later at the AGNSW (2002); 1981 to 2002.
Sonnenwende - Sonnenweg
Solstice - Sol's Path
  Performed in Hamburg as part of the Performance Woche - a excursion into European tribalism; repeated as a video work in the same space, 1983.
Video available.
Waiting for Columbus   Performed on the bank of the Tagus river at Almada, Portugal for Alternativa 3 performance festival, 1983.
Video available.
"Interview" series   First performed at the Technical University, Berlin, 1984. Repeated at Anzart, Auckland,1985. Repeated irregularly since then.
Vulcan   Limestone Quarry: an Archaeology, Mt Gambier, South Australia
Fireworks, Mackay, Queensland
Machine Sculptures

 

The Survival Boat for the 21st Century

The Armoured Car used in the performance
Peace Car Through Europe 1990

The Rocking Chair used in the performances
Free Fall: Slow Motion

The Helicopter used in performances

 

Construction of human powered machines used in performance works.
First was the rowing boat; "Survival Boat for the 21st Century", used in performance for Perspecta 85, Sydney, and Sculpture 85, Melbourne in unexpected situations and conditions; 1985 & 1986.

Second, was the helicopter; "Solstice Voyeur's Observatory", 1987 to 1989.
Third, the Armoured Car used in "the Battlefield" (ADFA 1990) and "Peace Car through Europe" (1990), and in other performance works; 1990 to 1992
Fourth, the large wheeled rocking chair used in the performance "Free Fall: Slow Motion" (1994), Sydney and in Brisbane for the work "Degrees of Freedom: Friction" (Volt, 1996).
Theatrical Performances   "the Escape of the Solstice Voyeur", 1987 to 1992.
"the Battlefield" at Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) Assembly Hall, 1990; a war game, pre-dating the First Gulf War by 6 months. Comment from a member of the audience 10 years later; "many performance works I've long forgotten, but this one I can vividly recall ".
Video available for the ADFA work.
"the Interval" and "Auto da Fe", in combination with the previous 2 theatrical works presented as the Trilogy at The Performance Space, Sydney, as a contribution to the Sydney Biennale, 1992.
Virtual Performances   "On War and Peace: a Virtual Encounter", developed as an interactive website for the Canberra National Sculpture Forum; 1995
"Spoken under Duress", for this same Sculpture Forum at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1995; a performance work that linked this interactive site projected with live performance.
the Humanoids   First developed in 1997 as a series of casts based on the artist's body and later developed as surrogate performers in the developing motorised and interactive sculptural machines.
Further developed as remote-controlled humanoids, used in the work “Degrees of Freedom: Escape Velocity” (Volt, Brisbane, 1998).
the Interactive and Motorised Sculptures   Included here in the performance gallery, as they have developed into fully articulated replicates, as a substitute for the physical presence of the human performer.
"Two Antipodeans Marking out their Territory", (1992/2002) is a pre-cursor.

"the Boatman's Unscheduled Crossing" (2002 -2008),
"Surface Tension", 2004,
"the Artist Trapped in Artaud's Cage", 2002 to 2007,
"Free Fall: Slow Motion 2", 2008
     
     

 

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