Arthur Wicks Australian artist

2 antipodeans marking out their territory
image	details	general commentary	artist's running commentary
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Construction and Testing 1990 - 1991
	Electric speed controller controlling the speed of the humanoids.	Title: 2 Antipodeans Marking out their Territory Materials: laminated wood, steel, fibreglass, proximity sensors, PLC micro computer, wiper motors, chains, gears, bearings, battery power Final dimensions: 270 x 250 x 1125 cm
	Controller inserted into one of the 2 pods attached to each of the humanoids.
	Assembled pod
	Testing in the studio showing the pods attached to the main humanoid structure.
The Maquette Bo Peep annd Friends visiting Melbourne Australian Sculpture Triennial Melbourne 1990
	Bo-Peep and Friends visiting Melbourne	maquette for work to be installed in Flinders St station, 1990 Australian Sculpture Triennial, Melbourne, Sculpture in City Spaces, 1990 Full work not commissioned; maquette exhibited with other maquettes & works in the Meat Market space, Melbourne 1990.


2 Antipodeans Markng out their Territory at the temporary solo exhibition Machina: Persona at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia, February, March 1991
a slide show of 10 images click to start	Title: 2 Antipodeans Marking out their Territory Materials: laminated wood, steel, fibreglass, proximity sensors, PLC micro computer, wiper motors, chains, gears, bearings, battery power 270 x 250 x 1125 cm 1991	one of 4 machine sculptures in: Machina: Persona 1991 exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW Sydney Australia. For more details and images of that exhibition, click HERE.	Early state of development. Had yet to learn the lesson: test a mechanical work in the studio, in private, for 6 months (minimum) to iron out the bugs. Comment overheard by Edmund Capon (director AGNSW in 1992) to tech assistants; "Wicks is off the rails again." The use of bicycle chain and bicycle cogs as the drive mechanism meant that the pods had no clutch to prevent them from over run when the proximity sensors were slow to react. This was solved later by using heavy duty O rings which tended to slip in such situations.
2 Antipodeans Marking out their Territory finalist in the Lempriere Sculpture Prize & Exhibition Werribee Park, Melbourne, Australia, 2002 work highly commended
	Title: 2 Antipodeans Marking out their Territory Materials: laminated wood, steel, fibreglass, proximity sensors, PLC micro computer, wiper motors, chains, gears, bearings, battery power "C" track with captured trolley wheels. For the Lempriere exhibition the batteries were powered by solar panels. 1991 270 x 250 x 1125 cm	3 images from the work shown in the Lempriere Sculpture Exhibition, 2002. Work highly commended.	Extract fom statement for the Lempriere exhibition at Werribee. Arthur Wicks Two Antipodeans marking out their Territory 1991/2003 Fibreglass, Wood, Motors, Solar Cells, Batteries, Micro Chips, Bearings, Chains, Gears 270 x 250 x 1125 cm The work Two Antipodeans marking our their Territory was created in 1991 specifically for my exhibition Machina Persona at the AGNSW. Immediately pre-dating Two Antipodeans … was the "armoured car" used in performances in Holland & Germany as Peace Car through Europe. Two unrelated events influenced my work at the time of the construction of Two Antipodeans ... : the aboriginal land claims case resulting in the Wick ruling and the Gulf War. But the notion of a line forming a boundary had infused my work from much earlier times. The performance works, Sand Memories and Against the Tide from the mid 1970’s evolve from notions of the natural boundary between earth and sea, interior and exterior. Two Antipodeans … consists of two large “X” shaped personae mounted on pods that move mechanically backwards and forwards along a special 12 metre track. They move at a slow lumbering speed. From time to time they collide and either change direction or one follows the other. Sensitive switches at the nose of the pods transmit information to a simple microchip, which dictates subsequent behaviour. Over the past two years I have had the opportunity, through the New Media Fellowship, to work with a team comprising an animatronics expert and electronic engineer. As a result of this collaboration I became interested in further developing the Two Antipodeans. Independent power supplied by solar cells would allow the work to be self-sustaining to a much greater degree. By upgrading the micro chip to a programmable controller with more sophisticated programming script, and introducing sensors to interact with the controller, it would be possible to develop a more sophisticated interaction between the Two Antipodeans and the audience. Siting the Two Antipodeans on an elevated track would provide a proscenium for the unfolding drama. To read the full statement click HERE
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click for larger		Next 5 images photos taken by Ian Hobbs on empty building block behind studio, Wagga Wagga, 1991. A reworked version exhibited at Werribee Park for the Lempriere Sculpture Prize & Exhibition, 2002 (awarded honourable mention)	Solidly re-worked; using 24v Programmable Logical Controller (PLC), track with locking system. No chance of the objects coming off the rails; the only problem being the loss of power along the track needed by the motors driving the pods.
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The TRILOGY Satellite event for Sydney Biennale 1992
	Performance Theatre: multi-media event using a variety of image projections (video, slides, film) and sound. The Trilogy consists of three parts: 1 The Escape of the Solstice Voyeur, 2 The Battlefield and 3 Auto da Fe. Between parts 1 and 2 there is an intermission which, while a social relaxation continues the spirit of the work in its own fashion.	Each section is constructed as a cartoon sequence of events and images, which reflect and at times distort events and thinking from the twentieth century. The 'hero', the Solstice Voyeur is like an 'everyman', unwittingly and unwillingly caught in a web of misunderstandings, communication breakdowns, absurd accusations and denials, information and media overload. The Solstice Voyeur becomes like anyone who projects outwards their hopes and fears as we approach the end of the second millenium, and is caught looking at their own image 'through a glass darkly'. We become witnesses to the events, as fragments of our knowledge and memories fly past us in a sense-defying dance. But we can make sense of it. WE MUST!! The Trilogy is basically performance theatre , with a group of performance artists who work intuitively within such a framework. Full text of the Sydney Biennale satellite events click HERE



	An opportunity missed in 2006 but still in the realm of possibility.	The Junee Railway Yard. A functioning turntable; proposed site to install the "2 Antipodeans .." for Unsound 2006. Issues prevented its installation but the idea is still on the table as it were. An event for the future.

Extract fom statement for the Lempriere exhibition at Werribee.

Arthur Wicks

Two Antipodeans marking out their Territory 1991/2003