The Nature of Things

'The Nature of Things' is a fifteen-minute sensory experience. Enveloping the audience in an aural and visual meditation, the work explores continuities and discontinuities between environments in India and Aotearoa - seemingly a world apart, yet both an integral part of the same biosphere. It signals notions of our changed and changing relationship with the natural world and our collective global responsibilities towards the environment and each other.

'The Nature of Things' is an installation-based work in a 20ft shipping container. It has been accepted as part of The Performance Arcade 2019 (Feb 21 - Mar 3). This annual festival takes place on Wellington's waterfront in a number of shipping containers. It attracts artists from NZ and overseas, and last year had close to 90,000 visitors.

We will be making the installation kitset so it can be disassembled at the end of the festival and exhibited elsewhere. We have already secured another gallery space for exhibition later this year.

THE GOAL

Our initial BOOSTED goal is $2,500. This will go towards the design costs and construction of the installation, which is designed to be reused and exhibited again. The total cost of the design and build is $4,300, and any extra over the amount we're asking for will go to that. If we exceed that, the money will be used to tour the installation after its initial exhibition.

WHO ARE WE?

We are partners in life, love, and art!

Neil:   I am a sonic artist working with music and environmental recordings. I spent fifteen years in the music industry in London followed by ten years in the film industry in Wellington, and I'm currently lecturing in sound. In 2018, I completed a month-long artist's residency  at Earthskin, Muriwai,  to compose, record, and craft the audio component of 'The Nature of Things'.

Charlotte:  I am a mixed-media artist working in painting, moving image, and installation. My work has been exhibited in public and dealer galleries in New Zealand. I have a BFA (film) from Ilam, Canterbury University, and am currently undertaking a Masters in Climate Change Science and Policy at Victoria University of Wellington. My background in museums and oral history informs my experiential art practice. Concerned with narrative in a conceptual and abstract form, observations from the real transform into interpretations of the essence.

https://www.theperformancearcade.com/neil-aldridge

WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED SO FAR?

The audio composition is completed and the visuals are nearing completion! We have managed to secure all of the equipment we need for the duration of the exhibition, through 'in-kind' support. We have also been given a significant discount for the acoustic treatment to line the shipping container, which is critical to enhance the audience experience.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

BOOSTED is an all-or-nothing campaign. If we don't reach our goal in 18 days, all donations are returned to the donors. All donations to Boosted by NZ donors are 33% tax deductible.

If you cannot give financially, you can help immensely by sharing this among your network. People will only donate if they know about the campaign. Please help by spreading the word!

THANK YOU

Thank you for talking the time to visit our Boosted page, and if we are successful in funding The Nature of Things, please come and experience the show! We'd love to see you there (we'll be on-site from 10am-11pm while the show is up!).

Neil & Charlotte