The Garden of Unearthly Delights

The Garden of Unearthly Delights is a series of video art pieces and artifacts created for a gallery show at Dal Schindell Gallery (formerly Lookout Gallery).

Cultures have traditionally represented visions of the other using objects available in their own environments. We use the term ‘other’ to describe a place beyond the here and now, without time or place. Cultures around the world have unique stories which seem to follow similar guidelines when depicting their visions of the other. Depending on the location and technological advancement of the culture, different available objects were used. Prior to the development of glass and gemstones, the other was depicted as a world adorned in glowing colourful flowers. After refractive crystals, gems and coloured glasses were discovered, the visual representation of the other shifted to a place of optics, refraction, crystalline structures and light.

Humanity has progressed beyond physical objects to include the unlimited possibilities of digital imagery. Depictive capabilities are better than ever before, and along with the tools to create a transcendental image comes an imagination unrooted from physicality.

This exhibition re-examines visions of the other using contemporary technology to depict something that has always been (and always will be) slightly beyond literal expression. Depicting the infinite without time or space tends to cause imagining errors; the pieces presented here expresses digital degradation and drifted pixels as a metaphor for the journey between here and there. Ideas and visions are never able to be communicated or conveyed in their fullness.

The other is unlimited in opportunity. A single messenger or message presents a limited viewpoint because infinity is open to interpretation.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” -William Blake