SCU Curatorial Lab, Richard Atkinson, Kate Stead, Simon Turnbull  |  Animal Logic

 30 September - 25 October 2015

This exhibition centres on animism, which describes a belief that non-human phenomena – such as animals, plants, and objects – are endowed with spiritual essences and agency. Animism has typically been thought of in terms of a pejorative relationship to modernity – representative of a bygone mysticism at odds with rationalist distinctions between the animate and the inanimate, nature and culture. Given that globalisation has rekindled issues of subjectification over objectification, animism has become a key concern for many artists. From a contemporary standpoint, animistic ideals can be read in terms of the uncanny, the anthropomorphism of all concepts and the idea that spiritual perspectives complement, rather than oppose, scientific thought. Animal Logic focusses primarily on the representation of animals as knowing subjects – vessels for conveying distinctively human characteristics.

The exhibition was conceived and developed in cooperation with third-year and honours students at Southern Cross University (SCU), Lismore, as part of the SCU Curatorial Lab, which educates students in contemporary curatorial methodologies. SCU visual art students Richard Atkinson, Kate Stead and Simon Turnbull are currently enrolled in the Visual Arts (Honours) degree, and have made work specifically for the exhibition. Atkinson’s work explores the subcultural phenomenon of Bronies – fans of the My Little Pony cartoon who find deep philosophical messages from particular characters and episodes. Kate Stead is showing a series of works created during a residency in Assisi, Italy, in 2014, depicting native Australian wildlife accompanied by imagined portraits of Saint Francis of Assisi: the patron saint of animals. Simon Turnbull’s work operates between fine art and illustration, examining the long history of drawing practice in which animals have been used to satirise and reveal the darker sides of human nature.  

Launch Event: Friday 2 October 2015  |  5.30pm - 7.30pm