Two artists from Germany are in Sydney at the moment.
A common friend made you aware of their work.
They are the most post-victorian (see below) artists you know at the moment, even worse then yourself.
Their project consist of humorously follow the steps of early colonial botanists in this country, with the aim of finding international weeds!
“paradise is over the ocean plays on the history of past scientific expeditions that might rather
appear in a museum than a gallery. Iiris-a-Maz´s portraits pay homage to the early photographs of rugged explorers that suggest man´s will to conquer the natural landscape.”
The concept:
Australia 1770 – The scientists who arrived with the first scientific expedition headed
by James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks discovered a continent with a unique natural history.
They explored a coastal strip that must have seemed paradisiacal to European eyes and
gave it names like Rainbow Beach, Botany Bay and Magic Point.
Australia 2006 – Our expedition will encounter an industrialized and globalized continent
whose infrastructure has emerged based on European ideas. However, despite all this
development, the continent has remained largely empty. Nowhere else are metropolitan
areas so isolated. How have the developments of the last two centuries affected these areas?
Does the piece of paradise still exist here? What has changed since the growth of urban
areas like Sydney and Melbourne? What kind of indigenous landscape can still be found there?
How do foreign animal and plant species adapt to their new environment? How do the people live with vegetation that depends on bushfires?
You admire their Herbarium with press flowers techniques you need to master yourself.
Their project is called Paradise Is Over The Ocean
Post-Victorian: “As a movement, the term is often synonymous with changes made to society directed at dealing with the effects of trade, industrialism, and urbanization, while maintaining a strongly stratified social and political order.” from Wikipedia
