Two Performances By Ella Barclay

LEAVE THIS HERE (2016) is a short performance lecture by Ella Barclay which provides personal insight as to the demise of altruistic techno-utopianism, the power of text as technology, neurotic network architectures, myth making and the internet.

The lecture will be followed by the participatory temporal light installation THE WOOZY JACUZZI (2012-ongoing) where audience members are invited to become one giant amorphous amoeba and drink a delicious cocktail at the same time.

The installations of Ella Barclay serve as technological tableaus, directing us to the physicality of hardware, the ethereal nature of data and the alchemic transformation of ideas into matter. She employs a range of media to explore some of the less tested contentions of our time – the power of text as technology, the erraticism of network architectures, myth making and the internet – as well as offering a reflection on 20th century techno-utopianism.

Barclay has exhibited extensively in Sydney, as well as solo and group exhibitions in Tokyo, Taipei, Edinburgh, Brisbane, Kassel, Melbourne, Bathurst and New York. She has been the recipient of numerous scholarships, residencies and awards and has been a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Travelling Arts Scholarship, the New South Wales Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging) and the John Fries Award. She is a current PhD candidate at the University of Technology, Sydney. This year she is a resident artist at both the Australia Council Studio, London and Casula Powerhouse, Western Sydney.

Presented in conjunction with Vox’s current exhibition That Which Cannot Not Be

This project was assisted by a grant from Arts NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA).