The Shadows Calling

Patricia Piccinini & Peter Hennessey

The Shadows Calling imagines the amazingly evocative space in the basement of The Old Mercury Building (TOMB) as a fecund and unsettled environment, where strange forces work to reclaim the building.

This installation is inspired by fungi, which are neither plants nor animals but their own unique ‘kingdom’, and are both parasites and symbiotes, poisonous and delicious. These organisms are a vital but largely invisible instrument in the complex systems of the natural world.

There is a sense of decay and rebuilding, suggesting the idea of industrial biodegradability, where the technological world is broken down by natural forces to grow new forms.

The Shadows Calling is a sensual world: visual, aural, tactile, olfactory - although perhaps not gustatory. The exhibition includes sculpture, drawing, video, performance and narrative. Visitors have the chance to explore a dark, strange, beautiful world, where the boundaries between the real, the fantastic and the hypothetical are difficult to make out.

Read the complete artist’s exhibition notes here.

Commissioned by Detached Cultural Organisation

Presented by Detached in association with Dark Mofo.

Dates: June 12 – August 2, 2015

Location: Detached, The Old Mercury Building (TOMB)