BRAD DARKSON
Never too hot
6x4 photo prints (x96), Kangaroo Grass, charcoal, Ironbark log (burned), Kaurna fire stick (Paper Bark), Bic lighter, fire drum, thermoelectric generators, analogue synthesiser components, video with sound duration 00:04:40sec
The Arts South Australia funded collaboration between the University of South Australia (UniSA) and ANAT commissioned the featured artists to research and develop innovative and experimental artworks engaging with science and technology. The project focuses on creative research, placing emphasis on courageous experimental development over perfecting finished artworks.
A Partnership for Uncertain Times is an exploration and unveiling of process, featuring a workshop, an online forum, an exhibition, a Q&A artist talk as well as commissioned text and video essays.
– excerpt from exhibition catalogue
download catalogue pdf
Newmarch Gallery Exhibition (2023)
Photographs by Sam Roberts
Watch full video with sound
Artist Statement
Never too hot
2023
How do I practice culture in the twisted ruins of modern economics?
Pick up the telephone.
It's an act of resistance. It's an act of sovereignty. It's an act of collaboration.
Yarning as research. Collaboration as process.
A thousand plus generations of oral tradition.
Listen to elders. Listen to stories about their day, about the weather, about their health,
about their grandchildren, about anything.
This is non-transactional.
Learn about our intergenerational standpoint that centres Country.
A responsibility to pass on knowledge and culture. We are Country.
Wait for them to impart knowledge.
Be ready.
Apply the right fire to the land. Maintain the fire.
Their responsibility is my obligation, to my ancestors and to the next thousand generations of fire.
My awareness sharpened by the act of colonisation.
Continue ancient knowledge systems and heal the land from cultural disruption.
Experimentation, observation, relearning.
Talking as we go.
Smoke. Heat. Flame. Listen to the grass crackle.
Listen to the sound of the plants and animals.
Light the fire.
Watch the voltage rise.
Never too hot. Never scald the earth. Never hear the deafening roar of a wildfire.
The sound of balance.
Acknowledgements:
I pay respects to Kaurna elders and members of Community that have supported my research for this project, in particular ngangki burka senior Kaurna woman Aunty Lynette Crocker, Aunty Merle Simpson, and Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch for their time, for their advice and for the opportunity to participate in healing Country. Their dedication to Community and culture is inspiring.
I would like to also highlight the important land management practices currently being carried out by Community, particularly through bringing fire back to Country through the dedication of Rayne Simpson, Clem Newchurch, Quahli Newchurch, Paul Dixon Jnr and Victor Steffensen.
Thanks to Mehdi Hassanzadeh and technical staff at UniSA STEM for their advice and access to facilities, and also to local analogue synthesiser enthusiasts Riley O'Keeffe and Elijah Värttö for their time and assistance.
Special thanks to Deirdre and the ANAT team for their hard work and commitment to the project over an extended period of time, and to Arts SA for supporting artists to research and take risks.
A University of South Australia and ANAT commission.
Demonstration of fire powered analogue synthesiser (Newmarch Gallery) and thermoelectric voltage generator testing
Project experimentation and opening night photos
