Cuckoon

Cuckoon is a performative video/sound installation by artists Kate Buckley, Ross Oliver and Joana Cifre Cerda.

Animals isolate themselves in order to metamorphose, and we too need periods of isolation and separation to allow for growth and transformation. Sometimes the retreat maybe misinterpreted as mental breakdown yet what results is often the reverse. The act of emergence may be a slow and arduous process as one struggles to breakthrough to subsequent life stages.

In this performance the human is trapped within a cocoon like structure made from sheets of nori seaweed; gradually she licks and chews her way through the wall of the enclosure, consuming the barrier between her and the world. 

The viewer witnesses the emergence remotely via live feed video transmission, much as a biologist would.

Thoughts on Symbiotic Art

Sym.bi.o.sis ( Sím-bi-õ-siss, -bī-) n. Biology.  Any relationship between two or more different organisms in close association, especially one that is of benefit to all the organisms involved.

 For a long time now Art has been  for me a tool to dig deep, to unearth the buried, to disembowel the beast hiding in the mind , to rearrange and realign , to make sense and to share the bounty.  A means of survival. 

There was a time that maybe by sheer ignorance or maybe just pure necessity all these had to be done alone. However in recent years , this animal has realised that to live in symbiosis is much more advantageous… When there are two or three of you you can dig deeper and digest and rearrange faster.. that anything complicated suddenly becomes simple… and that the work of art suddenly swells and shines much more strongly… 

There was a time where collaboration was a struggle and a worry… now I give myself up to it and rejoice...