VENTRE - from the gut

LUCA’s Daughters
Tuggeranong Arts Centre, April–May 2022

The word ventre has associations with womb, gut and the bowels of the earth. We are thinking about action and instinct – about gut feelings and creating, as sentient bodies.

We asked: how can we embrace non-hierarchical structures to co-create with our audiences? What would that look like? Can we resist static choices to move towards an evolving, risky and nourishing creativity? How does this reflect on a greater musing of structures within society?

We asked: our friends, relatives and collaborators from across the world to give us instructions - provide us with prompts - tell us about an offering they would like to have made to the space in their absence. We were motivated by the distance we felt from loved ones during COVID - we wanted to reach out and make connections. We also wanted to mark the moment of returning to working in the gallery, face-to-face, to honour the time away and to share the joy of returning.

Visitors to the gallery were invited to respond to the prompts, available on cards on the wall. Some of them did this, others took time to type up their own instructions and add to the growing collection of cards. Two photographers documented the actions in the gallery, and the participants added the images of their actions to the walls.

Who are LUCAs Daughters?

LUCA was the ancestor of all living things; the Last Universal Common Ancestor. LUCA’s daughters Ellis Hutch and Slipper George work across performance, installation and visual arts. They value collaboration, experimentation, and play. Working with the tensions of being in relation; the push and pull of living organisms collaborating, competing, risking, dreaming, worlding and wording; they have questions about risk and risk-taking. Indulging in hissy fits, unruliness, and disaster prepping; they investigate the cages we choose, the costs of living, the generosity of causing trouble and the power of disobedience and nonsense.

Photos: Sean O’Keeffe and Helen Braund

Interview with artists:

https://www.livingartscanberra.com.au/tuggeranong-arts-centre-contrasting-conventions/