The Big Anxiety – festival of arts + science + people, brings together artists, scientists and communities to question and re-imagine the state of mental health in the 21st century.
The Empathy Clinic
Bringing together art, science and insights from lived experience, 'The Empathy Clinic' explores how we cultivate empathy skills. The exhibition refashions the clinic as an aesthetic experience, designed to examine how perspective sharing affects us. Featuring newly commissioned virtual reality works set within an immersive environment, the exhibition offers an embodiment of first-person life experiences through interactive technologies, immersive audio installations and meditative environments. The project is accompanied by a series of 'appointments' allowing visitors to book intimate one-on-one interactions with exhibiting artists, and participate in transactional performances.
Curated by Bec Dean and Jill Bennett
Exhibition Design
Anna Tregloan
Edge of the Present
Edge of the Present is a virtual reality environment designed to cultivate our capacity for future thinking. Inspired by neuropsychological research into the workings of memory and imagination, and made in collaboration with psychologists, mental health specialists and participants with lived experiences of suicide survival, this immersive experience invites us to ‘invent the next ten minutes’ – something that is a challenge when we find ourselves inhabiting the ‘edge of the present’.
Created by a team led by artist Alex Davies, the participatory installation comprises rooms that visitors navigate while wearing virtual reality displays. Architectural featuers and objects in the environment correspond with forms in the virtual world, which dynamically evolve as the user progresses through physical space and the story.
Installation by Alex Davies, based on original research and concepts by JR Brennan and Alex Davies, in association with Alessandro Donagh De Marchi, Faisal Sayani, and artist/psychologist Michaela Davies.
Artists
Bobby Baker
Sherre DeLys
John A Douglas & Stella Topaz
fEEL
Grant Jonathon (HTMLflowers)
Ilawanti Ungkutjuru Ken & Naomi Kantjuriny
Debra Keenahan
Sam Kerr-Phillips
Lee Lai
Leigh Ledare
Eugenie Lee
Jason Maling
Amanda McDowell
Vic McEwan
r e a & Judy Atkinson
Thom Roberts
Wart & Phil Downing
Uti Kulintjaku
Leigh Ledare The Task 2019. Installation view, ‘The Empathy Clinic’, UNSW Galleries, 2019.
Photo: Jessica Maurer
Installation view, ‘The Empathy Clinic’, UNSW Galleries, 2019. Pictured: Uti Kulintjaku Waūmananyi: The Song on the Wind 2019; Ilawanti Ungkutjuru Ken & Naomi Kantjuriny Ngangkari Tjukurpa (Traditional Healer Tjukurpa) 2013; and Uti Kulintjaku Puril Katalarranguru (Ngaanyatjarra) / Ngura Wirukutu Katintja (Pitjantjatjara) 2019.
Photo: Jessica Maurer
Installation view, ‘The Empathy Clinic’, UNSW Galleries, 2019. Pictured: Debra Keenahan #Belittled 2019; fEEL The Visit 2019; and Vic McEwan If They Spend the Time to Get to Know Me 2019.
Photo: Jessica Maurer
Alex Davies and JR Brennan Edge of the Present (still) 2019. Virtual reality installation.
Image courtesy: the artist
Installation view, ‘Edge of the Present’, UNSW Galleries, 2019.
Photo: Jessica Maurer
Installation view, ‘Edge of the Present’, UNSW Galleries, 2019.
Photo: Jessica Maurer
