Angelica Mesiti: The Rites of When at AGNSW
Angelica Mesiti is one of Australia’s best-known contemporary artists. Over the past two decades, she has built an international reputation for immersive artworks that combine multichannel videos, sound and dance. Her works honour individual and communal forms of expression, both historical and contemporary.
In her most recent installation – specifically commissioned for the Art Gallery of NSW’s cavernous, subterranean Nelson Packer Tank gallery – Mesiti turns her sharp gaze to the climate crisis. Four years in the making, The Rites of When explores the deep connections communities have with the weather, specifically focusing on summer and winter solstices, and envisions how these ancient communal rituals might evolve as the seasons are disrupted.
Across seven large-scale screens, a 34-minute film envelops visitors in scenes of nature and celebration: star-spangled skies; dancers marking harvest; and soaring aerial views of agricultural landscapes.
This footage is accompanied by an encompassing soundscape that features vocal choruses, instrumentation and collective sound-making, taking full advantage of the scale, structure and audio qualities of the heritage-listed site.
Within the Tank’s forest of concrete columns, The Rites of When depicts new rituals for shifting, uncertain times. It invites us to step away from the busy Sydney streets and, instead, closely consider our relationship with the natural world and cosmos.
The Rites of When is open at Naala Badu, the Art Gallery of NSW’s north building, from 10am–5pm daily, and until 10pm on Wednesdays.
Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Art Gallery of NSW.
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