Bundanon

Open Spatial Workshop (OSW) is a collaborative art group comprising Bianca Hester, Terri Bird and Scott Mitchell.

Over the past 23 years OSW has produced a broad range of work spanning sculpture, installation, public art, curated events, publications and video production. OSW’s activities are framed by an ongoing interest in physical forces and how the temporalities of these forces are registered. Our various projects have explored the vitality of matter and the various ways that immense periods of time and processes are embedded in materials. For a number of years this work has been focused on mobilizing the temporal geo-logics evident in geology as a means of engaging with future possibilities. Our projects operate in the slips of sense, opened by gathering a range of elements, modern and not so modern fossilisations, into temporal maps of material arrangements. These assemblages produce abstract temporal co-ordinates linking the dynamics of matter within  a complex geo-social field that connects with place and its multiple histories.

In Residence at Bundanon

During the residency at Bundanon Open Spatial Workshop (OSW) will develop work for two future projects scheduled for public presentation in 2025. This work is centred around banded iron and will involve exploration of the complex threads that connect biological, material and geophysical processes to human activity. We will work with video footage taken in Western Australia over the past 18 months, combining this with other research material to develop texts, video, and sculptural work. A key focus for this exploration are stromatolites, exemplary microorganism agents that activate bio-geo-chemical cycles fundamental to the physical, chemical, and biological processes for sustaining life.