IRA FERRIS

time, circles, and natural rhythms

All that lives has time
But wise are those who like birds
Don’t think of time
But are in time

This project started as research into the personal tempo or pace. What would my ‘time’ be if I wasn’t governed by the clock?

In order to measure this, I set myself a repetitive task: over 11 days (while staying at the Big Ci residency, in the Wollemi National Park) I will walk 11 circles on the circular water tank (found on the site). The parameters were: wake up (in your own time), have coffee + read/journal – my usual (at your own speed), then walk 11 circles (at your own pace). Each day, the hour of the walk slightly fluctuated as did its duration: revealing my ‘natural rhythm’ impacted by the environment and the weather conditions the body interacted with ...

The project began with the doubt that ‘time’ is merely a construct – a social (Western) invention – but it grew to realise that there is TIME underneath that ‘time’. Time that is a wisdom within each of our bodies, if we tune in into this perfectly synched polyphony.

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The exhibition includes a variety of conceptual tools: video/performance, notation, report, sound-collage, questionnaire, conversation, poem... In addition to this, sound artist MP Hopkins collaborated on the Airspace exhibition to create soundscape in response to one of the videos.

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Ira Ferris is a Zagreb-born, Eora-based multimedia artist with foundation in dance and somatic practices. Interested in ripping-open the Western concept of time and decolonising the body from the tyranny of the clock, she makes works that bring attention to the pace of busy social environments, and consider environmental consequences of speed and non-stop production. IG: @artemisprojects