Cameron Robbins: Field Lines at MONA

Field Lines is the first major solo exhibition by Australian artist Cameron Robbins, which is taking place at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, Australia.

The work of Robbins is about intersecting nature and art, where nature is the medium. His work is based on interaction with natural forces and the elements, creating structural instruments and devices, such as wind or ocean-powered mechanical systems, site-specific installations, wind drawings, photographs and sound compositions.

He has devised many ways of producing a collaboration between artist and nature. A look to his wind drawing instruments that has developed since 1990, sees mechanical instruments set up in different locations to collect wind energy, and transcribe this with a connected pen to create drawings on paper. These drawings take on the forms of location and time, the marks dependant on conditions – from violent storms, to stillness. This drawing practice has led Robbins to focus on forms generated by natural energy, including the exploration of vortexes, magnetic anomalies in the landscape, tidal movements and astronomical observations.

Magnetic Anomaly is another piece that sees nature as a catalyst. Mount Jim in Victoria is the home of a magnetic anomaly caused by a large unknown object, but through the use of compass measurements, markers, lighting and long exposure photography, Robbins was able to create a series of hand drawings, maps and sculptural works that responded to the magnetic nature of the site. The result is ominous yet fascinating to see what is hidden and invisible in our landscapes.

His research into the elemental has also been combined with his musical career on clarinet and saxophone, such as his 5-week project Metronomic, that featured a wind-powered drawing instrument and a musical performance. Sea Songs of the Subconscious at Kou beach pier in Japan demonstrated Robbins’s creative innovation that led him to engineer an intricate system that involved wind pushed into windpipes through a series of wave pumps made to express air dictated by the motions of the sea’s surface. A set of tuned organ pipes attached to a fishing boat produced a bass melody in f minor.

Field Lines will feature drawings, installations, photography, sculpture and video, along with several decades of Robbins’ drawing practice including works created on-site through the duration of the exhibition. His collection of drawings from Wind Section Instrumental (2013), over five metres in length and created over a 12-month period, will be on display, along with video work Dissipative Structures (2012) revealing how energy flows through a vortex, as well as various photographic series including Anemographs (2014-15) – six photos created by a wind-powered light instruments developed by Robbins. Field Lines will also see a range of news works created for the exhibition, including instruments and structures that reference the complexity of the earth.

Field Lines is on now at MONA until Monday 29 August 2016.  

www.cameronrobbins.com
www.mona.net.au

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Mt Jim Magnetic Anomaly, Loops II, 2011. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Anemograph, Lions Head. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Magnetometers, 2016. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Solar Loggerheads, 2016. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Sternenachse Declinator, 2016. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Tide Line, 2016. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Wind Funnel Room. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania.
Wind Section. Snake and Egg (2013). Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).
Launch gallery
Wild Dog Valley, 10 May 1991, SW. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania. Mt Jim Field Outline, 2016. Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania. Dissipative Structures. Video still (2012). Cameron Robbins. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum of Old and New Art (MONA).