Weather Vent (2018)

As part of the Quite Frankly conference at University of Western Australia I have been invited to conduct a new edition of my installation work Weather Vent as part of the show ‘Dark Skies Ahead’ curated by Jennifer Garland.

This time I will be collecting responses from all over Australia, with the aim of collecting a plethora of complaints from rural areas, including Western Australia.
Call or text to make complaints about the weather to
—-> 0431968340 <---- OR fill out the online form - http://form.weathervent.com.au/ I will be installing a visual interactive map of the responses gathered, locating all phone calls and texts within an interactive map of Australia. The responses will be situated in the exact geographic area and time in which they are listed, to create a visual representation of different weather concerns and its psychological effects on Australians. The work seeks to become an ongoing archive, located at www.weathervent.com.au and is focusing on garnering thoughts from rural areas and in Western Australia, utilising archaic and yet integral communication modes for regional sites - such as bill posters, newspaper advertisements and community radio stations. Weather Vent looks at the social convention of 'talking about the weather' but places it within a larger societal context. In late capitalism, our frustrations with society often appear conflated through uncontrollable conditions, such as weather. As climate change takes fold, will weather complaints evolve? ---------------------------------------------------------------- more information: http://angelagarrick.com/projects/weather-vent/ http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/the-art-project-that-captures-our-obsession-with/7280054 https://soundcloud.com/angela-garrick-593983975/weather-vents -- The Weather Vent is a public service assisting the those who wish to complain about adverse weather conditions in Australia. It is not a business venture - it is an ongoing psychological support service open for those who wish to express their frustration over uncontrollable climate conditions. There is no actual engagement with the participants - they only leave a message if they wish to do so. Weather Vent can be interpreted as primarily exploring the nature of human communication. Communication is rapidly evolving in a similar way to our physical ecology - archaic technological modes becoming out-dated, as they are 'outmoded', whilst the world has also shifted to a moment of extreme precocity. The metaphor of weather looks at the nature of basic human contact. We talk about the weather, it acts as the object of essential small talk that binds humans to one another. The irony inherent is that as we enter the Anthropocene there is a sentiment of trying to 'save' nature - but until this point of crisis it is seen as somewhat ‘inconvenient’ – something that is almost outside society – but in actual fact it is essential to our existence. Steven Vogel argues that we need to think of nature ‘like a mall', as there is nothing that remains untouched from humans as we enter this new geological epoch. And one must wonder how the weather vent – as ongoing archive – will shape as time goes on and us our climate condition evolves alongside our society. 'Pollution is in fashion today, exactly in the same way as a revolution: it dominates the whole life of society, and it is represented in illusory form in the spectacle.' - Guy Debord