154
SHAGS
6 — 28 APRIL 2019
Score No. 0019 (Bauhaus Manifesto), 2019, shape/audio digital animation, duration 16 min 45 sec
Score No. 0019 (Bauhaus Manifesto) is a translation of Walter Gropius’ 1919 manifesto* using a font Shags created called Alphabet for Modernity; with each letter also having an associated guitar note from the chromatic scale.
At first, the glyphs appear as abstract forms and the audio without structure. The work is asking the viewer to experience the manifesto outside of their prefrontal cortex; to employ patience and courage to encounter the inherent message using alternate forms of communication. Over time, and through repetition, shapes and melodies start to become familiar.
Written 100 years ago, the Bauhaus Manifesto implores artists and craftspeople to form an egalitarian guild and look toward a future that embraces and values all creativity—to see the “complete building…both as an entity and in its separate parts.” Shags is using this as a metaphor to remind us of two things: that we are all part of the one ecosystem and to revel in each others’ uniqueness.
Shags acknowledges and celebrates the Eora people on which the SNO resides and the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which she lives and works; and pays respect to all Elders past, present and emerging.
Instagram: @shagsyshags
Website: shagsyshags.com.au
