Splinter

BACKGROUND 'Splinter' contributes to sculpture and installation practice and engages the field of 'new materialism' through an exploration of geo­social formations. The work is informed by the writing of Kathryn Yusoff. CONTRIBUTION Splinter is a sculptural installation developed by the collaborative art group OSW. The work builds on OSW's extensive research in the Museum Victoria Natural History Collection and includes a 23 million year old partially fossilised Kauri log from the museum collection. Transported back to its site of excavation in the Latrobe Valley this specimen forms a conceptual and material nexus that connects video and photographic imagery with a selection of artworks from the Latrobe Regional Gallery's permanent collection. The assemblage of objects highlights transformations in the Latrobe Valley landscape and the corresponding expansion of Melbourne, making evident the biological, material, geological and anthropocentric activity that converge to bring about change. The work is significant in the connection it forms between museum specimens, material resources and social change. Splinter speaks to both the deep geological time evident in the specimens formation and the recent socio­economic history of the Latrobe Valley. In bringing these two time frames into relation the work contributes to the field of 'New Materiality' within creative practice, highlighting the dynamic flows of matter. SIGNIFICANCE Splinter was selected for exhibition in 'From the Collection: Gertrude Contemporary Regional Residencies, Chapter Two' at the Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morewell, Victoria by curator Emily Cormack. The exhibition was supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, through development funding from the National Exhibitions Touring Service (NETS) Victoria and by in­kind contributions from Museum Victoria and Latrobe Regional Gallery.