HEAT (Tate Modern)

BACKGROUND From a political and cultural history linking the UK and Australia, curators Prof Pat Hoffie, Dr Danni Zuvela (Australia) and Prof Catherine Elwes and Steven Ball (UK), assembled video works for a series of programs by Australian and British artists working with landscape, addressing questions of ecological survival, post-industrialism etc.. As we navigate the challenges presented by climate change, landscape art has a role in Australia's cultural development and ongoing art history as the proving ground for ideas examining the relationship of the natural environment with that of national identity. CONTRIBUTION Redfern's research examines the relationship between constructed subjectivity and the moving image through the relationship between site and subject as he investigates broad geo- cultural influences and national identity. The realist function of the moving image is explored in Heat through foxes. The fox neatly represents the British colonising power, a feral pest, introduced by early colonists for sport and thereinafter a threat to the natural Australian ecosystem. This meditative work utilises a forensic survey of dangling fox corpses. Texture connections between dry grass and fur and the repeated pattern of crossed fox legs and criss-crossed barbed wire both create connections and contrast at the micro-level while the ecological impact of the number of foxes is slowly revealed over the course of the work. The unsettling sound track conveys the heat we know of the bush, including insects buzzing, alive in a tale of death and destruction. Challenging landscape convention, we are denied a panoramic vista. With no horizon, and no orientation, a horrible tale is both seen and implied at many levels. SIGNIFICANCE The program became a touring series to 10 UK venues and 4 in Australia. Australian video artists included Lyndal Jones, Shawn Gladwell, Vernon Ah Kee, Patricia Piccinini, Destiny Deacon, Daniel Crooks and Brendan Lee.