As a continuation of research into human/more-than-human entanglements, Webbing attends to collaboration and materiality through the unification of the industrial and natural within the exhibition space. In Webbing, spiders act as co-creators in the construction of an installation that interweaves the static infrastructure of exclusion and the poetics of the web. Over the course of the exhibition, these spiders engage with the industrial infrastructures of the exhibition space, creating a series of unique meshworks, or taking leave from making.
The artificial bird netting reads against the silk of the spider’s webs, illuminating material and conceptual dichotomies of containment and exclusion, nature and industry. The spider’s web can be read as an extension of the sensorial body — feeling outward into the world and encouraging feeling and thinking as entangled with human and more-than-human actors.
The durational and ‘active’ aspects to this work are key - manifesting over an extended period, Webbing encourages visitors to contemplate, revisit and mark the passage of time against the temporalities of the spider.
Please note this exhibition hosts Rock orb-weaving Spiders (Argiope mascordi). These spiders are non-poisonous and of mild temperament. We ask that all visitors respect their space and agency as they undertake their weavings.
Photography courtesy Sebastian Kainey
Installation assistance provided by Steven Bellosguardo
