The following is an extract from the CoVolutions in association with Colab and Roomservices publication. The exhibition takes place from the 1st to the 18th of July 2009 at Room (previously Room 103) in Auckland.
Thomas' project stems from the period of field work conducted at Mimiwhagata Coastal Reserve, where she selected a candidate from a range of bird species at the site to create her "Free Dotterel Delta 1" campaign.
The work is primarily comprised of a petition to the Honorable Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment, and hopes to achieve the liberation of this one bird from the Department of Conservation's jurisdiction.
The petition currently in progress aims to have the Dotterel ‘Delta 1' (named for the purposes of distinction) recognised as it’s own legal autonomous entity. The petition singles out the resident of Mimiwhangata who was one of four Dotterels tracked by Thomas during her stay. ‘Delta 1’s’ habitat includes, but is not restricted to, Okupe Beach in Mimiwhangata.
The petition explicitly envisages that this bird is freed of all obligation to members and representatives of the New Zealand Government under its new liberated status. |
Thomas' aim is to gain two to three hundred signatures, before entering into a mediation process with the Department of Conservation and the Honorable Nick Smith. (To sign a copy of the online petition please email susiethomas@xtra.co.nz)
Thomas has a particular interest in the contingencies of site as material and commodity alike. Central to this particular project was an exploration of how dominant, anthropocentric world views are seemingly an inherent quality within map making, due to the ontological conditions of language.
Thomas’ liberation gesture as such, is geared towards a revision of our model of operation within any given site - an invitation to re-consider an articulation of space within the environment.
Ownership here, clearly an underlying feature of the Cartesian grid, takes form via the sets of social agreements that construct the experience of space. Thus by activating these naturally occurring fauna as cartographic instruments, Thomas is interested in defining a method of navigating between this premise for understanding and the artist’s etiolated social role within Guattari’s notion of the three ecologies. |
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