OPEN SPACE

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Lowland Grassland
by Pip Jones
18th August – 3rd September
Hobart CBD

Presented across Hobart CBD, Pip Jones’ Lowland Grassland saw the return of some of the region’s native grass species to the streets of Hobart.

Prior to European arrival, much of Hobart’s urban area was a sweep of grasses; broad plains of spiny rushes and poas, and lowlands speckled with the heads of tussocks. Known as the Lowland Grasslands Complex, this plant community was once widespread in the Hobart region, however today it exists in fragmented pockets under threat of development and colonising weeds.

By reconstituting Hobart’s Lowland Grasslands Complex in the urban environment, Jones invited us to question idealised notions of how green spaces should appear. Rather than creating an edifying monument to “untouched wilderness” as an object distinct from social and cultural frameworks, Lowland Grassland traced provenance and recognised the role of the human hand in maintaining landscape, both in Indigenous and non-Indigenous constructed environments.

Lowland Grassland concluded with a community event, during which a portion of the exhibited plants were distributed to the public. The remaining plants were donated to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre to be used for revegetation works at piyura kitina (Risdon Cove).

 

Opening event:
Friday 18 August, 5.30pm
Mathers House

Community event (Plant giveaway):
Sunday 3 September, from 8.30am
Farmgate Market, Bathurst St Hobart

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Pip Jones is a Melbourne-based community artist whose practice facilitates conversations about local landscapes. Alongside her studies in conservation and land management, Pip has developed several independent curatorial projects and exhibition spaces. Her participatory projects have been exhibited at Federation Square’s Light in Winter Festival and SummerSalt Festival in Melbourne. She completed postgraduate studies in Art & Community Engagement at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2012.

ABOUT OPEN SPACE
Open Space is a new initiative by Constance ARI to support artists to present site-responsive work in public spaces of their choosing.

 

Open Space is supported
by the City of Hobart

 

 

 

 

Project Supporters

 

 

   

 

Individual donors

Fenton Jones, Robyn Harman, Meaghan Jones, Frazer Saunders, Andy Johnson,
The Hon Elise Archer MP, Deborah Malor, Madeleine Ogilvie Member for Denison, Paul Snell, James Wilson, Cassy O’Connor, Neil Haddon, Frances Butler, Bill Harvey, James Walker, Louis King, Sophie Jackson, Else Fitzgerald, Ciaran Stapleton-Crittenden, Adam Holmstrom, Alastair Mooney, Eva Holman, Nick Wilkins, Simon Roberts, Tasman Lyngcoln, Eva Nilssen, Jason Samec, Holly Russell, Nelson Armstrong, Claire Gaynor, Robyn Harman, Samuel Davison, Tully Lloyd, Andrew Topfer, Maree Nettlefold, Elena Moores, Ravi Millions, Louisa Minutillo, Eliza Burke, Francene Ridley, Paul Satur, Ed Gorwell, Jazz Money, John Retallick, Sousau Ello, Natalie Holtsbaum, Laura Carey, Gail and Russell Walker, Frankie Andrew, Alex Pitt, Tan Maxwell, Kira Askaroff, Karen Hall, Natalie Holmes, Kate Parker, Emily-Rose Wills, Emma Luimes, Brigitte Trobbiani, Tanzy Owen, Kib Denson, Anonymous, Al & Bas, Rachael Jones, Nyssa Skorji, Alice Gascoyne

 

Image credit: Samuel J Davison