NORTH OF A SOLID GROUND/ GALLERY TWO

Ren Gregorčič

15 APRIL- 2 MAY 2021

North of a solid ground is a solo exhibition by artist and researcher Ren Gregorčič. Featuring an installation of painted concrete blocks, a 1:1 scale 3D-printed blue PLA concrete block replica, three drawings and a sound work, the exhibition examines urban concrete systems as an ordering system. North of a solid ground is a practice-led investigation into a concrete block that was first encountered in January 2020 at the edge of a parking lot in Canberra during severe bushfires in South Eastern Australia and before COVID-19 began to prompt global lockdowns. At that time, the concrete block was a periphery object, however in March the drought broke, and regular rain transformed the local environment while COVID-19 simultaneously started to take hold. It was then that the concrete block took on a new meaning. It was a curious object because of its quality of persistence, unaffected by the changes in weather or even the presence of the virus. North of a solid ground investigates the sub-structural systems that gives concrete blocks their structural and functional qualities. The concrete block replica and drawings have been generated using ‘photogrammetry’, a method of generating 3D geometry from photographic data. Inspired by European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory project that converted data of the Sun’s atmosphere into sound, the 3D geometry of the concrete block has been sonnified. Together, North of a solid ground makes sensable the combined material and immaterial aspects of the concrete block.