The Ocean Road
Ryan F Kennedy
Ryan is a multidisciplinary artist traversing sculptural installation and performance. Ben Michael (musician and screenwriter), along with several special guests will join Ryan in this orchestration of performance, sculpture, land art, light and sound that will take place over the duration of the Biennale.
Title of work: Monument, 12 March to 2 April 2022
Durational performance
A durational performance, MONUMENT begins as an ode to the creators of the Great Ocean Road. To the 3,000 veterans whose minds and bodies rose to the challenge; the survey teams with their engineering and observational skills that navigated between land / sea; and to the officials who worked to ensure our soldiers' healthy return to the community.
Over the course of 3 weeks, artists Ryan F Kennedy and Ben Michael engage themselves and the audience in rehearsals as they investigate MONUMENT(s) through painting, sculpting and live soundscapes. Acts of celebration, honouring healing, endurance, repetition and inquiry create continuous affect / effect on the forms, tones and meanings of MONUMENT(s).
‘The Odes of …’ a series of bronze sculptures along the path are beacons of community. ‘Sound and Fury’expresses the enormous physical effort through land art along the foreshore. ‘Survey Says…’ is a series of expanding banners mapping the varied standpoints had on and surrounding the road since its inception. ‘The Eternal Drone’ is a live soundtrack using sustained notes eliciting reflection and response. ‘Kinship’ the relationship developing between the two performers along with their environment as means to ensure health and wellbeing.
As living memorial, MONUMENT is more than what it honours; the works are reflections of our sociological/ecological times as then artists move through What It Was, What It Is and What It Could Be? Following the past to the present, the work invites you to travel this timeline as we create and express histories. The finale of the work is a culmination of these conversations exploring future potentials of MONUMENT.
Works for sale
Many elements of Ryan's work will be available for purchase both during and after the Biennale. In addition to small works in the small sculpture exhibition, Ryan's mapping will also be available. Ryan will be completing maps of the Great Ocean Road on his flags at his site during his performance.
