Signs of Life: Contour 556

If you go down to the lake today, you’re sure of a lot of nice surprises. Contour 556, Canberra’s public art biennale, is in full swing, and there’s over 50 works to discover. Some of them are a bit creepy, like the submerged hands reaching up under the water at the jetty at Henry Rolland Park (000 has had a few panicked calls); others are overtly political (Jason Wing: ASK – US / WHAT – WE / WANT); and others are just beautiful.

I’d like to think that my piece, in collaboration with poets Shane Strange, Melinda Smith and Owen Bullock, fits into that last category. We’ve hired a Variable Message Board, or VMB, and the nice people at Allcott Hire are keying in texts for each poet that are running 24/7.

For the first week (as I write), Shane Strange is populating the VMB at Bowen Place, between the lake and the underpass behind the NGA, where you can see the ASIO and Defence precinct across the lake.

Beware /Unnamed / Threats
Beware / Unknown /  Fears
Beware / Under / Standing
Tap tap tap
Can you / Hear me?
I am not / a Sign / of / Terrorism

he says, in some of his 45 screen ‘pages’.

I will / Decide
What is / Written
On this / Sign
And the / Circum / Stances
Under 
Which
It
Is
Displayed.

And that’s just the daytime text.

After dark, after bedtime, the sign gleams loudly:

Do you / think you / are alone?
No
I am here / with you
Alone / With / You

This weekend (13/10), on Saturday morning, the sign changes site, going across the lake to Henry Rolland Park, where Melinda Smith takes over.

On the 20th, the VMB returns to the southside, to Bowen Park (between Kings Ave bridge and the Kingston Foreshore, where Owen Bullock will program his haiku and other texts.

Each of those Saturday mornings at 10:30am, the poets read their work as we wait for the texts to be keyed in. Join us.
More details on Facebook:

Melinda Smith reading, 13/10
Owen Bullock Reading, 20/10
Owen Bullock Haiku Walk, 21/10