Out of the Sea

In March of 2020, we returned from Yangon to a changed world. We self-isolated at Quindalup. Regional borders emerged by the time we did, and, unable to see family or friends, we took solace by the sea, and began to scan Canal Rocks. It became our muse. The use of 3D point clouds for visualisation is an emerging field, and we have always wondered: what else, what more, can be done with them? We developed a framework for a collaborative exhibition, sharing the scanned data with artists and makers in other places, where they too were isolated and taking their troubles to their respective seas. Each has responded to the work, variously through sound, drawing, and installation - some have visited Canal Rocks, others never have. All used the data as a space into which dreams, imaginings, and mythologies of place unfurled. In transporting a place as two- and three-dimensional data, we have engaged with the isolation and digitally collapsed distances of this time, allowing all contributors to meet at Canal rocks and bring their imaginations to it. The collective work of “Out of the Sea” talks of fascination, fear, longing, dimensions, distance, presence and absence.