Comprising artworks and stand-alone exhibitions from 42 countries, the Bangladesh Biennale has been running successfully in Dhaka since the early 1980s with Australia first participating in 1995. In January 2002 Craig Walsh represented Australia in this exhibition held at the Shilpakala Academy, Bangladesh with his video installation, Blurring the Boundaries.
Artist: Craig Walsh
Curator: Penelope Aitken
Exhibition dates and venue: 9 Jan – 8 February 2002, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka
Bluring the boundaries documented the work Walsh produced during his 2001 Asialink residency at the Vietnam Architects' Association in Hanoi. In Vietnam he explored new forms of cross-cultural collaboration whilst introducing contemporary public art practice to the region. A major work completed there was a video projection of images on to the glass front of the Architects' Association. It was a highly accessible exhibition catching pedestrians in the area by surprise as they watched the front windows transform into an enormous aquarium. Bluring the boundaries both showed the Hanoi work and the reaction of the people in the street to this projection.
'I created the illusion that the foyer of the building slowly filled with water whilst monumental fish from the local market, swam throughout the space. The work was only viewable from the street and on the opening night, and many of the following nights, half the street was blocked with motorbikes and pedestrians trying to work out how the building was filling. As the public of Hanoi have rarely seen projection as a medium, many perceived this illusion as reality and there was much concern that a water main had broken inside the building. There was a real reluctance to open the glass doors of the space in fear that the water would spill into the street'. Craig Walsh 2001
Australia’s participation in the 10th Asian Art Biennale was supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Asialink Centre at The University of Melbourne and the Shilpakala Academy, Bangladesh.
