Reimagining Traditions: Angelica Mesiti's Captivating Exploration of the Rites of When

In the decommissioned fuel bunker of the Tank gallery, a captivating video and sound installation by Australian artist Angelica Mesiti transports visitors to a world where urban spaces are reimagined as the stage for a modern-day solstice celebration. Commissioned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mesiti's "The Rites of When" is a multisensory experience that blends ancient traditions with contemporary aesthetics, inviting audiences to reconnect with the rhythms of nature.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Seasons through Immersive Artistry

Embracing the Solstice Celebration

Mesiti's installation begins with a polyphonic and percussive chant that rises over scenes from an urban car park, where a crackling bonfire, a burning donkey effigy, and popping fireworks create a fantastical atmosphere. The artist's proposition is that in our modern, urban lives, we have become increasingly disconnected from the natural cycles of the seasons, and her work aims to reimagine traditions that can help us reconnect with the natural world.

Navigating the Celestial Landscape

The installation features seven monolithic video screens arranged in a formation that references the Pleiades star cluster, known as the Seven Sisters in the Southern Hemisphere. This celestial arrangement creates a sense of wonder and mysticism, evoking the ancient human fascination with the cosmos and its rhythms.

Exploring the Seasons through Multisensory Experiences

The 34-minute film that unfolds across the screens takes the viewer on a journey through the seasons, beginning with the winter solstice and transitioning to the summer solstice. The first movement features aerial panoramas of snowy plantation forests and processional fireworks in a Parisian car park, accompanied by a polyphonic chant and percussive sounds. The second movement, with its industrial-scale harvesting of tinder-dry wheat fields and sequences of saturated colors, evokes the heat and changing hues of the summer solstice, culminating in a dance-like electronic score.

Collaborating with Diverse Artistic Voices

Mesiti has collaborated with a range of musicians and choreographers based in Europe, including an all-women's choral group, a choreographer specializing in traditional cultural dance, and a Parisian DJ. This multidisciplinary approach allows Mesiti to weave together diverse forms of communication, from sign language and choreographic gesture to ancestral musical traditions, creating a rich tapestry of artistic expression.

Challenging Conventional Narratives

Mesiti's approach to video art installations is marked by her desire to move away from linear storytelling and instead construct works that accumulate meaning through a plurality of ideas. By working across multiple screens, she invites the viewer to engage with the work in a more open-ended and contemplative manner, allowing for a deeper exploration of the themes and concepts at play.

Embracing the Transformative Power of Art

The Tank commission represents a significant milestone in Mesiti's artistic career, following her representation of Australia at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. Curator Beatrice Gralton emphasizes the extraordinary production values and the artist's ability to ask questions for which there are no easy answers, building a collage of knowledge from diverse disciplines to present a new speculative concept of what might be possible. In doing so, Mesiti reminds us of the enduring importance of art as a medium for exploring the complexities of the human experience and our relationship with the natural world.