Grey Goo Tully Arnot

The Blue Oyster welcomes spring to Dunedin with a solo exhibition by Sydney based artist Tully Arnot. Supported by the 2015 Blue Oyster Supporters Network, Grey Goo is Arnot’s first major exhibition in New Zealand.

Tully Arnot’s work explores the subtle, almost alchemical, alteration of everyday objects, shifting the audiences perception of these familiar forms. His sculptures poetically interpret the intangible relationships we have with everyday items and illuminate new ways of thinking and interacting with the world around us. 

Populating the Blue Oyster with a selection of recent work, Grey Goo explores various real and imagined Artificial Intelligences, addressing the value of our relationships with non-sentient forms. The exhibition looks at the way these relationships feed back into our own capacity to interact meaningfully with one another, integrating complex technologies with quotidian components and investigating clashes between old and new modes of thought. Inherent to this approach is an exploration of the isolating nature of our increasingly connected, but ultimately disconnected world, along with an engagement in the emergent fields of plant robotics and the tension between organic/digital existence.

Tully will be delivering a public seminar 'Slippage, Sliding' at the Dunedin School of Art on Thursday 3 September, 12.30–1.30pm in the P152 seminar room, 19 Riego Street. The seminar is free to attend, all welcome.

Tully Arnot lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Career highlights include commissioned works for Sydney Contemporary Art Fair (2013), Melbourne Art Fair (2012), residencies in Sydney, Melbourne, Beijing and Berlin, undertaking study at UDK Berlin (with Gregor Schneider) and master classes in Beijing and Milan (Richard Goodwin’s Porosity Studio). Arnot completed a Bachelor of Design with Honours (2009), and a Master of Fine Arts (2014). Recent awards include: Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture (2015), NAB Emerging Artist Award (2014), Qantas Spirit of Youth Award (2012), which included a 12 month mentorship with Liz Ann Macgregor. Arnot has shown work in exhibitions across Australia UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy, China, Russia, NZ and America. In late 2015, Arnot will relocate to China, to undertake a residency at Organhaus in Chongqing, followed by the Australia Council Greene St Studio Residency in New York in 2016.