A simple, yet powerful image of a washing machine turning on its spot in the centre of the room, thrashing about with a somewhat untamable range, while a documentary about Broken Hill’s political past played in the far corner of the room, was how Slag Heap Projects launched its year last Thursday night with Spin Cycle – a one off art installation.
It was the first step in a process of consultation and collaboration with Broken Hill’s artists to create an upcoming exhibition set for April called, under|visible, which has asked artists to make work around the gallery’s namesake, and the town’s most recognisable landmark, the slag heap – aka the Line of Lode.
Co-director of Slag Heap Projects, Verity Nunan, told us funds raised from the gallery’s 2023 fundraiser back in December was being invested directly back into those artists and creatives who were interested in this particular conversation.
“The reason we were kind of born was from conversations and discussions around the slag heap as a metaphor, as a site, and we found it as an entry point into some of these bigger themes, it was really fertile ground, as a framework for inquiry,” Ms Nunan said.
“Spin Cycle is one offering from the three directors back to the community to encourage or just demonstrate one attempt at entering the conversation and hopefully inspire a wide-thinking response. I think this work was about encouraging that breadth of thinking.
“We had three texts that we associated [with the slag heap] to demonstrate how each person can enter through an artwork and have something else be triggered for them, and how it can be so multifaceted. Some were a little bit more direct referencing the slag heap, drawing from some of the parallels and the materiality, whereas some were more conceptual and about the themes.
“That’s essentially what the offering was. It’s a conversation starter. It was meant to be generative as opposed to prescriptive. We’re trying to keep it real wide. That’s essentially what that work was. It was great to see the community engage in such a conceptual work.”
Some 50 people attended at the venue on Oxide St – and without much context before walking in. However, Ms Nunan found it encouraging to be reminded once again there was an appetite for this kind of work, with the mystery of it all making it even more exciting.
With the washing machine as the focal point, bashing about in the middle of the room as people gathered around it, Ms Nunan said it was reflective of an understanding wherein she was forced to question its purpose and story, with ideas from other people also varying.
“Since [I acquired the washing machine], it’s become more alive and every time I would turn it on and put a load on, I was more convinced that this domestic appliance that we have in every house, is just sitting there and watching us, and we think it’s almost invisible because of its place in the household, it’s just so commonplace. It can go unnoticed,” she said.
“I think when it started to become personified and walk and talk, it started to trigger some questions in me about ‘what are we missing?’, ‘what are we paying attention to?’, and ‘what has actually just been staring right in front of us and just didn’t have a voice?’. That’s my personal kind of entry.
“The second part to it was just the sheer violence of what it was saying that made me pay attention. I think that was that was demonstrated in the room. We had no idea how it was going to behave at all. We really didn’t. There weren’t many trials. Every time you turn it on, it behaves slightly differently.
“In this instance, it actually turned on itself in a circle to address every single person. Once it had gotten round, it died. The washing machine, it’s completely dead now. That was its last go. I think that in itself is just so symbolic. It was hanging on and then actually had something to say; ‘there is something violent happening, and what does that mean to you?’ Potentially for some, that could be an entry point.
“I felt like everyone got spoken to. There was over 50 people in a circle, essentially, and all basically just being spoken to by a washing machine. It’s very humorous as well, let’s not beat around the bush. But also, in the very same breath, it was very serious and scary.
“Overall, we were quite excited about that kind of dialogue and we’ll just excited to see what that stimulates for people if anything, and maybe it doesn’t, we’ll just keep having fun because that’s also part of it.”
