Living Data

Seeding Treaties

Presentations/Index 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

3-5 April 2019 - onward

Seeding Treaty: Inclusion and Cooperation
Animations are presented that reflect the spirit of inclusion and cooperation
that sustained Aboriginal Australia for tens of thousands of years
and that's at the heart of the Antarctic Treaty System
that impacts the whole world.

Seeding Treaty is first presented at the conference, Antarctic Connections at the End of the World
in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. 3-5 April:

Part 1: SEEDING TREATY
Part 2: BARKINDJI STORY
Part 3: ANIMATED RESPONSES

Maddison Gibbsand Lisa Robertscreated animations from conversations with scientists and other artists during Living Data residencies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). This work was supported by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACECRC), The Central Science Laboratory, and private patrons. Students from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) at the University of Melbourne contributed animations in response to Living Data conversationsabout the recent fish kills in the Murray Darling River.

Our land itself contains the power to seed and grow Treaty - all we have to do is grasp and wield this powerful force, visually, scientifically, and musically. This display of the intricate, multilayered web of life and culture that sustains us all, grasps this power and charges its viewers with a communal responsibility to protect and care for country.

Elizabeth Shepherd,
Indigenous Australian musician and composer, writer and artist
May 28, 2019

Seeding Treaty Video Compilation, 2019
13mins 23secs
Full credits below

In this year of Indigenous languages
and the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty,
languages of art and science come together with a message:

The spirit of inclusion and cooperation that sustained Aboriginal Australia
for tens of thousands of years is the same spirit that drives the Antarctic Treaty,
and all treaties (agreements) within us, between us and our lands and waterways.

Still from Barkindji Story 2019
Barkindji Canoe: Maddison Gibbs
Rivers of Oz: Lisa Roberts

Rivers of Oz, 2019
1 min 2 secs
Music: Eric Avery
Animation: Lisa Roberts
Cartography guides: Dan Bowles and Ken Wilson

'Rivers of Oz' is part of an animation made with scientists and artists to reflect "the spirit of inclusion and cooperation that's at the heart of the Antarctic Treaty, and that sustained Aboriginal Australia for tens of thousands of years.

TRANSCRIPT

SEEDING TREATY

The time has come to speak out. Stories now are being told through inclusion and cooperation across generations, cultures and disciplines.

And thanks to digital communication technology, stories can now seed treaties - or agreements - within our selves and between ourselves, to care for the natural world that sustains us.

Seeding Treaty is a suite of animations presented as Living Data.

Living Data are responses to our changing environment, documented on LivingData.net.au.

Animations have been made in the spirit of inclusion and cooperation, with everyone involved creating part of an evolving bigger story about our relationship with nature.

Treaties are agreements for growing and sharing knowledge for the common good.

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal Australia was sustained by the spirit of inclusion and cooperation with agreements reinforced between its peoples through songlines told in ceremonies.

This same spirit of inclusion and cooperation is what drove the Antarctic Treaty.

I'm not so naive as to believe that this spirit is not undermined by personal greed and institutionalised commercial seductions for us to work against and not with the laws of nature.

My experience is that the arts and sciences have become institutionalised and commercialised and that their success is measured in terms of notoriety and money. Just within my circles I hear: 'The first thing I think of when I have an idea for a project is, How can I get money to do that?' 'That was a great conference, now what cool place will host our next one?' 'Let me introduce you to our tame artist.'

Well, Watch out!
Humanity is better than that.
Truth-telling is better than that.
Human culture is changing.
The world is listening to the voices of the young
and to other people whose stories won't be muzzled.

My experience is that many scientists, artists and Indigenous knowledge holders have sought anonymity, not notoriety and money, instead feeling driven to learn and tell stories for sustaining humanity - physically, biologically, spiritually.

The time has come to speak out.
Stories now are being told through inclusion and cooperation across generations, cultures and disciplines.

And thanks to digital communication technology, stories can now seed treaties - or agreements - within our selves and between ourselves, to care for the natural world that sustains us.

This presentation was made possible thanks to:

The University of Technology Sydney for hosting my Artist in Residency in the Faculty of Science; The Australian Antarctic Division for hosting research by me and fellow artist Maddison Gibbs; The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre,
The Central Science Laboratory and the Australian Antarctic Division EMU for Scanning Electron Microscopy

Special thanks to William Gladstone, So Kawaguchi, Dana Bergstrom, Andrew Constable and Ruth Eriksen.

Lisa Roberts

BARKINDJI STORY

Disruption of the current cycles
and implementation of First Nations knowledge.

Seeding Treaty.
Barkindji Story.
Creation
Growing
Learning
Teaching
Sharing stories
Transference of knowledge.

The rainbow serpents follow the Peewee
to find a new home.
As they follow the bird they wriggle around
Forming big bends and deep in the channel
forming the Darling River.
And letting the water flow in.

Barkindji Story.
Creation
Growing
Learning
Teaching
Sharing stories
Transference of knowledge.

Symbolic narratives connecting
the environment, the planet,
our health - mental and physical.

Fast forward to the Now.
Naked, lifeless tracks that represent to me,
greed, power and ignorance
and disregard for Indigenous knowledge.

The Western systems in place
exclude and categorise nature.
And place a hierarchy on all living things,
and seem to be failing to acknowledge
that without one we cannot have the other.

More connection, conversation, and collaboration is needed
to be able to have a valid voice to put forward.

Maddison Gibbs

CREDITS Part 1. SEEDING TREATY

Seeding Treaty
Voice, Line animation, Video: Lisa Roberts
Music,"Blizzard": Dugald McLaren
"Talara'tingi", from D'harawal Dreaming Storytold by D'harawal descendant Frances Bodkin
Microscopy/Scanning Electron Microscopy: Ruth Eriksen,Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)/CSIRO
Krill Sex data:So Kawaguchi et al., AAD
Whale rock art:Traditional owners, Eora nation
Humpback whale sonograph: Brian Miller, AAD
Data Arena interactive: Cat Kutay, Lisa Roberts, Michael Lynch, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Schools of Women and Children in Seagrass photography: William Gladstone, UTS/Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Sea level rise, 1920-2000: John Church et al.,CSIRO

CREDITS Part 2. BARKINDJI STORY

Barkindji Dreaming, Rainbow Serpents create the Darling River
Story / Voice / Animation: Barkindji descendant Maddison Gibbs
Cursive writing from 'Sophie' story: Carmel Bird
Ancient Chinese calligraphic gesture: Vikki Quill
Motion capture: Jason Benedek, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Other animations: Lisa Roberts, Living Data / UTS
Humpback whale Sonograph: Brian Miller, Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
Delibes Passepied / Piano: Farrah Sa'adulla
Rivers of Oz Violin / Voice: Eric Avery
Possum cloak drumming: Laura McBride
Microscopy/Scanning Electron Microscopy: Ruth Eriksen,Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)/CSIRO
Menindi Fish Kill, Performance: Bonita Ely Artist, Melissa Williams-Brown Photographer
Glacial Ice Flows Violin / Voice: Eric Avery
Production guidance: Jason Benedek, Simon Harris, Robyn Murphy, Ken Wilson

CREDITS Part 3. ANIMATED RESPONSES

Animators from the Victoria College of the Arts
respond to stories presented in the University of Technology Sydney Data Arena. Seamus Shanks: Disruption Annalise Palenzuela: The ebb and flow of the waves are disrupted
by the consequences of human development
Tristan Mulcahy: Intrusion
Annalise Palenzuela: What is wrong with the water?
Shirin Shakhesi: The Platypus
Shug Mitchell: Platypus Story
Briellen Ramsay & Melita Collins: Bud