Josephine Jakobi, Lake Tyers artist and FLOAT co-curator.
Curator Lichen Kelp and artist/musician Jannah Quill during development of a sound based participatory kayak work featuring music by Jannah Quill, an aquatic sound system by Dylan Martorell and a participating paddling flotilla of Lake Tyers locals.
Exploring sonic visualisations in nature; Dylan Martorell references patterns created by the elements and more than human life forms as the basis for sound compositions.
Image Lake Tyers beach, 2019 Lichen Kelp.
FSM curator Lichen Kelp onboard FLOAT on one of her solo visits in 2019.
Turning the studio into a FLOATing library - the perfect seaweed research vessel. Pictured: The Curious World of Seaweed by Josie Iselin. A lot of algae reading, seaweed dreaming, kelp snacking and seaweed farm planning goes on at FLOAT!
Mat Bate’s article for Gippslandia on his residency with FSM on FLOAT, including a write up of our 7 course seaweed dinner for Seaweed Appreciation Society at Lake Tyers tavern.
When I was invited by Melbourne-based curator/artist Lichen Kelp to take part in her Forum of Sensory Motion residency this August at FLOAT, Lake Tyers’ new artist residency program on an off-grid houseboat, I discovered buoyancy again on the Gippsland Lakes. I spent my time writing a book I’m working on and watching the wind over the water. I was tethered to the shore by four large nylon ropes, one for each cardinal direction. At night I went to sleep surrounded by moon jellyfish. I woke to the chorus of swans. I spent a week just moving with the ebb and flow of it all.
I also spent a lot of time talking to people. FLOAT isn’t just a quaint little getaway for artists, it’s an artistic statement in itself, a manifestation of an incredibly strong and active community of people that value the natural environment and creative storytelling.
Full article available here
Out in the field; a selection of intertidal sea vegetables at Snowy River Station.
These plants are featured in unique beers created by the collaboratively minded brewers at Sailors Grave, Orbost, who participated in the talk at the tavern. Chris and Gabe from Sailors Grave shared Bull Kelp beers and Down she Goes which features seaweed and outlinined the environmentally beneficial use of organisms such as introduced wakame and spiky sea urchins that create imbalances in the local marine ecologies.
Foraging for Neptune’s beard with Mat Bate.
Mat and Lichen are both members of the Seaweed Appreciation Society international (SASi), which was formed by Lichen in June 2019 as a means to bring artists, scientists, food specialists and the wider community together to research marine algae, have seaweed based adventures and discover the culinary possibilities of this often overlooked organism. Mat and Lichen are currently investigating starting up a seaweed farm in Victoria, as a means of rehabilitating marine habitats, sequestering carbon and providing a sustainable food source.
Kayak abstractions 1, by Lichen Kelp.
Kayak abstractions 2, by Lichen Kelp.
Midnight punt; Access to the floating studio is via a self powered punt using a simple and effective pulley system.
Kayak Meditations, Lichen Kelp.
Aerial map of Lake Tyers.
For one of the next iterations of the Forum of Sensory Motion residency series at FLOAT we will gain a new perspective on the region; travelling by kayak from Nowa Nowa to FLOAT at Fishermans Landing over several days, camping along the way and eating dehydrated meals prepared by Dylan Martorell.
Image via Gippsland Port Authority.
Visiting the Bee Farm run by local artist and FLOAT curator Josephine Jakobi with FLOAT director Andrea Lane.
The Bee Farm, an artists camp at Lake Tyers.
Five of Lichen’s visits, out of a total of six scheduled visits, were completed in the second half of 2019. The final trip, with Tasmanian artist Julia Drouihn, has been delayed due to the devastating fires in East Gippsland.
The experience of being closely involved with FLOAT in 2019 made the fires in East Gippsland a painfully close reality for Lichen, as well as the other artists that have joined her. But the wonderfully positive thing to come out of it is a forged sense of community connection with Lake Tyers and a strong desire to be back there assisting directly in whatever way is most needed. Lichen will meet with FLOAT early June to plan the visit by artist Julia Drouihn, the FSM artist group tour of the Gippsland Lakes and the works for the Winter Festival and to discuss ways that the artists involved in these programs can help rebuild and regenerate.