Mapping The Drowned World by Tracey Clement A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sydney College of The Arts The University of Sydney 2017 Statement This volume is presented as a record of the work undertaken for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. Table of Contents Acknowledgments iii List of images iv Abstract x Introduction: In the beginning, The End 1 Chapter One: The ABCs of The Drowned World 6 Chapter Two: Mapping The Drowned World 64 Chapter Three: It's all about Eve 97 Chapter Four: Soon it would be too hot 119 Chapter Five: The ruined city 154 Conclusion: At the end, new beginnings 205 Bibliography 210 Appendix A: Timeline for The Drowned World 226 Appendix B: Mapping The Drowned World artist interviews 227 Appendix C: Experiment and process documentation 263 Work presented for examination 310 ii Acknowledgments I wish to acknowledge the support of my partner Peter Burgess. He provided installation expertise, help in wrangling images down to size, hard-copies of multiple drafts, many hot dinners, and much, much more. Thanks also to my supervisor Professor Bradford Buckley for his steady guidance. In addition, the technical staff at SCA deserve a mention. Thanks also to all my friends, particularly those who let themselves be coerced into assisting with installation: you know who you are. And last, but certainly not least, thank you so much to the librarians at all of the University of Sydney libraries, and especially at SCA. I have not met you all, but I could not have done it without you. This thesis has had the benefit of proofreading by Judy Prisk. iii List of images Figure 1: Cover of the paperback first edition of J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, New York: Berkley Medallion Books, 1962. 6 Figure 2: J.G. Ballard in front of his Project for a New Novel collages,1960. Image courtesy: J.G. Ballard Estate. 9 Figure 3: J.G. Ballard, Crashed Cars, London New Arts Laboratory Gallery, installation view. Image courtesy: Ballardian. 19 Figure 4: Ann Lislegaard, Crystal World (after J.G. Ballard), 2006, 2-channel 3D animation, two leaning screens. Image courtesy: Astrup Fearnley Museet. 20 Figure 5: Richard Prince, Elvis, 2007, steel, plywood, bondo, 160 x 193 x 462.3cm. Image courtesy: Widewalls. 21 Figure 6: Roger Hiorns, installation view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2003-2004. Photo by Joshua White. 22 Figure 7: Jonathan Schipper, The Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle, 2009, 2 cars, hydraulics, dimensions variable. Image courtesy: X015. 22 Figure 8: Cover of J.G. Ballard, V. Vale and David Pringle, eds, Re/Search, vol. 8/9. San Francisco: V. Vale, 1984. Cover image by Ana Barrado. Image courtesy: Re/Search. 22 Figure 9: Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah, April, 1970. Photo: George Steinmetz, 2002. 24 Figure 10: Alfredo Jaar, Venezia, Venezia, 2013. Image courtesy: designboom. 25 Figure 11: Mapping The Drowned World, installation, 2015: Jon Cattapan, The City Submerged, 1991- 2015; Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2, 2014-2015; Kate Mitchell, Beyond Setting Suns, 2014. Photo: Kristina Shapranova. 26 Figure 12: Alighiero e Boetti, Mappa, 1990-1991, embroidery on cotton, 114.3 × 214cm. Photo: David Regen. 34 Figure 13: Le Monde au temps des Surrealists (The Surrealist map of the world), 1929. Published in: Louis Aragon, Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Variétés - Le Surréalisme en 1929. Image courtesy: National Gallery of Australia. 35 Figure 14: Jiang Pengyi, Unregistered City, no.2, 2008, archival inkjet print, 150 x 209cm (ed. of 6), 90 x 125cm (ed. of 8). Image courtesy: Blind Spot Gallery. 38 Figure 15: Dresden in ruins after Allied bombings, February 1945. Photo: Richard Peter. 39 Figure 16: Chris Burden, Metropolis II, installed at LACMA, Los Angeles, 2012. Photo: Jae C. Hong. 41 Figure 17: Still from ‘Deep Impact,’ 1998, dir. Mimi Leder, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. 43 Figure 18: J.G. Ballard, Venus Smiles, 1970. Printed in Ambit no 46, 1971. Image courtesy: Ballardian. 49 Figure 19: J.G. Ballard, Project for a New Novel (unrealised billboard project), c.1958, collage. Image courtesy: J.G. Ballard Estate. 50 Figure 20: J.G. Ballard, Project for a New Novel (unrealised billboard project), c.1958, collage. Image courtesy: J.G. Ballard Estate. 50 Figure 21: Ambit no. 50, 1972. Euphoria Bliss, a regular on Ambit covers, is in the foreground. Seated, L to R, are Eduardo Paolozzi, J.G. Ballard and Michael Foreman, Martin Bax is standing. Photo: Andrew Lanyon. Image courtesy: Eye Magazine. 51 iv Figure 22: Poster for the exhibition Crash: Homage to J.G. Ballard featuring photos taken by Ballard of his Ford Zephyr after his car accident in 1973. The exhibition was held 11 February – 1 April 2010. Image courtesy: Gagosian Gallery. 52 Figure 23: Cover of J.G. Ballard: Autòpsia Del Nou Millenni, Jordi Costa, ed, Barcelona: Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 2008. Image courtesy: CCCB. 53 Figure 24: Michelle Lord, Future Ruins: Part 01, 2007, 1/12 scale, 200 cast TVs. Image courtesy: Michelle Lord. 54 Figure 25: Ed Ruscha, Fountain of Crystal, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 76.5 x 91.8 cm. Image courtesy: Gagosian gallery. Text lifted from Ballard’s novel Crash. 55 Figure 26: Tacita Dean, JG, 2013, colour and black and white anamorphic 35mm film with optical sound, 26.5 minutes. Image courtesy: Arcadia University. 55 Figure 27: Gideon Mendel, Submerged Portraits series: Margaret Clegg, Toll Bar Village, South Yorkshire, UK, June 2007. Image courtesy: Gideon Mendel. 56 Figure 28: Adam Lowe and Professor Jerry Brotton, Terra Forming: Engineering the Sublime (detail), 2013-2015, a 2 x 4m 3D relief projection of the world was flooded. Image courtesy: Factum Arte. 57 Figure 29: Guy Debord, Discours sur les passions de l’amour, 1957. 60 x 75cm. Image courtesy: Imaginary Museum. 57 Figure 30: Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison, The Lagoon Cycle (detail), 1974, an installation of over 50 parts. Image courtesy: The Harrison studio. 58 Figure 31: Claes Oldenburg, Soft Manhattan #1 (Postal Zones), 1966, stencilled canvas filled with kapok, 177.8 x 66.04 x 10.16cm. Image courtesy: Albright-Knox Art Gallery. 59 Figure 32: Mona Hatoum, Hot Spot III, 2009, Stainless steel, neon tube, approx. 180cm high. Photo: Agostino Osio. Image courtesy: Artsy. 60 Figure 33: Ruth Watson, L'Origine du Monde 2003, salt, directly onto floor, diameter 6.6 metres Installation view, Abstractions Exhibition, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra Australia. Image courtesy: Two Rooms. 60 Figure 34: EVOL, Сaspar-David-Friedrich-Stadt, 2009, spray paint, site-specific, painted in a hole in the ground in an abandoned slaughterhouse area in Dresden, approx. 10 x 8m. Image courtesy: EVOL. 61 Figure 35: Liu Wei, Library II-II, 2013, books, wood, iron and hardware, three sculptures, max height 180cm. Image courtesy: Lehmann Maupin. 62 Figure 36: Jiang Pengyi, Unregistered City, no.5, 2008, archival inkjet print, 150 x 209cm (ed. of 6), 90 x 125cm (ed. of 8). Image courtesy: Blind Spot Gallery. 62 Figure 37: Pim Palsgraaf, Multiscape 16, 2009, taxidermy dik dik, wood, plastic model houses, 120 x 50 x 40cm. Photo: Pim Palsgraaf.. 63 Figure 38: Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2, 2014-15, salt, rusty steel, cotton, dimensions variable, max height 1.8m. Installed in Mapping The Drowned World at SCA Galleries, 8-31 October 2015. Photo: T. Clement. 65 Figure 39: Mapping the Drowned World, 8-31 October 2015: Jon Cattapan, The City Submerged, 1991-2015; Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2, 2014-2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 67 Figure 40: Kate Mitchell, Beyond Setting Suns, 2014, production still I. Image courtesy: Kate Mitchell. 68 Figure 41: Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2 (detail), 2014-15, salt, rusty steel, cotton, dimensions variable, max height 1.8m. Photo: T. Clement. 70 Figure 42: Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2 (detail), 2014-15, salt, rusty steel, cotton, dimensions variable, max height 1.8m. Photo: T. Clement. 72 v Figure 43: Jon Cattapan, The City Submerged No. 21 (Rising) (detail), 1991-2006, mixed media on canvas, 25 panels, dimensions vary. Photo: Andrew Curtis. 78 Figure 44: Janet Tavener, Broken Surface I-III, 2015, archival print on Canson Baryta, 90 x 90cm. Image courtesy: Janet Tavener. 80 Figure 45: Roy Ananda, The Bodkin Experiments (detail), 2015, mixed media, dimensions variable. Photo: Kristina Shapranova. 87 Figure 46: Cover of a 2012 Spanish edition of The Drowned World. J.G. Ballard, El Mundo Sumergido, Minotauro. 90 Figure 47: Mapping the Drowned World installation. L-R: Kate Mitchell, Beyond Setting Suns, 2014; Gosia Wlodarczak, Past As Future, Found in Translation. Interpretation Drawings, THE DROWNED WORD series, 2015; Roy Ananda, The Bodkin Experiments, 2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 92 Figure 48: Mapping the Drowned World installation. L-R: Janet Tavener, Broken Surface I, 2015; Gosia Wlodarczak, Past As Future, Found in Translation. Interpretation Drawings, THE DROWNED WORD series, 2015; Roy Ananda, The Bodkin Experiments, 2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 92 Figure 49: Gosia Wlodarczak, Past As Future, Found in Translation. Interpretation Drawing #6, THE DROWNED WORD 1, 2015, digital photo and drawing collage, instruction for the viewer A5 booklet, 33 x 48.5cm. Image courtesy: Gosia Wlodarczak. 93 Figure 50: Mapping the Drowned World installation. Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2, 2014- 2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 93 Figure 51: Mapping the Drowned World installation. L-R: Jon Cattapan, The City Submerged, 1991- 2015; Tracey Clement, Post-Premonitionism 2, 2014-2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 94 Figure 52: Mapping the Drowned World installation. Roy Ananda, The Bodkin Experiments, 2015. Photo: Peter Burgess. 94 Figure 53: Roy Ananda, The Bodkin Experiments (stethoscopes detail), 2015, mixed media, dimensions variable.