PRESENT BEING
(2023)
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
(Oct 2023 - Feb 2024)
Hobart, Australia
Curator: Chris Twite
Comissioned by Hobart Current
Photography: Peter Whyte
(Oct 2023 - Feb 2024)
Hobart, Australia
Curator: Chris Twite
Comissioned by Hobart Current
Photography: Peter Whyte
Present Being is an installation that maps the impacts of fire on Tasmania’s fragile alpine ecologies. Created by Bae and Lawler in response to the devastating 2015/2016 fire season on the island, the work reflects on bushfires, ignited mainly by dry lightning strikes, that scorched approximately 100,000 hectares of land, including significant portions of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Unlike the fire-adapted bushlands of lower elevations, alpine regions are home to ancient flora found only in Tasmania. Species like the pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) date back to the late Jurassic, around 140 million years ago. These trees can live for over a thousand years. However, unlike fire-adapted vegetation at lower elevations, these species are hypersensitive to fire and can die if burned around their trunks.
Reminiscent of a forest left scorched by fire, the charred pillars in Present Being serve as a somber testament to ancient landscapes lost to the flames. Each of the installation’s 3,000-plus pillars encapsulates climate and topographic data, including temperature fluctuations, precipitation patterns, and wind dynamics, offering a tangible record of environmental shifts leading up to and during the 2016 fires. The work uses a algorithm that maps bushfire behaviour, using climate observations from Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather stations located in the fire-affected areas.
Present Being joins a series of sculptures and installations by Bae and Lawler that respond to the climate crisis and its impacts, including drought, extreme heat, and increasingly severe weather events such as flooding, storms, and bushfires.
In this work, Bae and Lawler reflect on what it means to be human today, witnessing the real and irreversible ecological transformations of once-familiar landscapes, and experiencing the collective trauma of what it means to be part of a generation that is simultaneously morning the loss of these landscapes while fighting for what future ecologies might look like.
In Present Being, Bae and Lawler cast a new landscape for audiences to explore. The contrast of the charred pillars creates an auto-kinetic effect as the viewer navigates the work. Creating hypnotic visual experience reminiscent of patterns found in nature, such as wind moving through leaves or grass. The work offers a moment of individual reflection on the landscape and the boundaries of human perspective.
Present Being was commissioned for Hobart Current, a partnership between the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the City of Hobart. It was presented at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia, from 2023–2024.
Installation view, Present Being, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia, 2023. Photographer: Peter Whyte.
January 21, 2016, fires and smoke in Tasmania (morning overpass) captured by NASA’s Terra MODIS satellite. Smoke plumes can be seen coming from red outlines that indicate hot spots detected by the satellite indicating unusually warm surface temperatures associated with fire. Photo: NASA.
Installation view, Present Being, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia, 2023. Photographer: Peter Whyte.
Installation view, Present Being, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia, 2023. Photographer: Peter Whyte.