Centre of the Centre is a major new commission by Australian-born, Paris-based contemporary artist Mel O’Callaghan that traces the origins of life and its regenerative forces, iterated through video, performance and sculpture. Centre of the Centre plunges audiences 4km below the surface in the Pacific Ocean to encounter fascinating lifeforms in extreme environments, pushes the material boundaries of glass, and reveals how breath can create both calm and excitement through the depth and rapidity of inhalation and exhalation.
Mel O’Callaghan’s Centre of the Centre was curated and developed by Artspace, Sydney, and is touring nationally with Museums & Galleries of NSW. Centre of the Centre is co-commissioned by Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers; Artspace, Sydney; and The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane. With Commissioning Partners Andrew Cameron AM & Cathy Cameron and Peter Wilson & James Emmett; and Lead Supporter, Kronenberg Mais Wright. The development and presentation of Centre of the Centre is supported by the Fondation des Artistes; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the US National Science Foundation.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
Image: Mel O’Callaghan, Centre of the Centre, 2019, installation view, Artspace, Sydney, courtesy the artist and Kronenberg Mais Wright, Sydney; Galerie Allen, Paris; Belo-Galsterer, Lisbon. Photo: Zan Wimberley
