Outside Inn
Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery (Boorloo, WA)
August 2023
*GHÓS-TI-
Proto-Indo-European root meaning “stranger, guest, host,” properly “someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality.”
It forms all or part of: guest; hospice; hospitable; hospital; hospitality; hospodar; host (n.1) “person who receives guests;” host (n.2) “multitude;”w hostage; hostel; hostile; hostility; hostler; hotel; Xenia; xeno-; xenon.
Evidence for its existence provided by words such as: Greek xenos “guest, host, stranger;” Latin hostis, in earlier use “a stranger,” in classical use “an enemy,” hospes “host;” Old Church Slavonic gosti “guest, friend,” gospodi “lord, master;” Old English gæst, “chance comer, a stranger.”
Outside Inn is a modular interspecies realm which can be actualised inside any human building. This space calls upon a long-standing tradition of host-guest responsibility, extending this commitment to the more-than-human world by inviting local critters to feast, take shelter and socialise amongst us. At Goolugatup Heathcote, two gallery windows were left open on a 24/7 basis; the room was then prepared with hay, seed, water and ropes for climbing and perching.
In a neighbouring room, a series of works engaged with the ongoing behavioural reductionism often applied to other species by exploring the ornate and cryptic details of animal sound-making. One of these works, Common Tongue, is available online here.
View exhibition catalogue here.
The central premise of this exhibition (and specific works within it) were devised and created during a residency in Mpartnwe (Alice Springs) supported and funded by Arts Tasmania.
(Above) A local raven visits the space
