Erika Scott Installing The National 4

The National 4: Australian Art Now at Carriageworks brings together 11 new artist commissions. These images provide a glimpse into the installation process for Erika Scott’s The Circadian Cul-de-sac (2023).

Discarded fish tanks, tyres, Tampax instructions, empty photo frames, knick-knacks and other stuff are assembled by Erika Scott in The Circadian Cul-de-sac. Collected and reconfigured, the intended use and value of this domestic debris dissolves into an otherworldly scene. To understand the cycles that encircle us, Scott reorders the patterns that sustain these familiar objects. Her process is intuitive. Playing with surfaces to explore sensation, The Circadian Cul-de-sac tests how personal understandings relate to broader systems and currencies. A four-metre-high hourglass is stranded in an inflated pool among inverted tanks and floating sand farms. Washed up and out of time, the aftermath of this deluge feels uncomfortably familiar.

Images by Hyun Lee.

An assortment of items lie on the ground: TV remotes, plastic grapes, beads, an eye mask, a picture frame, and piping.
Left image: Erika Scott arranges hoses along the ground. Right image: A found seahorse statue has a pipe attached to his mouth.
A shot of Carriageworks Bay 21 where three people are busy installing works in the background while the foreground is filled by blue taurpaulin, wooden pillars and large inflatable transparent balls.
A wooden teddy with a pipe in its mouth.
Left image: Sculpture composed of a pink tire with pink hands reaching up within it. Right image: A work boot and motorcycle helmet with a pipe going through its visor.
Erika Scott sits cross legged on he ground in Carriageworks Bay 21 looking forward peacefully. Around her are piles of pipe and an assortment of miscellaneous household items.

The National 4: Australian Art Now
30 March – 25 June 2023
Wed – Sun, 10am – 5pm