Bosbolobosboco #6 (Departure–Transit–Arrival)
Created for the 19th Biennale of Sydney
For the 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire, Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson have been working in Sydney. Build up on their earlier ‘Bosbolobosboco’ works, they have created a large new biomorphic audio sculpture.
In collaboration with The Refugee Art Project and psychologist Nina Melksham, they have produced Bosbolobosboco #6 (Departure–Transit–Arrival), 2014. Constructed with among other humble sticky tape, the biomorphic sculpture invites viewers to explore it and find their own spot to sit or lie and listen to the embedded audio through headphones. Using methods of relaxation and memory visualisation, four refugees from diverse backgrounds describe, in dialogue with Nina Melksham, images of departure, transit and arrival, from memories of their journey to Australia. The work is the latest in a series of unique sculptural installations which incorporate audio components that include the voices of people from different layers of society, discussing issues of citizenship and the connected themes of belonging and exclusion.
The nonsensical term ‘Bosbolobosboco’ stems from a playful tradition in Castro’s family of inventing gibberish words for loved ones as well as animals and personified objects; a kind of surrealistic or dadaist approach to one’s world and intimate relationships. For Castro and Ólafsson, the title describes the works’ existence – their shape, material and content – somewhere between a strange, artificial artefact and a living, endearing being.
The sculpture can be seen in relation to the body extensions work of Franz West and the therapy works of neo concretise Ligia Clark. And as coming from our earlier environment works.