Alex Wisser is an artist and creative producer based in the township of Kandos in mid-western New South Wales. In 2013 he co-founded the Cementa Contemporary Arts Festival in Kandos and took up permanent residence there with his family.
Along with Cementa, Alex is a co-founder of the Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation where his practice continues to focus on the challenges and opportunities of making art in a regional context with a strong emphasis on socially engaged art and its ability to support cultural change.
In this conversation, Scotia and Alex discuss:
- The regenerative farming movement and how the arts can support the process of change in communities facing serious social, economic and environmental challenges to their way of life
- The capacity of art to provide non-directed space for people to gather and create social cohesion and reflection on complex issues
- The example of a solar energy farming project in the town of Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains and how the combination of arts, science and farming can provide opportunities to bridge the urban-rural divide
- A research framework that Alex is currently developing in partnership with Creative Recovery Network that aims to create a toolset for artists to better perceive the social realities of communities in which they are working
- Alex’s shift to working in a community context and how it has made his practice more embodied and connected to the world beyond traditional arts communities
Links:
Cementa
Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation
Welcome to Kandos, poster by Ian Millis
Solar energy for the farmer, Little Hartley project:
Bula Mirri Farm Solar Project Video:
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