Dan McCabe, Shadows on the Hill (2017)
Artists: Dan McCabe
Work: Shadows on the Hill (2017)
Partners: St Bartholomew’s House, Perth City Farm
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Shadows on the Hill was originally developed for the 2016 Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, through their flagship Kickstart program. McCabe’s new iteration of the work for Know Thy Neighbour #1 saw him engage and workshop with staff and residents of St Bartholomew’s House, an organisation dedicated to eradicating homelessness in Perth, along with the wider community through Perth City Farm.
McCabe utilised his artist-designed tent, camouflaged as a late 80s station wagon, as a starting point to investigate the issues and possibilities of temporary shelters, long-term housing, environmentally conscious alternatives and future living structures. A sound-based documentary, Culturally Peculiar – Suburban Aspirations in Modern Australia, produced by Perth-based filmmakers Barking Wolf, Tom Allum and Mitchell Withers, acts as permanent record of these interactions, expanding on conversations and providing a snapshot into the vast realities and ideals of housing in Perth.
Interested in interrogating and questioning set practices of construction, home improvement and gentrification, McCabe facilitated an opportunity to discuss, challenge, contemplate and re-evaluate the way we intend to live in the 21st century.
