A REGIONAL FUTURES PROJECT, 2022-24
Embracing change starts with the act of simply listening—really listening.
– Kim V. Goldsmith
Vaticinor is the project I developed for the Statewide (NSW) Regional Futures project exploring the future of the regions. I was commissioned by Dubbo Regional Council, a partner in the project through Orana Arts. A cross-region creative conversation was facilitated between the Central West and Mid North Coast, specifically looking at these regions in a post-carbon world. In Stage 1, I undertook self-directed residencies at Wellington Caves (10 days), and the Mid North Coast (4 days), as well as attending the National Renewables in Agriculture Conference in Albury (18 August). I returned to the Mid North Coast and Manning Valley in October for 4 more days of story and sound gathering. A small group exhibition was held at Manning Regional Art Gallery, 23 March – 13 May 2023. The work was then shown in the major Regional Futures exhibition at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Western Sydney, 24 June – 24 September 2023. The following year, seven women from the project exhibited their works together at the Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in Moruya, 26 October — 23 November 2024. The project was funded by the Regional Arts Network through Create NSW, Orana Arts, and Dubbo Regional Council. Additional support was provided for exhibitions at the Manning Regional Gallery and the Bas through the regional arts development organisations.
The works
Humi Haptic Hands, 2023, co-designed with Brian McNamara, sound sculpture with soundscape composition, duration 15 minutes.
Image: Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre installation view
Humi is heavily layered with field-recorded interactions of manmade structures and more-than-human species, taking a narrative journey from the inland to the coast. Meanwhile, its haptic version, Humi Haptic Hands, provides access to the four frequency bands within the work as vibrations—creating a bodily experience of sound that reminds us we are one with the sonic world whether we hear it or not.
Vaticinor Stories, 2023, 18 audio stories installed in an upholstered vintage suitcase, including full transcript of the audio, duration 40 minutes.
Image: Manning Regional Gallery installation view
Vaticinor Stories is a vintage suitcase upholstered with a custom print designed by me from photographs gathered on my residencies. The suitcase houses a montage of audio stories sharing hopes and fears about the future of the regions. Full versions of the 18 audio stories with a transcript are available online (restricted to exhibition periods only).
Vaticinor, 2023, prose presented as vinyl text on the wall.
Image: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre installation view
This poetic prose distils questions and musings on the future after 18 months of exploring ideas and talking to people across Regional NSW.
Vaticinor
Boundless consumption of this beautiful machine. Sediments of consumerism—an unconformity.
Scars upon Earthly folds of skin.
Wicked questions. Imperfect answers. Contained forces. Unnatural courses. Disturbed zeitgeber. No compromise.
Clinging to territories we call home—our collective breath heaves upon this Earth; a wind before the storm.
Delirious exhalations or intuitive portent? Manifestations of our resolve.
Exhibitions
🎧 23 March – 13 May 2023: Regional Futures: Box of Possibilities exhibition
A group show by Kim V. Goldsmith, Ronnie Grammatica, Kit Kelen and Allison Reynolds at the Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree READ MORE
🎧 24 June – 24 September 2023: Regional Futures: Artists in Volatile Landscapes
An artist-led conversation on the opportunities and challenges presenting regional communities at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney.
🎧 26 October – 23 November 2024: Regional Futures: An Entangled Existence
A group show by Kim V. Goldsmith, Anna Glynn, Jane Richens, Laura Baker, Joanne Stead, Tania Hartigan and Tracy Luff. READ MORE
Public program
🗣 22 July 2023: Regional Futures Symposium: Artists in Volatile Landscapes
At Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney. I was part of artist-led panel events on the day, on the Listening Better panel. Panel and roundtable themes include:
- Artists as healers – Culture and Restoration
- Artists as agents of change – Interdisciplinary Collaborations
- Artists as transceivers – Listening Better
- Artists as trail-blazers – Regional – City Divide
- Artists as mediators – Community Engagement
🚶🏻 24 March 2023: Wingham Brush Nature Reserve soundwalk
An active and reciprocal listening experience and an opportunity to learn about my process as an artist. We ended the walk watching the grey-headed flying foxes at dusk, circling above us by the river.
📱 The walk recorded below takes you through the reserve to where the boardwalk reaches the river. It was recorded on a mobile phone on the October long weekend of 2022 as part of a self-directed Regional Futures residency in Wingham and in preparation for my return in 2023.
Above (left to right/ top to bottom): The base of massive figs, signage at one of the entrances to the reserve, the boardwalk in the early morning, canopy, the Manning River from the edge of the boardwalk, and a brush turkey. (October 2022, Kim V. Goldsmith)
This walk is catalogued on Walk. Listen. Create.
🔊 31 March 2023: BOOM! International Festival of Percussion Regional Tour, Wellington Art Space
Supporting Polymorphic Orkestra, sound artist Kim V. Goldsmith played two soundscape compositions created from field recordings from across Regional NSW over the past year, including Regional Futures work, Humi.
Left to right: Kim with members of Polymorphic Orkestra; talking to the audience before the presentation; the audience listening to the soundscapes at Wellington Art Space, 31 March
Media
An Entangled Existence panel discussion in the gallery, the Bas, 26 October 2024
ClimateCultures
Exploring Regional Futures: An Entangled Existence, essay and personal reflection, 21 October 2024
ClimateCultures
Regional Futures: Giving Voice to Human and More-than-Human, 23 May 2023
Mona Magazine
(Sitting with) the Discomfort of Change, 3 July 2023
Mona Magazine
Leaning into Dangerous Conversations, 23 August 2023
Additional thanks
Thanks to the National Renewables in Agriculture Conference for their interest and support in the work undertaken in the Vaticinor project.
More about the development of the works
SELF-DIRECTED RESIDENCY BLOG POSTS
Exploring regional creative collaboration, 5 June 2022
Whatever we do has impact, 20 June 2022
What the past tells us about our future, 28 June 2022
The outsider’s lens, 24 July 2022
Compromise and trade-offs, 28 August 2022
Swimming in a clean ocean, 5 October 2022
Sitting with the discomfort, 27 November 2022
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