Conjunction 2010 Biennial theme: “The Arts, in its broadest sense, has often been produced in relationship to escapism. Often film-making and literary fiction are offered as a way of escaping the everyday, and particularly during bad times. It is often a dichotomy that this escapism also prevents us from dealing with the issues that need to be addressed (that, in a sense, have created the conditions for the need to escape). Escapism in such forms allows us to not only escape from our thoughts and concerns but also to remove ourselves geographically from our immediate environment or location. Art has engaged with these notions, either in an equivalent way – in terms of images or environments that allow us to transport ourselves, or as subject matter – to question and enquire, often referring to other disciplines, such as film and fiction writing, to expose concerns about the topic. There are some fundamental components to our ability to engage or disengage with the here and now, quietness, space, place, loudness, cultural systems, behaviour and confinement. Artists often use, or deal with, the way in which our lives seem to have a constant music soundtrack, whether that be in a shopping centre or on a bus, we often have these compositions imposed onto us. At other times we provide, or compose, our own soundtrack through our thoughts or through a selection of engagement with the ‘natural’ sounds in our streets and other environments.
