In his practice, Oliver Hutchison is engaged in an exploration of the interconnectedness of the human and nonhuman and the relationship between human activity, ecology, time and space. Working across a deliberately diverse set of media incorporating photography, video, sculpture, sound and interactive machine making he creates works which aim to break down and invert the distinctions between artist, artwork and audience.
The unpredictability that arises from the complexity of human relations with the nonhuman is central to Oliver’s investigations and by outsourcing his hand into the unpredictable activities of living organisms, the environment and technological processes Oliver is directly engaged with chance. In his theory of the human relationship to the nonhuman, the philosopher Bruno Latour states:
“the world is not a solid continent of fact sprinkled by a few lakes of uncertainties, but a vast ocean of uncertainties speckled by a few islands of calibrated and stabilised forms.”
In entering into the embrace of chance, Oliver aims to reify this ‘vast ocean of uncertainties’ and undermine the notion of human self-sufficiency and moral self-determination.
CONTACT
CURRICULUM VITAE
Oliver Hutchison
Born April 1977
Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
Solo Exhibitions
2015
First Site Gallery, Melbourne. Reflex (October)
Group Exhibitions
2017
Tacit Contemporary Art, Collingwood. Shades of Grey (August)
2016
Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Singapore. Fictive Dreaming (August)
BLINDSIDE, Melbourne. [RE]Solve (April)
2015
Rubicon ARI, North Melbourne. making the Un (August)
DVAA, Darwin. #IAMANY (July)
RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, Visions (June)
PS50 Art Space, Carlton. Extensions (June)
George Paton Gallery, Parkville. I Is Another (February)
Brunswick Arts Space, Brunswick. LAUNCH (February)
2014
Victorian College of the Arts Student Gallery, South Bank. Graduate Show (November)
Deakin University Gallery, Burwood. Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (October)
2013
Brisbane Institute of Art, Windsor. End of year showcase (November)
Education
2016
RMIT University, Melbourne. Master of Fine Art
2014
Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. Graduate Certificate in Visual Art
Residencies
2017
NES, Skagaströnd, Iceland. NES Nes Studio Residency (March-April)
2016
LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Tropical Lab (July)
Commissions
2017
Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Art Tram Artist
Grants & Awards
2016
RMIT Master of Fine Art Mary Oliphant Prize
RMIT Link Arts (creative funding grant)
2015
RMIT Link Arts (individual grant). [RE]Solve, BLINDSIDE
2014
Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award. Finalist