Rene Burton

This research project is a creative consideration of climate adaptation as a social and ecological palimpsest. In this site-specific investigation of the Kingborough region (Tasmania), Rene conceptually considers that land has been “written on,” erased and reused / rewritten on, but each layer of use leaves a residue or imprint on the landscape that still can be “read.” The direct and indirect effects of climate change are already emerging and they challenge the economic, environmental and social viability of local governments and the communities they represent.

Some pictures taken on a trip to Te Hauturu-o-Toi / Little Barrier Island. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to volunteer on a kōkako translocation project with the Department of Conservation.

Beads is an ecological interpretation of landscape through photomedia, moving image, and sound/music transcoding.  Using data collected from the worst maritime environmental disaster ever to occur in New Zealand, this collaborative artistic enquiry is a metaphorical consideration of the uneasy and destructive relationship between humans and the landscape.  A composite record of organic and manmade marks, Beads attempts to provide a way of conceptualising the landscape as a record of both human culture and environmental activity.

An artistic ecological interpretation of landscape, Beads sits at the crossroads of photomedia, moving image, visual music, and generative art.

A MaxMSP/Jitter patch that drives the looping installation.  By tracking the predominant movement of the clouds and waves, the Max patch becomes a self-modifying/evolving system that generates a new sound realisation with each iteration.

This installation was shown at Balanced-Unbalanced International Conference 2013 in Noosa, QLD, Australia. It was also shown at Unexpected Spaces, AUT University, Auckland 2012.

Creative Authors:  Rene Burton (visuals), Teresa Connors (composer)

Teresa Connors other works can be found at www.divatproductions.com

Selection of works made in response to the grounding and breakup of the MV Rena

In the early hours of Wednesday the 5th of October 2011, the MV Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef, northeast of the coast of Tauranga.  She had 1733 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board and a cargo of 1368 containers.[1]  This resulted in New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster, with over 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaking from its damaged hull[2].  The effect that continuing pollution will have on the local ecology is unknown[3].  Since the initial grounding, there have been significant storms that have resulted in more containers and their contents being spilled into the ocean.  Over the first month, more than 1000 dead birds were found and 88 containers were lost overboard during a storm.  A further storm in early January 2012 led to the MV Rena splitting in two and at least a further 49 containers were identified to have been lost overboard.  Over the following months, the wreck was battered by more storms.  On the 4th of April 2012, the aft (rear) section of the MV Rena sank after being pummelled by a storm that saw waves as high as 12 metres hitting the wreck.

The installation of Beads also came from this selection of works

[1] Juian, John. Black Tide: The Story Behind the Rena Disaster: Hodder Moa, 2012. Pp 31-2

[2] Michael Daly "Environmental effects of Rena chemicals unknown" Stuff.co.nz, January 21, 2012. http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/rena-crisis/6305844/Environmental-effects-of-Rena-chemicals-unknown (accessed June 12, 2012)

[3] ibid.

Te Uku - The Dialectic Landscape describes the discourse that helps us comprehend a world racked by paradox.

This exhibition illustrates that a landscape itself can become a paradox when perceived from different positions. All images and film presented were taken at the Te Uku wind farm in Waikato, New Zeland on the same day. As a landscape created by man’s incursion is observed and documented by two individuals, the representation of the landscape becomes dialectic.

With the constants of site and time, emphasis is put on the solitary attributes of perception. The contrast between two artists working in similar mediums is highlighted by the subjective nature of production.

Link to exhibition opening pictures can be found here

This documentary project follows an iconic tourist route between Auckland and Cape Reinga, focusing on ‘Rest Stops’. The documentary material was gathered during the first Tropical Cyclone on record to hit New Zealand (Tropical Cyclone Wilma). Rest Stops are prescribed locations that dictate how and when we should view nature. The aim of documenting these sites during an extreme weather event was to highlight both ambiguity and unease and the susceptibility of man’s supposedly permanent infrastructure onto a topography.

“What we call landscape is a stretch of earth overlaid with memory, expectation, and thought.  Land is everything that is actually there, independent of us; Landscape is what we allow in through the doors of perception.”[1]

Tongariro National Park, 2012.  The process of taking images is one of the ways that I use to open my doors of perception. I have completed numerous trips to this location, and it always opens my eyes a little more each time.

[1] Scott Russell Sanders, Hunting for Hope: A Fathers Journey. Boston: Becon, 1998. p.7.