Urban art moves to new heights
Artists normally hang pictures on gallery walls, not themselves.
Erin Coates has combined her artistic passion with her love for rock climbing and urban parkouring by turning the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts into a giant jungle gym.
For her exhibition Kinesphere, Coates has built a mini-mountain inside which a micro-cinema shows footage of people climbing buildings, sculptures and other city landmarks.
There is a climbing room for gallery visitors and wall drawings trace routes shared among an underground fraternity of urban "guerilla" climbers.
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Coates said Kinesphere showed an irreverent new way to map the city and challenged how people were conditioned to use public spaces.
"We are looking at climbing and movement as art and reinterpreting the way we look at urban structures," Coates said.
"I'd like people to think about other ways we can move in the city. We built the city and then it builds us.
"We usually move in regimented ways. It is not asking people to all go out and climb buildings but it is asking them to consider other ways they can be in urban spaces.
"It is trying to get people to take a different perspective on the places we walk through every day and take for granted to the point we don't see them any more."
Coates hopes the exhibition, which runs until November, offers food for thought as Perth changes through projects such as the Perth City Link and Elizabeth Quay.
"There are a lot of discussions about urban development and what kind of city Perth is going to be, so artists and climbers should be part of that conversation."
Kinesphere includes an education program inviting children to climb the walls and think about how they can use their bodies in different ways.
