The Global Dome Unlimited
Jonathan Kimberley & puralia meenamatta Jim Everett.
Collaboration with Stefano de Pieri, Aunty Lottie, Ricky Mitchell, Donata Carrazza & Domenico de Pieri.
Mildura Palimpsest Biennale #8 2011, Mildura, Australia. 2011.
“There is always more to know about being, as people in a world of all-life, and how this experience is something to share across cultures. Through our collaborative work, Jonathan Kimberley and I discuss the diversity of concepts of worldliness as a means to understand that which is the ‘factreality’ of ‘all-life’ as compared with that which has been created inside of the global-dome of thinking. This dome is what I call the West’s conditioned thinking that this is the way the world should be, rather than thinking outside of its parameters. As a plangermairreenner, it is important for me to influence the West to acknowledge our perspective, to create a discussion space across cultures, that affirms currency in world arts discussions. This collaborative discussion between Jonathan and me has been based on two major objectives: first is for each of us to explore place and identity through a natural connection with Country, and the second to progress the shared discussion as a means of exploring new concepts of Country unwritten.” [1]
“The time of living origin is contemporaneous. When time is no time, extraordinary efforts can accomplish extraordinary things. Time, interculture and pantheism can provide either the obstacle or the solution.”
A temple originally dedicated to all gods and beliefs of the time, the first Pantheon was built in 27 BC by Emperor Marcus Agrippa. Originally a rectilinear, T-shaped structure, 144 feet by 66 feet (44m x 20m), with masonry walls and a pitched timber roof, it burned in the great fire of 80 AD, was rebuilt by Emperor Domitian, but was struck by lightening and burned again in 110 AD. The current Pantheon was built by Hadrian between 120-126AD, and dedicated to Agrippa: M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COS.TERTIVM.FECIT.
The oculus (circular aperture) at the apex of the Pantheon’s great dome measures nine metres in diameter and is open to the elements. The floor inside the Pantheon slopes outwards from the centre to enable rain runoff. The Pantheon is not so much a shelter from the world, but a timeless opening to the discussion.
Much like the inherently limited capabilities of a world map, the view down through the oculus proffers a totalizing view, while from below it acts as an aperture that looks out toward the apparently limitless expanse of the heavens. However, the oculus is more than a two-way window on the world, for us it presents an intriguing contemporary paradox. The noble idea of a temple capable of welcoming all beliefs seems somewhat at odds with the attitude of westernizing globalism currently dominating 21st century Australia.
A reconfigured world map, with meenamatta country in Tasmania at its centre, titled meenamatta walantanalinany, beyond the colonial construct: meenamatta map of unlandscape (2006), is integral, suggesting a reorientation of priorities in the international discussion.
The height of the Pantheon from the floor to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft), so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (also, the interior could house a sphere 43.3 metres (142 ft) in diameter). The interior of The Global Dome Unlimited is a 1:10 scale model of this cube, built out of 624 cardboard Mildura orange boxes. Each box is printed with images of oranges and the statement, ‘pre-packed Australian’. An image of the oculus is projected onto the floor. The cube represents both the spatiality within the Pantheon and metaphorically also the enormity and continuum of intercultural work required to move beyond what we call the Global Dome of Thinking.
Potentially both the obstacle and the solution, The Global Dome Unlimited questions: Do we have the collective gravitas, the global self-awareness, to more reciprocally engage the international discussion amid Aboriginal multi-nation ‘fact-reality’ and the complex migrant identity of this country? Which way is the oculus of Australian interculture orientated?
Special Thanks: Helen Vivian (Curator), Ross Lake, Stefano de Pieri, Aunty Lottie, Ricky Mitchell, Donata Carrazza & Domenico de Pieri, Jess Avery, Arts Mildura, Alcorso Foundation Tasmania, Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Umberto Sansoni, Federico Troletti.
© Jonathan Kimberley & puralia meenamatta Jim Everett 2011.
[1] puralia meenamatta Jim Everett & Jonathan Kimberley, The Global Dome Unlimited, Mildura Palimpsest #8 2011.
