Introduction

Rosa Barba's first solo presentation in Australia, entitled Emanations, features a selection of works from the last 10 years, among them 16mm and 35mm films, sculpture and installation. Developed in response to the 2023 Perth Festival theme of djinda – the Noongar term for cosmos or stars – the exhibition revolves around Barba’s long-standing exploration of the connections between film and astronomy and their shared engagement with concepts of light, time and distance.

The film Drawn by the Pulse (2018) is dedicated to American astronomer Henrietta S. Leavitt (1868–1921) whose study of the ‘flicker’ of stars revolutionized our understanding of the size of the cosmos. In The Color Out of Space (2015) images of stars and planets are projected through a series of colored glass panels while the voices of scientists, writers, and artists ruminate on the universe and its enigmas. Alongside film, Emanations includes several sculptural and text-based works where fragments of language are projected, printed and cut into materials such as film and paper to draw our attention to the relations between language and its representation as text and image. 

Supported by Ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) and CCA Productions. 

Rosa Barba 
Emanations
Presented in association with Perth Festival
PICA – Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
51 James St
Perth, WA 6000
February 24 – April 23, 2023
www.pica.org.au