sean cordeiro and claire healy at la BF15

installation view images courtesy of the artists

australian artists claire healy and sean cordeiro develop sculptural work in a variety of media. through their art, they raise socio-political issues such as globalization, mediatic culture and consumption. prem is a colloquialism used to claim the right of possession over an object. the idea that we can have something just by being the first to name it still works geographically, with the claim land rights, but also biologically with the copyright and other human genetics.

for their exhibition at la contemporary art biennale (la BF15) lyon, france they have reproduced, using lego blocks, the terrain of a region in china known as china’s ‘area 51’. this region was discovered in 2006 thanks to satellite images of google earth. this area appears to be an exact replica in scale 500:1, of the 157 500 km2 of the chinese province aksai chin, which borders on india and pakistan. the area is important for chinese because it connects tibet with a road that the chinese built in 1962. experts say that this model could’ve been built for military purposes. the duo continue to consider this mystery by making a portable replica of the existing model.

detail, aksai chin, 2009

source image, 2009 – google earth image

claire healy and sean cordeiro began collaborating on works in 2002 during the final years of studying their masters in fine arts at the university of new south wales. bringing together ideas of home, permanency and collection, healy and cordeiro create sculptures and installation works that reuse, reform and contain the everyday consumables and detritus of modern life. the duo is based in berlin and spend some of each year in australia. since exhibiting at artspace, sydney in 2003, the artists have lived and worked in various parts of the world, being awarded the helen lempriere traavelling arts scholarship, kunsterhaus bethanien residency in berlin and anne and gordon samstag awards. their work has been shown at the art gallery of NSW and GOMA in australia and they have been included in many curated exhibitions internationally.