Chamber Pieces: False Sail
James Nunn
26–29 Mar 2025
Join us at Blindside as James Nunn presents a chamber piece adaptation of Paul Celan’s Matière de Bretagne, as understood through the lens of autistic shutdown, performed with celebratory urinal pots crafted from reshaped and decorated SodaStream bottles.
James Nunn’s artistic practice approaches themes of male isolation and neurodivergence through performative responses to archival investigation. He works with audio-visual and text installations which utilise furniture to explore the museological function of private domestic spaces.
From 2014-2021, James worked with Fireflies Press, art directing and assembling books on contemporary film. In 2021 he worked alongside Fireflies and Apichatpong Weerasethakul to produce a series of 38 collages, which became part of a book tracing the conception of Apichatpong’s film Memoria. In 2023 James completed his Master of Contemporary Art at VCA, where he received the Fiona Myer Award for his graduation show All about snail-love and forgetting to leave the house.
James will be performing the score LIVE on the following dates/times:
Thursday 27th March from 6:00pm-7:00pm
Friday 28th March from 2:00-3:00pm
James Nunn's Collaborators for upcoming performances are:
Andrew Huhtanen McEwan
Andrew Huhtanen McEwan is an audio engineer, producer and musician, and member of the bands Tongue Dissolver and Huntly. Andrew has released a number of solo works under the moniker Ahm, on labels such as Anterograde, and worked closely alongside various artists, including Gregor, Spike F*ck, Wet Kiss, Serpette, bodies of divine infinite and eternal spirit, RVG, Aarti Jadu, Hextape and many more.
Honor Webster-Mannison
Pageboy to your unruly subconscious, Honor Webster-Mannison is a theatre-maker, performer and playwright. Their practice is situated in experimental performance, often exploring cross-disciplinary and collaborative methods. Honor’s credits include ‘Work, But This Time Like You Mean It’ (writer, Canberra Youth Theatre); ‘Slippery’ (performer, Midsumma Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, MELT Festival); ‘Deep Breath In’ (co-writer and performer, Dead Puppets Society’s LAB). Honor is interested in subversive artistic processes aiming to disrupt systems of authority and hierarchy and reimagine ways of relating to one another.
About Blindside Gallery Activations:
This is a Blindside Activation period. As a counterpoint to our regular exhibition programming, Blindside has introduced Activation Periods in 2025. Gallery Activations allow for projects that are experimental, with varied timelines, a focus on public-programming, and possibilities for collaborative practice and exchange. These periods sit as alternatives to our conventional 4 week exhibition periods.
James Nunn presents a chamber piece adaptation of Paul Celan’s matière de Bretagne, as understood through the lens of autistic shutdown, performed with celebratory urinal pots crafted from reshaped and decorated SodaStream bottles.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
James Nunn's artistic practice approaches themes of male isolation and neurodivergence through performative responses to archival investigation. He works with audio-visual and text installations which utilise furniture to explore the museological function of private domestic spaces. From 2014-2021, James worked with Fireflies Press, art directing and assembling books on contemporary film. In 2021 he worked alongside Fireflies and Apichatpong Weerasethakul to produce a series of 38 collages, which became part of a book tracing the conception of Apichatpong’s film Memoria.
In 2023, James completed his Master of Contemporary Art at VCA, where he received the Fiona Myer Award for his graduation show All about snail-love and forgetting to leave the house. James is currently studying Furniture Manufacturing and Design at Holmesglen Tafe, and working on an upcoming group exhibition Samples at Neon Parlour.
Please Note: this performance/installation will involve noise, this maybe disruptive for some.