Sydney Observatory has today announced the 11 residents selected for its inaugural residency program beginning this summer. Working across a diverse field of practices from astrophysics, science, philosophy and the environment to visual art and theatre, the residents are: Dr Nancy Cushing, Elizabeth Gadsby, Michaela Gleave, Amala Groom, Annie Grace Handmer, Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez, Rami Mandow, Kate Rees, Imara Savage, Jane Sheldon and Catherine Sarah Young.

The program was launched earlier this year, open to expressions of interest, and received more than 700 applications from established and emerging academic researchers, artists, scientists and creative organisations. The program offers space in-kind at the Observatory and will see the residents collaborate with the Museum on projects that engage audiences with the Observatory’s disciplines, collection and program.
Leading environmental historian Nancy Cushing will explore the working and social history of Sydney Observatory’s Time Ball, focusing on what it meant to the people who managed it.

Artist and scenographer Elizabeth Gadsby, together with award-winning theatre and opera director Imara Savage and soprano and composer Jane Sheldon, will collaborate to create an audio-visual installation inspired by eyewitness accounts of solar eclipses authored by four women: astronomer Maria Mitchell, editor and observatory assistant Mabel Loomis Todd, and writers Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard.

Contemporary artist Michaela Gleave will create a new series of work inspired by the astronomical data in the Gaia and Hipparcos star catalogues.

Amala Groom, a Wiradyuri artist whose practice is informed and driven by First Nations methodologies, will engage with the Observatory’s collection of Time and Timekeeping to expand her research on the relationships between time as a western construct and Wiradyuri epistemologies.

Annie Grace Handmer, researcher at University of Sydney School of History and Philosophy of Science, and host of Space Junk podcast, will present a series of interviews with the team at the Observatory as a behind the scenes exploration into the collection and stories within the building.

Spanish-Australian astrophysicist and science communicator Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez will create a body of images connecting the Observatory, the city, and the Sky through Astrophotography.

Astrophysicist Rami Mandow will further develop a community project SpaceAusScope, providing the tools for space enthusiasts to build their own backyard radio telescopes.

Award-winning poet Kate Rees aims to develop a language of the nocturne and night, inspired by the collection, history and sky views from the Observatory.

Chinese-Filipina award-winning artist, designer and writer Catherine Sarah Young will research into the archives to explore how rain was measured and historical references to extreme weather in Sydney, as part of her work exploring climate change and the environmental future.

Lisa Havilah, Chief Executive, Powerhouse Museum said: “Sydney Observatory is one of the most significant sites in Australia’s scientific history and the launch of this residency program will provide unique and special opportunities for artists and scientists to engage communities with our rich histories. We are thrilled to welcome our first residents and look forward to presenting the work they create in collaboration with our team.”

Built in 1858, Sydney Observatory is positioned on the highest point of Warrane (Sydney) boasting panoramic views of Sydney Harbour and is considered a site of significance for the Eora nation. The Observatory plays a central role in the history of timekeeping, meteorology and astronomy in Australia. In over 160 years, it has led many significant projects, including the creation of New South Wales’ first meteorological records and the chartering of over 430,000 stars in the southern sky.

SYDNEY OBSERVATORY RESIDENTS : MORE ABOUT THEM: 

Dr Nancy Crushing
Nancy Crushing is a leading Australian environmental historian, a member of the executive of the Australian and NZ Environmental History Network and the Australian Historical Association and Vice President of the NSW History Council. She is the Assistant Dean of Research Training for the Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Newcastle, and is an author and writer.

Elizabeth Gadsby
Elizabeth Gadsby is an artist and scenographer. She primarily creates work of scale and scope for live performance including theatre, opera, ballet and dance. She is a recipient of an Australia Council Art Start Grant, a William Fletcher Scholar, and was the 2015 artist in residence for City of Sydney’s Creative Living Work Space program. She is a guest artist lecturing in Set and Costume Design at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. Elizabeth is currently working with Speak Percussion and Naretha Williams on a durational sound performance work based on the site Dight Falls in Melbourne.

Michaela Gleave
Michaela Gleave is a contemporary artist whose conceptual practice spans numerous mediums and platforms including digital and online works, installation, performance, photography, sculpture and video. Her projects question our innate relationship to time, matter and space, and focus particularly on the changing intersections between art, science and society. Her work has been presented extensively across Australia as well as in Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom, Austria, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Iceland, the United States and Mexico. She has been awarded residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York City, Tokyo Wonder Site in Japan, and was resident artist with CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science during 2012−13.

Amala Groom
Amala Groom is a Wiradyuri conceptual artist whose practice, as the performance of her cultural sovereignty, is informed and driven by First Nations epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies. Her work, a form of passionate activism, presents acute and incisive commentary on contemporary socio-political issues. Articulated across diverse media, Amala’s work often subverts and unsettles western iconographies to enunciate Aboriginal stories, experiences and histories, and to interrogate and undermine the legacy of colonialism.

Annie Handmer
Annie Handmer is a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Science, in the School of History and Philosophy of Science. Annie’s research focuses on science and technology studies and the sociology of science in extreme environments. Annie is the host and creator of the Space Junk Podcast and has also been a guest on numerous podcasts including the Sydney Morning Herald’s Please Explain, STEMPunk and Dr Karl’s Shirtloads of Science and has appeared on SBS The Feed.

Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez
Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez is a Spanish-Australian astronomer and science communicator at the Australian Astronomical Optics and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Macquarie University. He joined CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science in 2007 and is the creator, organiser and one of the speakers of the science communication events at Vivid Sydney. He is the co-host of the podcast The Skyentists with Kirsten Banks.

Rami Mandow
Leader in astrophysics and space technology community, Rami is the Founding Director / Editor of SpaceAustralia.com. He is a Master of Science (Astronomy) student with Swinburne University of Technology and a student with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.

Imara Savage
Imara Savage is a theatre and opera director. She has directed award-winning productions for Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, and Griffin Theatre. She is a graduate of NIDA in Directing and the NIDA Playwriting Studio and holds a BA in Communications and International Studies from University of Technology Sydney. Imara has multiple shows in development including a multidisciplinary theatre/choreography/film adaptation of Elizabeth Harrower’s The Watchtower for Malthouse Theatre.

Jane Sheldon
Jane Sheldon is a soprano and composer. She has appeared at Lincoln Centre Festival, Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, Prototype Festival and Sydney Festival and is an Artistic Associate at Sydney Chamber Opera. Jane has co-created several projects at the intersection of art and science, including The Origin Cycle, which was supported by Harvard University, Stanford University, the Australian National University, and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Kate Rees
Kate Rees is an award-winning poet and writer of short fiction. Her work has been published in Australian Poetry Journal, Australian Poetry Anthology, Cordite Poetry Review, Flash Cove, Kill Your Darlings’ New Australian Fiction anthology, by Margaret River Press, Overland, Review of Australian Fiction, by Spineless Wonders and Yalobusha Review, among others. Kate has received national and international prizes, including a short-listing in the 2016 Judith Wright Poetry Award. She was the recipient of the 2017 Barry Hannah Prize in Fiction and runner-up in the 2018 Peter Cowan Short Story Award. She was a 2019 Varuna fellowship holder for her manuscript of short fiction and National Winner of the 2019 Joanne Burns Microlit Award.

Catherine Sarah Young
Catherine Sarah Young is a Chinese-Filipina award-winning artist, designer, and writer. She uses her background in molecular biology, fine art, and interaction design to create interdisciplinary and experimental artworks on the environment. She has received over twenty international awards, residencies, and fellowships, most recently in China, Southeast Asia, Austria, and the Amazon rainforest. She is currently a Scientia PhD scholar at UNSW Art and Design working on climate change and sustainability and an Obama Foundation Leader for Asia-Pacific.

Featured image: The first residents of the inaugural Sydney Observatory Residential program