Barbara Campbell (born 1961) is an Australian performance and installation artist.

Early life and education

Campbell was born in

Beaudesert, Queensland Beaudesert is a rural town and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Beaudesert had a population of 6,395 people. Beaudesert is the administrative centre for the Scenic Rim Region. Geography Beaudesert is south of ...

in 1961. She studied film under Alan Cholodenko, Rex Butler and Keith Broadfoot at Power Department of Art History at

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

in 1987. She completed a Master of Visual Arts at

Sydney College of the Arts The Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is a contemporary art school that was a faculty of the University of Sydney from 1990 until 2017, when it became a school of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Until the end of 2019, the campus was locat ...

, University of Sydney in 1998. In 2015 she completed a PhD at Sydney College of the Arts, researching how migratory

shorebird 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s direct human performance.

Influences and art practice

Campbell's influences come from peers working in the Sydney Super 8 Film Group, 60s minimalist filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage. Campbell also recognises the influence of French

semioticians Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...

such as Christian Metz,

Jean-Louis Baudry Jean-Louis Baudry (March 2, 1930 – October 3, 2015) was a French novelist, ''Tel Quel'' literary editor, and psychoanalytic film theorist. He is best known for "Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus" (1970) and "The Apparatu ...

, André Bazin,

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as w ...

and Raymond Bellour. In 1987 Campbell took a course in

Super 8 Super 8 or Super Eight may refer to: Film * Super 8 film, a motion picture film format released in 1965 * Super 8 film camera, a motion picture camera used to film Super 8mm motion picture format * ''Super 8'' (2011 film), a science-fiction fi ...

at the

Tin Sheds The Tin Sheds was the common name of the Sydney University Art Workshop was an Australian art workshop in Sydney, New South Wales, founded in 1969. Its name lives on in the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, ...

art workshop at the

, and conducted numerous workshops organised by Sydney Intermedia Network with artists and peers such as Andrew Frost. Campbell later started using video, setting up live video feedback so that the camera and the monitor could be used to create a dialogue between performer and audience.

Career

Campbell used text as the starting point for her large-scale installation ''Conradania'', based on

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

’s acclaimed 1899 novel '' The Heart of Darkness'' set on the Congo River in Africa.

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

based the film '' Apocalypse Now'' on Conrad's novel. Campbell spent eight weeks typing out ''The Heart of Darkness'' word for word on twenty lengths of Chinese rice paper. She then filmed the Jungle Cruise ride at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

, which is played on a small screen in front of the hanging rice paper. ''1001 nights cast'' (2005-2008) is written by hundreds of collaborators, using video to live web-stream performances through the project's dedicated website. The work was inspired by The Arabian Nights, the famous anthology of stories and how storytelling was a means of survival; the young woman

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' deri ...

stalls her execution by weaving an endless story of such intrigue that the King Shahriyar eventually grants her a reprieve. From 1982 to 1983 Campbell was Gallery Co-ordinator at the Institute of Modern Art in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. She has also done research into the arts and culture sectors, and was an office bearer of the

Queensland Artworkers Union ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

(later Artworkers Alliance). In 1984, she ran the influential A Room

art collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the needs ...

in George Street, Brisbane

Collections

four of her works are held in the National Gallery of Australia in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Barbara 1961 births Living people 21st-century Australian women artists 21st-century Australian artists