Terra Nova

Terra Nova is a visual art-form investigation into the human desire to understand our place in the universe. 

It is a primordial soup of ideas clamouring for a place in the miniature world IOU has created in this captivatingly beautiful installation. 

Narrative threads are interwoven, appearing like medieval paintings, where gods, saints and sinners appear numerous times in the same painting, telling their story in visual ways.

The project draws upon themes explored originally in the IOU show Electric Fields and also in the early works by Sonya that involved country walks and her promenade performances. 

Brand new creation myths and familiar characters from the worlds of ancient gods and messengers cross paths and encounter the diagrammatic mysteries of the Carbon Cycle. But the moon is being kept in a jar in the house next door.  Are the Gods angry? We check the stars and review the celestial horoscope with the aid of an electron telescope.

A room full of terrarium-like cases, papers, pictures and screens – soundtracks. The moon and Sun are presented in the district of the venue in their relative position to the Terra Nova world. These can be found using what3words positioning.  Miniature animated scenes and incidents are shown in different parts of the installation and on the wall screens.

It is unlikely that the Terrarium elements of the installation could be placed outside. However elements related to these – perhaps in relative scale, Moon, Sun, a ‘dolls’ house city a mile away, might be placed in a large area around the Terrariums, ranging from a few feet to a few miles – audience members finding them using the what3words app.