Dane Mitchell: Post hoc

Naming absent entities, Dane Mitchell’s Post hoc is a multi-site artwork commissioned by the Arts Council of New Zealand for its 9th national presentation at the 58th Venice Biennale. Visitors and residents alike will discover Mitchell’s sonic, sculptural transmitters across the sinking city, broadcasting lists of disappeared, invisible and extinct phenomena. The New Zealand Pavilion which is housed this year in the Palazzina Canonica—the former headquarters of exhibition partner Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR)—will serve as the hub for Mitchell’s transmission to cell towers designed to resemble pine trees and installed in evocative historical sites. Heard at each tree, the measured poetic reading of the lists generates a network of sound for the duration of the Biennale Arte 2019.

As well as the tree towers located in the courtyard of the New Zealand pavilion, another tower is at Sant’Elena at the eastern point of Castello, fittingly in the Parco Rimembranze. Post hoc alludes to ideas of the imperceptible and intangible associated with the past and the creation of new knowledge. The Università Iuav di Venezia is another node in the tree tower network, as an institution invested in the academic tradition of formulating theories, arguments and knowledge as it pertains to the built environment. Understanding encompasses evidence and speculation, and the tree sited at the historical precinct of Ospedale Civile di Venezia, a functioning hospital, stands in an environment of medical hypothesis and naming as well as mortality. A further tree is situated amongst Venice’s rich maritime history in the North Arsenale, which has evidenced histories of movements, trade and naval technologies and campaigns.

All of these sites help to frame Mitchell’s underlying exploration of our relation to the past, and enduring systems of knowledge and belief. The elegiac broadcast calls up topical concerns in our collective consciousness, including climate change, urbanisation and loss of language and culture as well as sovereignty, ethics and technological omnipotence. Word by word, Post hoc redeems unseen and muted histories, a reminder that we never fully know the realities of what no longer exists. In turn, the vast, individually compiled lists of bygone phenomena rely on the availability and veracity of recorded material. Therein Post hoc signals the contingent process of constructing history and knowledge, implicitly questioning Enlightenment ideals and Western epistemologies in this post-truth moment. In a similar vein, the network of "trees" which poorly mimic nature suggest we are living in a state of after nature. Post hoc, which translates from Latin to "after this," prompts myriad questions about how we have come to this critical moment and how we can shape our futures.

New Zealand at Venice is grateful for the support of its generous patrons, partners and sponsors for its presentation at the Venice Biennale 2019. New Zealand’s arts development agency, Creative New Zealand, funds and manages New Zealand’s presence at the Biennale Arte 2019 and the New Zealand at Venice patrons generously contribute towards the presentation. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is a key partner once more. We are grateful for their long-term commitment to supporting New Zealand’s presence at the biennale.

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