Bianca Tainsh Folio

A challenge has been set.

The challenge to create a perfect logo. A symbol to embody the distinct characteristics of a nameless and fictitious company. To bring it into existence. To give it a face to present to the world.

4 graphic designers are offered a rare opportunity for absolute creative freedom. Can they bring this entity to life? What do you get for $5?

Five Dollar Identity is the first exhibition of Bianca’s current survey into the commodification of creativity, particularly the ramifications of being a creative and philosophical individual positioned in the corporate world. Is there opportunity for individuality and freedom of expression in their work, or is their experience that of routine, the mundane.

Through the process of establishing her own non-arts business Bianca has been exploring the boundaries between her artistic practice and that of the business professional, hiring the services of others to meet her needs, inviting a dialogue around fabrication as appropriation, and the artificiality of corporate aesthetics.

Detachment is a necessary evil. Emotion impairs good judgement. The enemy is calculating, cunning and cold. One year to learn the game. One year to beat the corporates.

In a bid to save a doomed lake in Queensland artist Bianca Tainsh joined forces with a throw together army of locals called Friends of Lake Weyba. With the aim of using creativity to power a feel-good form of activism the Friends found themselves in a battle where promotion and public popularity could just vanquish the big dollar clout of a cunning development company.

Exhausted Ideals uses video and installation to revisit a year of unexpected outcomes and personal trials. Utilising documentation Bianca re-presents her project through the eyes of the media, and examines what began as a political agenda but became a game in which lies, defamation and deceit versus arts shows, photo comps and the charms of a good looking environmental scientist.

The Weyba List of Species

Since March 2013 I have been compiling a list of species for Lake Weyba. The list has been informed through digital species searches, local recollection and vigorous fieldwork.

Through a call-out the list has been visually realised with the contribution of images of actual Weyba species from the public. These images have become 'proof' of Weyba’s natural diversity and the abundance of endangered and threatened species on its shores and within its waters. This invitation to contribute has also offered a rewarding mode of involvement for the individuals who feel an attachment to Lake Weyba and have felt powerless against its current plight.

The Weyba List of Species was printed and installed for its first public viewing during At One with Weyba in June 2013. Throughout its exhibition the list was consistently updated with new data and images.

In its final stage the list will become a permanent web resource available for public access and educational reference, and open for ongoing contributions of images, recollections and adjustments.

My hope is that along with uniting the community in a beneficial joint project, the list will provide strong evidence of Lake Weyba’s environmental significance, and stipulate the value of protecting it from being commodified for quick-profit, mass urban developments.