DADAA is delighted to be one of four artist groups participating in the second round of the Perth-based contemporary art project Know They Neighbour.

Know Thy Neighbour is a series of temporary public art projects presented by International Art Space (IAS). Launched this week, the second series sees West Australian artists invited to develop and present projects in response to their own neighbourhoods – including metropolitan sites in the north, south and east of Perth.

Know Thy Neighbour #2 explores the form, function and community of Perth’s diverse residential sprawl. Responding to their own locales in new and unexpected ways, artists will present a series of public interventions, actions and events across 2018 and into 2019 that will engage with, test and challenge our public spaces, streetscapes and infrastructure.

Developed by DADAA Creative Producer Chris Williams and a team of DADAA artists, Field of the Unwanted kicks off Know Thy Neighbour #2 and is DADAA’s inaugural project in its larger Green Brigade initiative.

Green Brigade looks to engage artists in greening up sites in Fremantle in creative ways, with Field of the Unwanted activating and transforming a razed demolition site in central Fremantle into an ordered garden of weeds. Field of the Unwanted uses weeds to question the hierarchies of value and displacement experienced by community members.

Field of the Unwanted reconsiders what we mean by ‘weeds’ and aims to nurture and grow a loved and beautiful garden of weeds in the East End of Fremantle. Drawing parallels with how we have come to classify and value people differently in society, the project will spark conversation around our social inclusivity and give those who might have been excluded or marginalised an opportunity to own a patch of public space.

“The call to know thy neighbour is both an invitation and provocation to artists and audiences,” said Katherine Wilkinson, Curator of Know Thy Neighbour #2. “All projects in this series will foster greater understanding, and challenge our familiarity with certain locations, public spaces and communities. Field of the Unwanted is an exercise in trying to care for that which we would usually cast aside, remove or persecute.”