Shaped by climate crisis, biodiversity collapse and ongoing ecological transformation Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler: Primary Succession reflects on how life reorganises itself after ecological rupture.
Grounded in long-term research into Melbourne and Greater Dandenong landscapes, the work examines a world shaped by colonial extraction, urban expansion and climate crisis. Through speculative ecologies, the artists imagine a future where eco-intelligence and ecological memory replace human-centred systems of control.
The artists explore environmental loss through the lens of one of the region’s most vital yet often misunderstood species: the grey-headed flying fox. Essential pollinators and seed dispersers, these nocturnal animals function as a keystone species whose survival is closely tied to the health and regeneration of entire ecosystems.
Sculptural forms, immersive scenography and atmospheric environments invite audiences into a world where biological and technological systems learn, remember and adapt together. Rather than offering utopian or apocalyptic visions, Primary Succession proposes regeneration as a continuous process of becoming, where resilience, memory and possibility coexist beyond human dominance across time, uncertainty and fragile planetary conditions shaped by collective ecological imagination today.
