Now showing at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Face to Face: The New Normal is a major, new exhibition by Vic McEwan developed during three years of creative research exploring medical science and contemporary arts practice. While being in residence at the Sydney Facial Nerve Service, Vic has worked on the front lines of clinical treatment with patients experiencing facial nerve paralysis and examining what impact a contemporary artist might have within the clinical environment.
This visceral exploration has been developed through observations, interaction and direct sharing of experiences to create both intimate and large-scale interactive installations using sound, sculpture, photography, projection, performance, 3-D scanning and 3-D printing.
The exhibition highlights the potential for medical science and the arts to come together to nurture the human dimensions of illness and trauma, exploring issues of identity and the self through the human face.
Face to Face: The New Normal is an outcome of Vic’s PhD that he is undertaking at the University of Sydney as the first artist to be accepted into the Faculty of Medicine and Health, working under the supervision of Dr Susan Coulson (Health Sciences), Dr Claire Hooker (Medical Humanities) and Dr Paul Dwyer (Performance Studies).
As the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Cad Factory, McEwan has led a regionally based arts organisation to work with over 1000 artists to an audience of over 70,000 people while delivering over 200 workshops. The organisations vision statement reflects the importance of ethics in McEwan’s practice:
The Cad Factory is an artist led organisation creating an international program of new, immersive and experimental work guided by authentic exchange, ethical principles, people and place.