r.a.m.p. (risk assessment management plan) is presented as a site-specific installation in the Ramp Showcase by emerging artist Tom Campbell. The artist has made the work in his dual identity as a settler on this country of white European and Kadazan descent.

The work responds to the particularly challenging configuration of the space, where the viewer must navigate their way up a long rampway, with its prominent railings and curved architectural features, to finally be up close to a series of constructed textile panels and video work that must be viewed behind glass.

The texts in the work are a poetic amalgam of snatches of overheard conversations, warnings and advice written over this particularly challenging year when best laid plans and normal patterns of life have to be reconsidered. The work becomes an act of constructing a diagram as an act of risk. r.a.m.p. locates this risk in a call centre, an arboretum, and in the stories you might wish to read, hear, or tell.

Diagrams are an ongoing investigation for the artist into how a restructuring of sources can unlock more emotional, ethical modes of communication– those ‘softer skills’.

He comments, ‘You have to be an active listener. In some scenes, you’re talking to a stranger, asking them to commit something of themselves to a shared risk. Neither of you knows if your outcome will be achieved.

This work is about risk, and about promises. Risk management is a skill - my skills include fundraising, energy management, strategic thinking, being a jokester, and active listening.’

Campbell is the recipient of the ANU School of Art and Design, Emerging Artist Support Scheme 2019, CMAG Award which offers a graduating artist the opportunity to develop an exhibition in the Ramp Showcase.

Image:
Tom CAMPBELL, r.a.m.p. 2020 constructed textile (detail of installation). Courtesy the artist.