Alex Wisser is an artist and creative producer based in the township of Kandos in mid-western New South Wales. In 2013 he co-founded the Cementa Contemporary Arts Festival in Kandos and took up permanent residence there with his family.
Along with Cementa, Alex is a co-founder of the Kandos School of Cultural Adaptation where his practice continues to focus on the challenges and opportunities of making art in a regional context with a strong emphasis on socially engaged art and its ability to support cultural change.
In this conversation, Scotia and Alex discuss:

• The regenerative farming movement and how the arts can support the process of change in communities facing serious social, economic and environmental challenges to their way of life

• The capacity of art to provide non-directed space for people to gather and create social cohesion and reflection on complex issues

• The example of a solar energy farming project in the town of Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains and how the combination of arts, science and farming can provide opportunities to bridge the urban-rural divide

• A research framework that Alex is currently developing in partnership with Creative Recovery Network that aims to create a toolset for artists to better perceive the social realities of communities in which they are working

• Alex’s shift to working in a community context and how it has made his practice more embodied and connected to the world beyond traditional arts communities

Links:
Cementahttps://cementa.com.au
Kandos School of Cultural Adaptationhttps://www.ksca.land
Welcome to Kandos, poster by Ian Millishttps://www.ksca.land/origin-story
Solar energy for the farmer, Little Hartley project:https://www.ksca.land/mark-swartz-project
Bula Mirri Farm Solar Project Video:https://www.ksca.land/blogfeed/2020/6/10/the-solar-project-video

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