“The average viewer spends between eight and thirty seconds looking at an art work. To challenge that statistic, Mounted is inviting you to book in one Sunday for an hour … You will be provided with an experience designed to allow you to engage with the work in a deeper and more focused way.”

The Viewer Is Present: an interactive exhibition
Mounted Artist Run Initiative, Springwood NSW
Sundays in October & November
Free, RSVP required >>

Mounted is an artist-run initiative located in the Blue Mountains town of Springwood. On Sundays through October and November, they’re putting on an interactive, covid-safe exhibition of Australian works from both visual artists and writers.

The works will change each week, so you can book in more than once for varied experiences. One of my works of fiction, “The Unicorn”, features in this unique and free exhibition. “The Unicorn” was originally published in SmokeLong Quarterly.

I love the way many of Mounted’s exhibitions combine the work of visual artists and writers. Another story of mine, “God Bless this Rocket House”, featured in one of their 2019 exhibitions. The story was the result of a collaboration with Sydney artist Paul Mallam.

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My short story, ‘Dear Lord, Protect This Rocket House’ has been on display at Mounted Gallery in the Blue Mountains this past month, paired with (and inspired by) this fascinating painting from Australian artist @paulrmallam. The exhibition paired writers and visual artists, and was a real delight to take part in. Along with taking its inspiration from Paul Mallam’s original work, this flash fiction draws on the true story of self-taught rocket scientist Mike Hughes. A sixty-year-old limo driver from California, Hughes believes the Earth is ‘shaped like a frisbee’. In 2018, he launched himself into the sky above the Mojave Desert, reaching 560 km/hour before crashing back down a mere half-kilometre from his launch ramp. Describing his rocket, he said: ‘This thing wants to kill you ten different ways.’ Thirteenth-century Christian lore describes angels relocating the House of Our Lady of Nazareth first to Croatia, then Italy, and perhaps those same angels kept Hughes alive on that day. His constructed reality, a mishmash of religion and science, and his niche celebrity, epitomise our current zeitgeist. #australianfiction #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writers #bookish #read #instabook #bookaddict #australianauthor #artistsoninstagram

A post shared by Ashley Kalagian Blunt (@akalagianblunt) on Dec 16, 2019 at 2:12pm PST

To book into The Viewer Is Present, visit the Mounted website. You can also find Mounted on Instagram and Facebook.