co-worm-ing is a video poem that is an outcome of digital composting. Utilising audiovisual materials from a production of co-worm-ing for PHOTO2024 (Blindside ARI), the new work presented at MARS Gallery explores processes in remixing using video file compression and the breakdown of conversational texts. Similar to the way nutrients filter through and are collected from worm compost systems as a liquid fertilser, or ‘worm tea’, the video poem is a distillation of words from conversations that are subtitled in prior videos. This text is animated with low-res footage of the artist’s collaborative practice. The video file size and resolution are specified as material properties of the work, inviting audiences to contemplate on how these relate to perceived production value. Presented in high definition 1080p, the actual file size per minute is less than the storage capacity of a floppy disc.

co-worm-ing is an ongoing process-led collaborative practice, founded by Emily Simek, Joy Zhou, and a worm farm based in Naarm, that explores composting as a methodology of artistic collaboration. Taking cues from the way ‘low-value’ food scraps become ‘high-value’ compost in the garden, co-worm-ing is known for their DIY approach to the production of video art.

Emily Simek is an artist who works across digital art, textiles, installation, writing and gardening in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice explores relationships within food webs and local networks of exchange, intersecting with practices in community gardening. Emily holds a Master of Contemporary Art from the University of Melbourne. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Blindside ARI, Seventh Gallery, Testing Grounds, Climarte Gallery, Counihan Gallery, and George Paton Gallery, and is a recipient of the Noel Counihan Commemorative Art Award and VCA50 Creative Development Grant. Emily co-founded the project Patch-Work at Joe’s Market Garden, and has untaken residencies with Next Wave, Siteworks and Art + Ecology (Centre of Visual Art).

Joy Zhou practices as an artist, designer, and producer based in Naarm/Melbourne. Their practice engages the affective interior and exterior conditions and reframes space through relationships, unfolding experiences in everyday life with temporary interventions that queer the norms, and aiming to amplify overlooked existences. Through an intersectional lens, Joy responds to space with embodied experiences and corresponding power dynamics. There is not one fixed medium they work with, but responding to the context, stretching across sonic, graphic, textual, performative, spatial, and socially-engaged practices. Joy is a finalist for the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2023. Joy has exhibited and produced solo and collaborative projects with Blindside, Liquid Architecture, MPavilion, Testing Grounds, Trocadero Projects and West Space.