Key Facts:
- New immersive exhibition by artists Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler explores ecological regeneration after environmental disruption through speculative environments
- Exhibition examines the impact of colonisation and urban development on Melbourne and Greater Dandenong's ecosystems
- A revealing presence in the exhibition is the grey-headed flying fox
- Creates a speculative future world where eco-intelligence and ecological memory replace human-centred technology, with life adapting to nocturnal rhythms
- Exhibition runs from 6 June to 15 August at Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre and 'Space Cube' in central Dandenong, open Wednesday to Saturday
Wona Bae & Charlie Lawler: Primary Succession
Primary Succession is a major new immersive exhibition by artists Wona Bae (South Korea) and Charlie Lawler (Australia) that explores how life reorganises itself after ecological rupture. Through speculative ecologies, the work reflects on impermanence, memory and adaptation in an era shaped by climate crisis, biodiversity collapse and profound environmental change.
Positioned between science, ecology and imagination, Primary Succession dismantles familiar ecological forms and reconstructs them into a transformative spatial environment. Rather than offering utopian solutions or apocalyptic visions, the work functions as a space of rehearsal — an invitation to test how life might continue and regenerate beyond human dominance.
At its core, this contemporary exhibition proposes a future where eco‑intelligence (EI) and ecological memory have replaced human‑centered models of technological control. Biological and technological systems intertwine, learning, sensing and adapting together. Landscapes behave as living archives, absorbing the memory of past imbalance and rehearsing new ecological alignments through deep time.
"Primary Succession is an ambitious and richly layered project that examines the enduring impact of colonisation on our planet's environment, climate, and living systems," says Dr Miriam La Rosa, Arts Curator, Greater Dandenong City Council.
"Bae and Lawler's practice brings together scientific and ecological knowledge with a refined aesthetic sensibility, resulting in installations that are not only visually striking but deeply immersive — works that draw audiences into an altered, speculative world."
The project emerges from extensive long‑term research into the changing ecologies of Melbourne and Greater Dandenong, landscapes profoundly reshaped by colonial extraction and ongoing urban expansion. Through extensive research, and following a consultation with Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Cranbourne), the work connects local ecological transformation to broader global climate dynamics.
A revealing presence in the exhibition is the grey-headed flying fox, one of the region's most vital yet frequently misunderstood species. As essential pollinators and seed dispersers, these nocturnal animals function as keystone species whose survival is closely tied to ecosystem health and regeneration. By foregrounding their presence, Primary Succession invites audiences to reconsider urban development, habitat fragmentation and the possibility of multispecies coexistence.
Projected environmental conditions — hotter, drier climates, intensified weather events and reduced biodiversity — shape the speculative world of the installation. Life reorganises around nocturnal rhythms, where survival unfolds under the cover of darkness and new ecological strategies emerge.
Within this imagined landscape, intelligence circulates quietly through residual infrastructures and living networks. Memory, resilience and possibility coexist, not as narratives of recovery, but as an ongoing state of becoming.
"The end is not staged as collapse, but as a subtle reorganisation of matter and time, a reprogramming of life's logic," say artists Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler.
"New ecologies emerge, at once familiar yet alien, as the vitality of life resurfaces."
Through sculptural forms, immersive scenography and atmospheric design, Primary Succession offers audiences an encounter with a world that continues according to logics that are adaptive, intimate and profoundly indifferent. In doing so, the work opens a contemplative space to reflect on survival, regeneration and our shifting place within evolving ecological futures.
Exhibition Details
Wona Bae & Charlie Lawler: Primary Succession
Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre and temporary installation 'Space Cube' in central Dandenong
Wednesday–Saturday, 11am–3pm
Exhibition Opening: Saturday 6 June, 6pm
Exhibition Dates: 6 June – 15 August
