All was revealed wednesday night! First of all, less construction than I was expecting (for some reason I had envisioned the whole gallery covered in new wall) and the rumours of 'artist talks' and 'performances' were laid to rest. Instead, what we had was a few walls in the upper half of the gallery with six sound works (one for each artist) where that particular artist detailed their art practices via spoken language.
I've been trying to get my head around the show. Part of me is still asking why they didn't just show their work? That in itself isn't a simple task, I think most people who've gone through pilot know that. But then they ask me to listen with my eyes and look with my ears and i'm all worried that I'm being too conceptually narrow-minded...Mind you, that's probably the point. To be pushed to think differently, isnt' that what art is about??
What intrigues me most though is the decisions around the show. Like the theatre references (backs of walls painted black), Alan's description of the work sounding like an orchestra tuning up, the empty gallery space at the end for contemplation, even the passageway into the gallery is like breathing space, or mental preparation for what's to come.
Pros:
- The hard work done to physically change the gallery space (they lovingly nicknamed it 'st paul street gallery four').
- The build up to it (via posters and red herrings) was half the fun!
Cons:
- The height of the speakers being too high for shorter people (well, for me)!!
Barring the heightist nature (which is nothing but me wishing to be taller), I'm so very proud of the six artists behind the show. So much hard work, and it really shows! To completely come through to the other side from vision to actual conception...I can only hope that our group can do that too.
- Agnes
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