Project George
More an experiment in live network building and performance than a group show, Project George came about as an invitation from the High Street Project in New Zealand. Ex members who were at that time living abroad were asked if they would curate a show using the work of their current collaborators.
I was interested in trialing a sort of reverse content process where the time of the actual show was treated as an event that had already happened only we didn't know exactly what, why or how, so we set about finding out.
My principle agents were Marcia Farquhar, Dorian Mcfarland, Stuart Mayes, Jem Finer, Thierry Malard and Moritz Weidemann.
These individuals began receiving images, letters and files regarding the disappearance of a certain individual in greece six months prior to the show. The informant called themselves ‘the conductor’ and urged the agents to begin investigating the story surrounding ‘george’.
It seemed very clear from the outset that none of the six were entirely aware of the others complicity and none of them could be trusted, they mounted there own investigations into the facts. As time began to creep closer to the imminent event, files went missing from my house in London and the investigation began to take on a rather sinister undertone, The story was far more complex than anybody had initially realised. It was imperative that if everything stemmed back to this space in Christchurch, at least one of us had to be there for the full duration of the time to witness anything that could give us some clues and to coordinate the investigation. I opted to return to NZ and run the 'office' .
.The conductor had moved in many directions and I was becoming increasingly alarmed at the extent of what was now a global network of agents and information. If something was going to happen in this city, someone had to be there to make sense of it all.
Back in Christchurch I quickly converted the gallery space into a functioning office, I hired a secretary for the three weeks, we set up briefing room and connected phone, fax and internet lines. We put blinds on the windows and organised a surveillance roster. We could only speculate as to what might happen and who was involved.
We asked all those who came up to the space to make an appointment for an interview. They received a full briefing on the facts surrounding the case and were asked to report on rumours of suspicious events happening around the city during our time in the offices.
As time began to run out more information and events began to flow into and occur around the office, we were run off our feet trying to connect and communicate. The Ministry of Agriculture had begun confiscating certain parcels, a secret french organisation demanded we comply with instructions to deliver all information to them while wearing a ridiculous red suit with frog feet. Whole streets throughout the city were under surveillance, and residents were barraging the office with inquiries.
During the night, just before the last day, the Project George offices were broken into and trashed by unknown individuals. They scrawled ‘It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye’ in red spray paint across one wall.
Someone also constructed a crude website which still exists.
Marking Time
A Drawing project.
Justine Henry, Susan Jacobs, Rebecca Umlauff, Jason Maling, Torie Nimmervoll.
Rather than selecting artists and specific works, I was interested in a drawing show that was more about the development of a mutual and complimentary sensibility. Marking time was grown rather than constructed. The artists involved developed their contributions to the show as responses to each others work and to the space. The inference of duration as implied by the shows title came about as a result of the development process not as a framework or theme.
Torie Nimmervoll poured salt down the chimney continuously for the duration of the show.
Rebecca Umlauf installed a sound recording of thousands of ping pong balls bouncing down the Conical stairwell.
I showed 24 drawings from the Calibration project (see Visual Work page).
Susan Jacobs created durational drawings in paper and glass pillars containing ants and snails.
Justine Henry embarked on a wall drawing that spanned all available white wall and the duration of the show.
A poke in the eye is a good distraction froma a ringing ear.
Co-curated with Melbourne broadcaster Owen Mckern
A one month series of performances and spatial realisations of new works by Australian artists working in hybrid forms.
Mimic Mass -Split Radio
The Glass Percussion Project - Tracing
Mark Brown and David O'Donoghue - Par 38 / lamphours and Nerve endings
The Spheres
