Exhibition Depression by Alexandre Paige

Digital Image by SJ [2007]

'Exhibition depression' is a Bargain Box contribution
written by Alexandre Paige

Exhibition depression: where the subject matter, feeling or energy of a visual art exhibition is so strong, pertinent and relevant to a viewer’s sensitivities that it is too much to bear and ingest [1].

ALEXANDRE PAIGE
Freelance Arts Writer & Coordinator
Director Hawkesbury Film Festival 2007
Blog: cathArtsis

The centre of the Islam exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW transports you to another world. Entering the exhibition you feel like you and the Moorish Alhambra in Granada, Spain have met half way; but as you meander through the museum style set-up with neutral coloured walls investigating religious artefacts, you come to a space that can completely pull the carpet from under you. The change in colour alone in this space is breath-taking, but united with the lighting, music and artworks the space creates some kind of wormhole [2] that visitors become willingly caught in.

I visited this exhibition with a good friend of mine Laura. She has spoken previously of travelling to places overseas, places that have experienced famine, poverty and severely destructive natural disasters such as the 2005 tsunami. When entering these places, seeing the livelihood of people recovering and surviving through perpetual and one-off ordeals, her energy suddenly drops. She feels it in her stomach like she’s just dipped on a roller coaster. Her immune system drops also, usually resulting in a cold or flu or something nastier.

When we entered the centre of the Islam exhibition Laura paused her conversation and swallowed deeply. I picked up on her feeling straight away and asked what was wrong as her face become ghostly. She said “I’ll talk about it when I get out of this room”. So, we walked around the domed lights, I noticed how similar the style of composition and figures were to European renaissance paintings, and then walked back into another neutral toned room. I asked what happened, what she saw that upset her and she explained, “It’s just something about the energy of places like that that bring me down, and so suddenly too”.

I have felt something very similar to this at other exhibitions. Displays of art that showcase the works of oppressed countries affect me in this way. A little while ago I saw a collection of video works from Afghanistan or Iraq (can’t quite remember) and while I love video installation and film, I could not sit and watch or experience these works in their entirety. The voices, theme or subject matter was too poignant or heart-rending that I could not fully digest the meaning or relevance of the exhibition. The art became a secondary field behind a heavy curtain of reality; real human experience and fact. Something needed to be done to help these people in some way. I felt guilty that I was saturated with cries from this area of the world that I did not know what to do but feel down in reverence for the things I could not quite ingest. I leave exhibitions like that bitter and angry at myself, 1.because I expect art galleries to be invigorating or energising in some way and 2. because I can’t do anything to help.

I have heard countless others speak about visiting exhibitions where they leave saying “I didn’t get it; there was too much meaning for me”. I think these responses are linked. However sadly I think others are turned off art galleries because there is too much meaning in some art exhibitions. I believe that galleries have an amazing opportunity to bring facts about our world or some people’s experience of the world onto a safe public platform; but there needs to be some kind of balance between meaningful and palatable art. I’m not saying The Arts of Islam should be re-thought. But art needs to people and create a space for communities to have common ground and feel empowered to change the world even in the smallest way.

These are just some examples to demonstrate that exhibitions can affect people in very deep ways and not just in their minds, but their bodies also. It has led me to coin the term “exhibition depression” as the feeling or state of mind that one can experience after or during an exhibition that deals with big issues that affect one’s normal processes.


This post was submitted to the Bargain Box by ALEXANDRE PAIGE
Please leave a comment for Alexandre and be sure to visit CathArtsis!

NOTES:

[1] Term coined by Alexandre Paige - July 2007.
[2] A portal that takes you to a different time or dimension.

Material City: Art in Urban Spaces

Mark Houston, participating in Urban Happening [2005],
Bilo Carpark, cnr. Marion Rd. & Anzac Hwy., Plympton South,
by Skanky Jane. PHOTO: SJ [2005]

Material City: Art in Urban Spaces
A FREE two-day symposium exploring art in urban spaces.

14 - 15 September 2007
Village Roadshow Theatrette
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Celebrating Melbourne’s unique topography of lane ways and the City of Melbourne’s commitment to innovative public art, Material City is a platform for dialogue and creative engagement that brings together artists, writers, historians, academics and arts workers to consider the complexities and challenges of working in the urban environment.
Source

RSVP – Registration is required for catering purposes. Please Email Your Details

Laneway Commissions PDF 2007

Four temporary artworks by Australian and international artists will transform the city's distinctive lane ways at different times between July 2007 and March 2008.

N.B. If you are going/have been to this symposium SJ's Bargain Box wants to hear from you! Please contactSkanky Jane

Rhubarb Rhubarb by simpleposie

Image Source: By Neddie Jingo

simpleposie is a forum for thinking and writing about contemporary, visual art. simpleposie asks a daily question or more about art. simpleposie has one foot in the arena of classical aesthetics and the other in cyberspace.

simpleposie question for the day #1437
simpleposie wants to know: Have we lost the art of the feud?

simpleposie question for the day #2143
simpleposie wants to know: Has photographing the toilet ever
put you in mind of the Victory of Samothrace?

simpleposie question for the day #2006
simpleposie wants to know: Does your work have an artworld doppelganger?

GOT TEN (10) ART RELATED QUESTIONS OF YOUR OWN?

simpleposie invites you to submit a ten question questionnaire on the subject of things art related. Do you have questions about WORK? Have you been thinking about the work of Rauschenberg, Johns, Warhol andRosenquist in terms of TV's Sex and the City or Golden Girl archetypes? Wondering about artworld etiquette and behaviour? The importance of description or the role of violence in art criticism? Have you ever pondered giving a demonstration of mark making or considered the difference between taste and bias when it comes toLeroy Neiman and didgereedoos?

No question is too silly or too smart. It is not for money - only love... and the possibility of a great conversation. If you would like to see your questionnaire on simpleposie this season the deadline is September 15, 2007.

Send your questionnaire to Jennifer McMackon
*All submissions subject to editorial approval.

simpleposie is functional, sincere and from Toronto

Box Art Quiz #2

Winners of Box Art Quiz #1
The Artswipe, Sonic Yootha and Lucia

Last month's Quiz Answers:

1. The Moon Museum by John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Claus Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol
2. Lynda Benglis
3. To the Dogs
4. PVI Collective Extra Points: tts:australia
5. Broadway Boogie Woogie Extra Points: Token Stroll & ref. to Modernism, grids, cities
6. Alan Kaprow
7. Body Melt Extra Points: Philip Brophy
8. Art Povera Extra Points: Germano Celant
9. Newell Harry
10. Francis Alys

Box Art Quiz #2

• 1 point for every correct answer
• Extra Points: where indicated = 2 extra points

1. Name the three performance artists who performed together in The Sound of Failure at Petersham Bowls, NSW, on Saturday the 24th August 2007.
2. Name the artist who created "combines" (images layering painting, drawing, photography and found objects), between 1953 and 1964.
3. Name the visual artist who wrote and performed the song I Like Things.
4. Name the artist who exhibited 258 snapshot-sized photographs installed in a frieze-like band encompassing 24 metres of gallery space in the exhibition After Image at the Fruitmarket Gallery inEdinburgh UK in 2003.
5. I am an art movement that first appeared around 1945. My conception is generally attributed to the painterJean Dubuffet who described practitioners as taking their subjects, materials, style etc. from their own "individuality" rather than from classical art or art trends. Practitioners of me are usually deemed mentally or socially marginal and this has led to these works, today, being grouped together under another classification. Who am I? (name the art movement). Extra Points: What other name is commonly given to work of this type today?
6. Name the artistic partnership who exhibited Fallujah in 2007 at the Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland.
7. Name the artist who created the The Cremaster Cycle.
8. Which emerging South Australian artist received a Freedman Award in August 2007?
9. In what year was the Turner Prize Exhibition first held? Extra Points: Name the artist who won theTurner Prize in that same year.
10. An artist with the same initials as the artist's name for Question #7 exhibited at both Downtown Art Space's Meet & Greet exhibition (Adelaide S.A.), in April 2007 and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, (Fitzroy VIC), in June 2007. Name the artist. Extra Points: What was the title of the exhibition at Gertrude?

Lovesongs to Bundanon by Leigh Corrigan

Leigh Corrigan [2006]

We watch the river turn pink 
Acetate, polyester, wire
2000mm x 1220mm (W x H)

Exhibited in Shop@rt. Port Adelaide, S.A.

Bundanon Artists Centre

The Bundanon properties and collections are a cultural and environmental asset gifted to Australia by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd. TheBundanon Trust Artist in Residence program is open to professional Australian and international artists and groups from all artistic disciplines. The program supports artists’ new work, research and collaborations. Artists are hosted in purpose-built studios located at the Bundanon properties on the Shoalhaven River in NSW. Bundanon offers free accommodation and studio space for up to 6 weeks.

In 2005 South Australian artist Leigh Corrigan was accepted into the Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence program. At Bundanon Leigh found the inspirational haven that Arthur Boyd had hoped his bequest would provide... (the following text and images are the work of artist Leigh Corrigan)

Leigh Corrigan [2005]
the Island
Pastel on tracing paper
350mm x 2530mm (W x H)
Bundanon Trust, Shoalhaven, NSW



Lovesongs to Bundanon
2005 LEIGH CORRIGAN

(Release)

I came to your river to find myself again;
I know I've been here before.
I've shed tears on your bank.

joy
sadness
loneliness
wholeness

here I feel safe to love

This place
breaks me,
opens me.
Releases me.

how can I deny your beauty?

I'm seduced by your gentle whispers
and vibrations.
I can only surrender.

here I feel alive again

(Heart)

Your gift to me was to open my heart again.
Through my eyes, ears, skin.
To the strange beauty and mystery
of nature.

here I feel connected

(Free)

I AM FREE.
I just didn't know it
until now.

Like the birds outside my window.
Their sweet song carried
on a light breeze.

here

Leigh Corrigan [2003]
Gathering Dust
Site-gathered dust
Variable dimensions
Exhibited in fat & flat.
Axis Gallery, Adelaide, S.A.

Box News: Tidbit #1

This is not a tidbit.

Skanky Jane's Box News Edition
Tidbit #1: Local Pablum of Mythological Contortion
by Ms Representation

Ms Representation is an academic, freelance journalist, screenplay writer and current Chief Editor of Skanky Jane's Box News Edition. Having used a pseudonym for her entire career (spanning three decades), Ms Representation has "come out" to write for the B.Box under her real name. Ms Representation has been published in leading newspapers, magazines and academic journals all over the world.


Ol' Rupe's subsidiary interest, The Messenger , recently published two especially news-worthy articles. Especially, especially news-worthy when you note that, when pasted together, the titles of these two articles spell out the phrase: Wheelie Baffling Crime On Our Streets. Well, here at Box News, we take a zero tolerance approach to phrases of that sort. Thus, without further tolerance, we marched our civil minded little BBox right down to the local cop shop.

After briefly introducing the Box News Crew (during which Skanky did a little performance number), we outlined our plan for clearing up all of this wheelie baffling crime on our streets. All that was needed, we explained to the wheelie nice police woman, was to create a highly sophisticated, three-pronged, stinging operation combining the resources of:

1. The entire South Australian Police Force
2. Every single Watch SA volunteer who could be mustered
3. One Skanky Jane
   

Oddly enough, the cops weren't interested in us or our strategy. They did however arrest Skanky Jane on five violations of the hoon legislation (she wandered off!) - before hoofing us out of the building.

Boy were we deflated. Skanky managed to slip this guy's card into the arresting officer's trouser pocket though and she said he said that he would definitely call for advice. So it wasn't a total loss - besides SJ hooked up with a really nice guy who paid our bus fare home. The wheelie bad news came with the following Watch SAnewsletter and the realisation that Box News didn't even get a mention in this month's list of Police Clearups.


Box News Public Service Announcement

WATCH SA (...for safer neighbourhoods)
SOUTH PLYMPTON (2) AREA 339ISSUE NO 121 AUGUST 2007

Watch SA, South Plympton (2) Area 339, would like some feedback on whether you would like the Police Clearups included in future newsletters. Please contact them with your views.

Good Intentions

Intent [2007] promotional material

Intent
An exciting exhibition extravaganza.
Tents and interior spaces creating hybrid works and new collaborations with light, projections, photography, painting, sculpture, writing and sound installations.

The Queen's TheatrePlayhouse Lane, Adelaide

March 16 - 31 2007

Just like "Honest John" (especially this week) Skanky Jane knows that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Yet here it finally is, the link to Skanky Jane's Picasa Web Album where you can view images from the exhibition Intent as it was at the Queen's Theatre in Adelaide on the 16th to the 31st of March 2007.

A current Masters candidate at the South Australian School of Art, painter and curatorial director for Intent,Brigid Noone, spoke with Skanky Jane about the exhibition, her emerging thesis on vulnerability within contemporary art and the foreseeable challenges of being vulnerable, or "coming from the heart", when facing "The Institute".

If it is the road to hell we're traveling then it must be said that curatorial director for Intent, Brigid Noone, summons images of heaven rather than hades. "Fevvers" from Angela Carter's A Night at the Circus came to my mind as we talked. Ambrosial visions indeed! Intent's ambience of magic realism together with Brigid's striking au naturel countenance and crowning glory most likely prompted the association. Unlike Fevvers, Brigid is very real and I am sure is neither nearly so crude, in spite of her penchant for vodka.

Brigid frequently referred to the University of South Australia, at which she studied for her Honours degree in Visual Art and at which she is a current Master of Visual Art candidate, as "The Institute". Intent artists Leigh Corrigan, Annika Evans, Mary-Jean Richardson and Tomasz Talaj once shared a like-named studio space at Port Adelaide with Brigid and exhibited together in Pucker during Adelaide's 2004 Fringe Festival. One artist I missed from this group during Intent was Jennifer Newton. In 2005 Leigh Corrigan curated Be, twixt at The Project Space and included Jennifer Newton with Hans Kreiner and Greg Ansell. Personal and professional relationships forged on the perimeters of Adelaide's high art square have been fortified through persistent, or consistent, exhibition. Intent artist, Mary-Jean Richardson, exhibited with Brigid at Adelaide Central School of Art in 2005 when they presented Crush Me, an exhibition of paintings and photography.

Brigid Noone, 
Tree spirit is dying [2005]
from Crush Me
IMAGE SOURCE

Artifice aside, like Fevvers , Brigid has a big heart to lay bare and, (also like Fevvers) possesses an apparently inexhaustible amount of energy with which to bear it.



Daniel Noone's Carousel was a highlight.

I'll write more of this - I just want to publish it because it's been here a while!