Some recent things

Phew.
There's so much to try and put down here it's kind of overwhelming.
I'm going to try and deliver a few images and some words about some recent projects, as well as some upcoming ones.

Stop Collaborate & Listen!
A few months ago, some friends of mine from Seventh Gallery and I were involved in a collaborative project which was exhibited at Boxcopy, in Brisbane. The project was titled Stop, Collaborate & Listen!* and it was part of a swap between interstate ARIs [Artist Run Initiatives].

My collaborators were Amy-Jo Jory, Jonas Ropponen & Kim Jaeger. We met together at each others' houses for a few months leading up to the show in order to brainstorm ideas for the exhibition. What evolved from this process - which involved elaborate dinners with ample wine - was a very fluid method for appropriating each other's working methodologies and at the same time relinquishing a certain amount of control over the final artwork.

The basic process was:
- each artist writes down two words. One that best describes their working process, and another that summarises their overall practice. The words are written on individual pieces of paper and placed in a hat.
- Each artist then draws two words from the hat, and then over the next few weeks paints/constructs/photographs [etc.] a work based on the two words they have selected.
- At the next meeting, everyone writes their name on a piece of paper, and these are also drawn from the hat. Having selected the name of another of the collaborators, each person then writes two words [in the same way as the first round], but in response to the artist they've selected. These words are then drawn from the hat again.
- Each artist continues working on their own artwork, again in response to the new words.
- Once the works are completed, the names are again drawn from the hat, and each artist installs the work of the person who's name they've selected.

Obviously the system was slightly flawed in terms of absolute handover of control of the artwork, but it was still an engaging and interesting way to create work. Most of us ended up with quite different works to what we would usually do.

A favourite part of the final installation which was put together by all four of us was the videozine - a dvd which depicited a kind of time-lapse slide show of the whole process, including photographs from our dinner parties, sound bytes and some images relating to our own research. It was displayed inside a brown postal bag, and there were hand illustrated copies of the dvd to take as a souvenir. Who doesn't love free stuff?

The whole project was heaps of fun. Travelling to Brisbane for the exhibition was an equally entertaining part of the experience, and our hosts at Boxcopy were very gracious and helpful. Thanks guys!

*If you are not familiar with the reference you must have missed the nineties - so click here