homecoming for the future
artspace 24/25: celebrating 25 years
Katthy Cavaliere, Loved, 2008, installation/performance
TO CELEBRATE ITS 25 YEARS, ARTSPACE IS TURNING ON QUITE A PARTY FEATURING ONE HOUR TURNS OVER TWO DAYS BY 24 ARTISTS WHO HAVE ALL AT SOME TIME EXHIBITED WITH THE GALLERY IN WHAT PROMISES TO BE A SIGNIFICANT HOMECOMING.
These mini-exhibitions will include installation, performance, moving image, sculpture, photography, new media and painting, all in the spirit of the gallery’s long tradition “as an active working space, a place in which to think, intuit, experiment and make.”
Artspace 24/25 also implicity celebrates the work of generations of artists from the 80s (the gallery opened in Surry Hills in 1983 and moved to Wolloomooloo in 1992) to the present whom the gallery has supported in exhibitions and through the sustained provision of an invaluable critical context through publications and vigorous debate.
The artists showing are Jim Allen, Brook Andrew, Denis Beaubois, Mark Brown, Katthy Cavaliere, Julian Dashper, Elizabeth Day, Richard Dunn, Mikala Dwyer, Domenico de Clario, Deej Fabyc, Matthys Gerber, Joan Grounds, The Kingpins, Derek Kreckler, Wade Marynowsky, Mike Parr, Eugenia Raskopoulos, r e a, Nuha Saad, Jill Scott, George Tillianakis, Mark Titmarsh and Julie Rrap.
Curator Kylie Johnson tells me that the approach has been open-ended, artists providing existing or new works, but each working strictly with the 60 minute limit, which includes setting-up time.
In the first space, on entering the gallery, you’ll find ephemeral materials hung on the walls and in bound scrap books, one for each of the 25 years. The display includes invitations, catalogues and press clippings. You can have a coffee while you browse and your memory of Artspace history, “will be jogged by the amazing number of significant names who have been involved with the gallery”, says Johnson.
The large gallery space will feature performances and object-based works while the smaller will house projected works. Set to run to a tight timetable, says Johnson, Artspace 24/25 should yield many pleasures and, not least, a serious celebration for a uniquely creative Sydney insitution’s 25 years and the many to come.
Artspace 24/25, Woollomooloo, Sydney, Nov 1-2, 11am-5pm
RealTime issue #87 Oct-Nov 2008 pg. 53
