Behind the scenes from our current project Be Part of Things: we are the project. This particular blog is an unfinished draft published “as is”.
Inspired by a throw away comment by a city based arts executive about the “perceived barriers” that might stop regional artists participating
Eliza Wuttke (Port Lincoln):
“Perceived” (read, very real) barriers are everywhere for regional folks. Whether it’s extra distance to travel, added accommodation nights, dodgy internet connections or experiences of isolation. We’re often told that these can be overcome, they are described as “perceived barriers” despite being very real and while many can (technically) be worked around those work arounds require additional resources, time and money that aren’t always available. This exhibition speaks to that but also reimagines a complete shift in the way we think, make and work. We started with no plan, just a very vague idea of what we wanted this to look like and how we might say the things we wanted to say. The result… an exhibition that could be read as a deep, creative exploration into the life of a regional artist, or a pile of stuff on the floor. It’s all about perspective and process, process as practice.
The process of creating ‘Perceived Barriers’ involved lots of questions, very few answers and plenty of creative interpretation of objects. It looked like the three of us (+ Sam) hanging out at Part of Things and trying stuff out, hanging paper from the ceiling and winding string around things. During the install we had an open door, inviting people to drop in and see the process, emphasising that this was as much about the process as it was about the finished product.
As always happens when I visit the Part of Things space and hang out with friends and fellow regional creatives like Alysha, Kirste and Sam I left Barmera feeling creatively fulfilled, inspired and brimming with new ideas. This too is part of the process.
Kirste Vandergiessen (Barmera):
- I remember starting this whole exhibition without any plan and I think I malfunctioned for a hot minute (read: few hours). What is the process if no plan????? Ah scary.
- Community is very used to “traditional” exhibitions – landscape and portrait paintings.
- Part of Things scavenger hunt – do these random items (phone, box of paper, chair) fit in our exhibition? Why and how? How do they tell the story?
Alysha Herrmann (Riverland/Mount Gambier):
Growing up I thought art exhibitions were paintings of flowers and landscapes and dead people hung on the walls of big intimidating buildings. I had a very fixed mindset about what art was and what it wasn’t. As an adult my idea of what art is and can be has shifted and expanded in so many ways. I’m continuing to experiment with how my own practice sits within different forms and containers – in this case a “visual arts exhibition”.
When we first started talking about having some kind of exhibition outcome for SALA that explored and represented our process in Be Part of Things: we are the project I had this idea in my head of printing out all our notes and budgets and hanging them from the ceiling as a paper based installation of ephemera. Although the final exhibition didn’t have that exact idea realised, that sense of ephemera, installation and making the invisible work visible is very present in the final exhibition.
- Write something reflecting on people’s feedback/engagement with the exhibition in person
- We also hung out with some Riverland creative folk at Miriam’s birthday celebration while we were in town for the install (value of those connections outside of “formal doing”)
Be Part of Things: we are the project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body and the Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
#regionalarts #creativeregions #regionalartsaustralia #regionalstories
Part of Things 