Notice of Proposed Development: 77 Salamanca Place, Hobart (Salamanca Arts Centre) was a site-specific pseudo-development proposal for Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tasmania, 1-30 April 2017. Emulating the bureaucracy of local government planning regulations, the proposed redevelopment was deliberately absurd, mimicking trends in contemporary museum architecture and applying them in monumental scale to the rather modest Salamanca Arts Centre building. In doing so, the SAC building could be transformed into a cutting edge monument to rival institutions such as the Guggenheim(s), the New Museum (New York), the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, MAXXI (Rome) and MONA.
The art museum is no longer built in the image of a Greek temple. Instead, it strives to be unique in every way, from the toilets to the shiny coloured enamel exterior. However, the features designed to create a unique structure paradoxically tend to be common to most new museum buildings. These features include bizarre angles, curved or polished concrete, confusing layout, large entrance courtyards, water features, unlikely toilets, rust, and floating or unusual staircases. The institution will encourage site-specific artworks that respond to the architecture, with art invading the lift shafts, stairs and toilets. Importantly, the ‘visitor experience’ is enhanced through the provision of a gift shop, bar, restaurant and/or café. The most common of these features are applied to the new SAC design with the aim of providing Hobart with (another) ‘unique’ contemporary art museum. The redevelopment retains the building’s existing heritage base, but has three additional levels on top, a site-specific water feature, a night-time lighting display, and an external platform for temporary art projects. It has an absurdly reflective golden roof, a symbol of excess in this Trumpian era. And yet the colour also draws on the 'Australian Heritage Building' swatch that I used as a reference when colour matching. The peaked roof on the northern side is directed towards the mountain - a nod to Hobart's dominant natural feature.
The installation took place in two sites: the Lightbox gallery, SAC, and the photo-based social media platform, Instagram. Using Instagram resulted in an expanded audience and the opportunity to use the language of marketing and new media. The Lightbox gallery itself is akin to a museum vitrine or shop display, and the installation took advantage of its prominent location at street level with 24-hour access. The work evolved over the exhibition period, commencing with a 'Coming Soon' notice in the window, which was eventually replaced with a scale model and architectural plans three weeks into the 1 month exhibition. Sneak peaks of the new development were posted on Instagram over the month, and visitors were thus encouraged to view the work multiple times at both the physical SAC site and online. Feedback on the redevelopment could be sent to SACredevelopement@gmail.com. The installation will remain on Instagram (username @SACredevelopment), and may even evolve further.
Notice of Proposed Development: 100 Goulburn St, Hobart (Constance ARI) was a site-specific installation produced for Constance ARI in April, 2013. The last couple of images are of the installation at the Plimsoll Gallery in 2013, where it was re-presented as part of the exhibition Investigations.
The explanation of the supposed "redevelopment" was presented in lieu of an artist statement:
"To coincide with Inflight’s change of name and scope, the existing gallery building at 100 Goulburn St will be redeveloped. Based on current trends in museum architecture, the humble ARI will be transformed into a cutting edge monument to rival institutions such as the Guggenheim(s), the New Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and MONA. The redevelopment will retain the building’s existing white cubic base, but will have three additional levels on top, will include the neighbouring apartment in the same building, and convert the current carpark into a concrete-paved sculpture garden.
The art museum is no longer built in the image of a Greek temple. Instead, it strives to be unique in every way, from the toilets to the shiny coloured enamel exterior. However, the features designed to create a unique structure paradoxically tend to be common to most new museum buildings. These features include bizarre angles, curved or polished concrete, confusing layout, large entrance courtyards, water features, unlikely toilets, rust, and floating or unusual staircases. The institution will encourage site-specific artworks that respond to the architecture, with art invading the lift shafts, stairs and toilets. Importantly, the ‘visitor experience’ is enhanced through the provision of a gift shop, bar, restaurant and/or café. I have identified the most common of these features and have attempted to apply as many as possible to the new Constance ARI design, with the aim of providing Hobart with (another) ‘unique’ contemporary art museum."
Part of a site-specific installation produced for Constance ARI in April, 2013.
The notice design is based on Hobart City Council's redevelopment notices.
Topiary was a kind of 'therapy' during my PhD. It consists of 5000 toothpicks, each dipped in green paint, allowed to dry in florist foam and then glued in place. It will always be an unfinished work because I completed my PhD before I finished the tail.
The work features in the Agency of Unrealized Projects.
Forced Collaboration (detail), 2009, Inflight ARI, Hobart. Collaborative exhibition with Sarah Jones. Financed by a Janet Holmes à Court Artists’ Grant, NAVA.
Arboreal (details), 2006.
Collaboration with Dean Chatwin.
Pine, house paint, rope.
Site-specific installation along the South Hobart rivulet as part of the Mountain Festival Sculpture Trail. Winner of the Hobart Water Prize for best sculpture.
As part of the Mountain Festival Sculpture Trail, Arboreal responded to the relationship between the built and natural environment around Hobart’s urban fringes. Simple wooden geometric structures, which mimic contemporary house architecture, were placed in and around the trees, rocks and terrain along the rivulet walk.
