Australia-Canada exchange project with exhibitions in Vancouver and Melbourne

Part 1: 28 February – 3 April 2004 Western Front, Vancouver, Canada
Part 2: 8 – 23 October 2004 West Space, Melbourne, Australia

Artists:
John Barbour (Adelaide)
Derek Barnett (New York)
Jane Finlay (Perth)
Alex Gawronski (Sydney)
Ruark Lewis (Sydney)
Mark Soo (Vancouver)
Nicole + Ryan (Vancouver)
Kathleen Ritter (London, Ontario)

Curated by Brett Jones & Jonathan Middleton

Organisation is an ongoing series of projects that have emerged from West Space’s active interest in working with artist-run organisations and artists in different parts of the world. The first Organisation project (OCEM) in 2003 involved Australian and Hong Kong artists in cross cultural dialogue.

The latest permutation of West Space’s Organisation collaborative projects, Organisation for Cultural Exchange and Disagreement (OCED) is a two-part Australia-Canada exchange project. Part 1 took place at the Western Front, Vancouver in April 2004. OCED will feature work by local and international artists looking at the current state of the Institutional Critique, institutionalised dissent, and utopic disarray. This project asks questions about the bureaucratic/administrative overlay on the development of creative ideas and their modes of formation common among artist-run initiatives, and corporate or institutional identities used by artists. These questions will be framed through the ‘Disagreement’ as a device intended to implicate all of those involved.

Whatever – thinking about your project brings to mind Georges Bataille’s idea of the formless – as developed by Rosalind Krauss and Yves-Alain Bois – as being a systematic ‘operation’ aimed at undoing all forms of form – institutional, architectural, moral, philosophic. The never ending work of Whelan the Wrecker. (Barbour)

Actually I have a BIG problem with email as a medium for extended or complex exchanges. I even have doubts about it is as a communicative tool probably because of its disembodiedness. I also find it, inherently bureaucratic and do not generally enjoy or feel inspired by spending long periods writing emails. All I see at this stage is an empty space filled perhaps with hundreds of emails. (Gawronski)

So why do artist-run organisations cling on so tightly to the aspirations and ideology of the historical avant-garde? The easy answer is because we no longer have one. But perhaps we need to ask why are we so obsessed with the affects of institutionalisation, bureaucratisation and normalisation of art practice and artist-run organisations. We have so many references to historical precedents and have built such bases of specialised knowledge surrounding the activity of artist-run organisations, that ‘inevitably’ we, hey presto, now have our very own institution! (Jones)

I find the term ‘cultural exchange’ to be one of the most problematic forms of language that artists and organizations have inherited or more pertinently appropriated to fit the confines of the various hegemonic structures that support art practice and related discourses. True, it is perhaps a necessary tool for cross cultural engagement but could this also be attributing to a self perceived homogenisation of artforms? This leads me to question how ‘cultural exchange’ is utilised, measured and ratified across cultures. (Finlay)

I had a thought recently about Monty Python’s ‘Argument Skit’ as a possible example of institutionalized critique (as opposed to institutional critique). (Middleton)

“Look if I argue with you I must take up a contrary position.”
“Yes, but that’s not just saying ‘No it isn’t’.”
“Yes it is.”
“No it isn’t.”

OCED is presented as part of the West Space Projects Program. This program provides support to ambitious projects negotiating innovative approaches to cultural debate, production, presentation, collaboration and exchange.

Coinciding with the West Space exhibition will be the launch of the OCED publication. This second Organisation document features essays and visual material by each of the artists and project co-ordinators, drawing together some of the issues discussed in the project, while contrasting the similarities and differences between artist-run activity in Australia and Canada. This publication is generously supported through Arts Victoria.

Publication design: Stephen Rutledge ISBN:0 9751455 2 5

First 24 Images from OCED at Western Front, Vancouver, Canada 28 February – 3 April 2004

Documentation by Brett Jones