“Factory Fetish”
Zanny Begg, Agnes Denes, Sean Dockray, Francesco Finizio, Micah Hesse, Gordon Matta-Clark, Callum Morton, Ishai Shapira Kalter and Anna Witt
13 Nov → 12 Dec 2015
Bourke Street Mall Front Space & Gallery 1
Factory Fetish explores the all too usual trend and the uncomfortable proximity between artists’ attraction to underdeveloped urban spaces and their eventual discovery, commercialisation and development by real-estate speculators. Through the development of cultural capital we see a translation into market value in which sites of culture are holding bays for property development. In this way art practice is regarded as a resource, that can be used both positively and on the other hand sustains exploitative systems, including forms of self-exploitation through social networks and gentrification.
More broadly, Factory Fetish looks at how the arts have been placed in cornered by the forces of capitalism to facilitate gentrification but also to present alternatives to this, means to critically engage with these issues and and reroute them where possible.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Liang Luscombe and Sean Dockray have developed the short survey project The Real Estate Survey. Its purpose is to collect some basic data about how much money from arts workers and arts organisations in Melbourne trickles down to real estate. The Real Estate Survey as a way of jumpstarting a conversation about finance, gentrification, organisational forms.
Zanny Begg is an artist based in Naarm/Melbourne.
Agnes Denes is an artist based in Naarm/Melbourne.
Sean Dockray is an artist, writer, and programmer whose work explores the politics of technology, with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligences and the algorithmic web. He is also the founding director of the Los Angeles non-profit Telic Arts Exchange, and initiator of knowledge-sharing platforms, The Public School and Aaaaarg.
Francesco Finizio is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist.
Micah Hesse is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist.
Gordon Matta-Clark
Callum Morton’s installation and sculptural practice is inspired by architecture and the built environment. His works explore human interaction with architectural space and ideas through scale models and facades of well-known buildings. He represented Australia at the 2007 Venice Biennale with a scale model of his childhood home, designed and built in the 1970s in a modernist style by his architect father.
Ishai Shapira Kalter is an artist in Naarm/Melbourne.
Anna Witt is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist.