One project in three collaborative parts
I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning when artists drop off their work on the specified day. They come in with armfuls of incredible art based on an idea I've come up with, it's an honouring and humbling experience. And Dead Bugs was no exception. One of the reasons I love curating shows is that I love seeing what other people make. Like with 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift, I knew where the phrase came from and what it referred too, and I knew what I would make. But what I was interested in is what other people would make.
Creating a theme for an exhibition is asking the artists a question. And I always know my answer to the question, that's easy. What I'm interested in is other artists answers.
And that's why I love the day they drop their work in. Because that's the day I get to see the answers to my question. And I'm endlessly fascinated about other people's answers.
Dead Bugs had video art, crochet and jewelery, a soundscape and sculpture as well as the more traditional photography, drawing and painting.
To the left is a photo of the show. At the front is crocheted work from Natasha jade, and behind is Roslyn Quin's woodwork. More images of the show can be found at www.omnificassembly.com/oa/21db.html
Dead Bugs was a challenge to organise. All exhibitions have their own difficulties, Dead Bugs with it's zine and album to organise as well as the show itself was a big job. There were over 30 artists attached, as well as the zine to colate and the cd to colate and then master. We had a few artists drop out, however the structure of the exhbition was such that I could continue to invite artists to participate in the show itself upto the week before it opened. This meant that drop outs were the least of my problems. The challenges of this show was that I'd only ever made one zine, and that was a mainly imaged based one I created one day at the office when I was terribly bored, and I'd never been involved in any way in producing an album. For the zine, a friend of mine, Benj Dawe, who was helping with the show, found Richard Keddell, who colated the zine for me, mostly during a holiday in New Zealand with a dodgy internet connection.
For the album, I spoke to Marcus Teague of Deloris for the initital stuff and then was in contact with Dan Walker who also mastered the album.
The exhibition was opened by a few performers from the show, Adam Ford a Melbourne poet and novelist who submitted a few pages to the zine, performed some poetry, Ben Mckenzie
Melbourne comedian and scientician, gave a 10 minute lecture about insects, and Rohan Voight, who appeared on the album, gave a 10 min acoustic performance.
I think it makes a gallery opening more interesting to have a performance there. You can go to an opening and check out some stuff on the wall with a glass of wine, but there's often room for something else. In Dead Bugs, with the zine and the album on sale, it seemed a little like a market, so I printed and sold tshirts and other clothing with the logo on it as well. It was a nice little inclusion that allowed the audience to take part in the show. we sold a number of packs and shirts, and a number of artworks sold from the show, which is always nice.
There are a few album/zine packs still available.
21 Dead Bugs as a Gift album and zine pack.
A 30 page zine and 10 track album from the exhbition 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift.
Cost (plus postage): $15 via Paypal.
I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning when artists drop off their work on the specified day. They come in with armfuls of incredible art based on an idea I've come up with, it's an honouring and humbling experience. And Dead Bugs was no exception. One of the reasons I love curating shows is that I love seeing what other people make. Like with 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift, I knew where the phrase came from and what it referred too, and I knew what I would make. But what I was interested in is what other people would make.
Creating a theme for an exhibition is asking the artists a question. And I always know my answer to the question, that's easy. What I'm interested in is other artists answers.
And that's why I love the day they drop their work in. Because that's the day I get to see the answers to my question. And I'm endlessly fascinated about other people's answers.
Dead Bugs had video art, crochet and jewelery, a soundscape and sculpture as well as the more traditional photography, drawing and painting.
To the left is a photo of the show. At the front is crocheted work from Natasha jade, and behind is Roslyn Quin's woodwork. More images of the show can be found at www.omnificassembly.com/oa/21db.html
Dead Bugs was a challenge to organise. All exhibitions have their own difficulties, Dead Bugs with it's zine and album to organise as well as the show itself was a big job. There were over 30 artists attached, as well as the zine to colate and the cd to colate and then master. We had a few artists drop out, however the structure of the exhbition was such that I could continue to invite artists to participate in the show itself upto the week before it opened. This meant that drop outs were the least of my problems. The challenges of this show was that I'd only ever made one zine, and that was a mainly imaged based one I created one day at the office when I was terribly bored, and I'd never been involved in any way in producing an album. For the zine, a friend of mine, Benj Dawe, who was helping with the show, found Richard Keddell, who colated the zine for me, mostly during a holiday in New Zealand with a dodgy internet connection.
For the album, I spoke to Marcus Teague of Deloris for the initital stuff and then was in contact with Dan Walker who also mastered the album.
The exhibition was opened by a few performers from the show, Adam Ford a Melbourne poet and novelist who submitted a few pages to the zine, performed some poetry, Ben Mckenzie
Melbourne comedian and scientician, gave a 10 minute lecture about insects, and Rohan Voight, who appeared on the album, gave a 10 min acoustic performance.
I think it makes a gallery opening more interesting to have a performance there. You can go to an opening and check out some stuff on the wall with a glass of wine, but there's often room for something else. In Dead Bugs, with the zine and the album on sale, it seemed a little like a market, so I printed and sold tshirts and other clothing with the logo on it as well. It was a nice little inclusion that allowed the audience to take part in the show. we sold a number of packs and shirts, and a number of artworks sold from the show, which is always nice.
There are a few album/zine packs still available.
21 Dead Bugs as a Gift album and zine pack.
A 30 page zine and 10 track album from the exhbition 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift.
Cost (plus postage): $15 via Paypal.
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