Louise Haselton
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23 May-10 June 1996: OUT OF ADELAIDE Lynne Barwick, Simon Cardwell, Shane Carn, Thom Corcoran, Joy Hardman, Louise Haselton, Larissa Hjorth, Aldo Iacobelli, Shaun Kirby, Sarah Lidner, David O'Halloran, Bronwyn Platten, Sonja Porcaro, Josie Starrs, Victoria Straub, John Tonkin, Trinh Vu A Zeitgeist number. The premise of the exhibition was quite a simple one: to represent work by artists who have left or about to leave Adelaide. Therefore it was a curatorial structure that was about as sophisticated as the 'Adam' show curated by Hany Armonius a few years back at Kunst, where all the participants had to be called Adam Adam Boyd, Adam Cullen you get the picture (with the exception of the one called Hany). OUT OF ADELAIDE was an idea generated through different conversations around coffee tables and bars, about the feeling of shift, change, and departure in Adelaide. People moving on. The show wanted to represent and celebrate the work of a certain number of people over a certain period of time (hey Guy Debord!): all of whom had contributed a lot, through their work, and through their other activities. Artists were approached, and those who wished to participate then selected the work to represent themselves. The exhibition was energetic and zappy, and with a rather surprising amount of sex to the fore - at least surprising when you think of preconceptions of recent 'South Australian' practice: a sex focus is not necessarily the thing that immediately sticks out. As one of the critics in town wrote, it was all pretty up-beat, and, as another pointed out, considerably more interesting than the Moet and Chandon showing at the same time up the road. What OUT OF ADELAIDE did say was that Adelaide has produced/hosted some impressive activity artwise and artistwise: that had its own identity and autonomy even within disparate forms of expression. As a concept, or even a show, it touched a nerve in some, who felt that OUT OF ADELAIDE was somehow critical, or at least over valitudinal. However, as it co-incided with the release of the State Government sponsored Adelaide 21 Report and its projections and ideas of Adelaide as a cultural generator and site, in view of the dynamics of its size, gravitational pull etc, OUT OF ADELAIDE was percipient, as well as celebratory. |
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Louise Haselton |