31.10.2008—13.12.2008
Gallery 3, 4 & NIGHT
PROJECTION WINDOW
SARAH BAKER (USA/UK),
PHILIP BROPHY (AUS),
SUE DODD (AUS), KATE
MURPHY (AUS), PIPILOTTI
RIST (CH), DARREN SYLVESTER
(AUS), KELLIE WELLS (AUS)
ONE OF US CANNOT BE WRONG,
CURATED BY KARRA REES
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong addresses self-representation and the navigation of identity in an increasingly media-saturated, technology-dependant and celebrity-obsessed Western society. Presenting the work of seven artists from Australia and abroad, the exhibition explores the impact of these phenomena on self-esteem, self-realisation and ‘finding one’s place in the world’.
Never before have individuals been so heavily scrutinised under the photographic gaze. As video surveillance and digital photography have become more and more ubiquitous, the idea of ‘authentic’ identity has become correspondingly problematic. In our increasingly interconnected and commercially driven visual environment, where interactions and disclosures are often experienced remotely, opportunities for fluid and adaptive self-representation and expression have grown. For a generation obsessed with youth and celebrity, conditioned to ape their idols and strive for unattainable ideals, the contemporary ‘self’ today risks becoming a cipher for inflated and manufactured icons; an amalgam of fluid and fickle ideals, smoke and mirrors.
Photomedia’s ability to seamlessly traverse these boundaries of reality and fantasy makes it an effective agent of deception. Accordingly, the artists in this exhibition self-reflexively employ photography and video to both critique and contribute to popular culture’s commodification of identity. Co-opting the commercial world’s media of choice, they each respond to the tropes of popular culture, its documentation and dissemination, and its power to enrich and dull our lives.
Pipilotti Rist‘s video installation Open My Glade (Flatten) 2000, is exhibited in the Night Projection Window seven nights a week after dark.
OFF-SITE EVENT
YOU
DON’T HAVE
TO CALL IT MUSIC/ONE
OF US CANNOT BE WRONG
WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER
8PM LIVE PERFORMANCE
FEATURING
PHILIP BROPHY, GOSSIPPOP & DARREN
SYLVESTER
@ THE TOFF LVL 2 252
SWANSTON STREET MELBOURNE
$10
Images:
Kellie Wells
Trying to Be Beautiful
While My Hand is Burning 2007
(video still)
Sue Dodd Frozen Sperm 2008
(video still)
Sarah Baker
The Birthday Party 2007 (detail)
