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By: Penny Modra
Date: 31st Oct 07
Medium: Installation
Drink: Long neck in a paper bag
What:
Rise and Fall
Where:
Curtin House Lift, all floors and in between, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne
Current exhibition:
Text Me by Al Stark
When:
Whenever Curtin House is open
How much:
Free
Contact:
david@riseandfall.com.au or chris@riseandfall.com.au
Some people go to galleries to meet people. But with all those wide-open spaces it can be awkward approaching your quarry casually. This scenario would play out differently, for instance, if you were in a lift. Swivel to the right and... eye contact assured!
This city has a history of putting art in unexpected places. Mailboxes, subways, what have you. Rise and Fall takes this idea further in an awesomely confronting way. Described as a ‘parasite space', it's a gallery you can't avoid unless you're in the habit of climbing the 100 plus stairs to Rooftop Bar.
Art in a lift. But won't people graffiti on it? Won't they place their fearsome gig stickers all over it and generally deface it with their inane ramblings? Probably. Founders Chris Barton and Dave McDonald were obviously partly inspired by this challenge. And it's what makes the inaugural exhibition, Text Me, by Melbourne artist Al Stark so ingenious.
A life-sized figure in an ethnic Ku Klux Klan mask implores you to text him - via a bleeding message inscribed on his chest - and the number is provided. Is it a statement about our desperation to connect? Or the inadequacy of technology to this end? Maybe the text messages appearing on the walls each day will tell you. And if you're too shy to talk to the person standing two feet away - you know what to do.