Output details

Cock and Bull

I showed a retrospective selection of collaborative video works made with John Beagles between 1996 - 2009 at the Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Victoria College of the Arts Melbourne as part of the group exhibition 'Cock and Bull'. This involved showing 14 individual video works, which represented a unique opportunity for a significant overview within an exhibition context of this key element within my collaborative practice. This exhibition aimed to examine the structures of contemporary society through humour, irony and melodrama. Works in the show encompassed a number of approaches such as the satirical narratives and the invented biography, which clearly connect with some of my longstanding research interests. In particular this means an exploration of approaches to art practice that draw upon a playful approach to narrative form, humour and absurdity as a means to engage with socio-political concerns. As such this exhibition provided a very productive context within which to consider my practice. This exhibition also included a commission by the gallery for a new piece of work. For the commission, funded by Australia Council for the Arts and the McGeorge Fellowship, I produced a new twenty minute film - ‘Two Fine Examples of British Dentistry’. This work continued existing themes relating to self-portraiture, while expanding the practice to include elements of historical narrative. ‘Two Fine Examples of British Dentistry’ has subsequently been exhibited in numerous group shows, most notably as part of ‘Running Time - Artists film in Scotland 1960-present’ at the Dean Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh in 2009. The other artists included in the exhibition were Jon Campbell, Tony Garifalakis, and Matthew Griffin, all based in Australia. Curated by Dr Kate Daw and Vikki McInnes. This show was open March 19th to April 18th 2009 and a catalogue was published with essays by numerous authors.