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Moving Objects
Moving Objects
History
Location
Melbourne Convention CentreStart date
2022-02-24End date
2022-10-30Language
engResearch statement
Background Art Fairs are typically commercial enterprises designed to showcase galleries and sell artworks to collectors (Thomson 2013, Davidson 2010). However they are also expected to showcase current trends and cutting edge practices, (Quemin 2013, Lee SH 2016). By deliberately exhibiting within this context, this research questions the boundary between contemporary art practice and commercial art practice, and seek methods to disrupt the commodification of creative practice and ideas (Groys 2008). Performance is often used as a disruptive force (Bishop 2009), with artists such as Tino Seghal, Pierre Huyghe and Joan Jonas who all use live performance subversively. Contribution The Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) held over 4 days and nights, consisted of 53 galleries, 2 project spaces and 6 commissioned works. Moving Objects was curated by Emily Cormack (MAF) in order to ‘oxygenate’ the art fair and create a dynamic window into a non-commercial aspect of creative practice. Over the duration Lee performed Moving Objects, arranging and rearranging sculptures within the booth in a durational performance that did not follow usual display culture or the commercial imperative of surrounding booths. This provided audiences with a different viewing experience of contemporary art, momentarily suspending the relationship between art and money. Significance Art does not need to be provocative to provide resistance to dominant modes of spectatorship or consumerism. In this work Lee displayed the physicality and labour associated with making art and thus revealed conceptual and iterative processes artists employ making artwork. This simple performative intervention starkly revealed the commercial nature of surrounding booths, which were staffed by gallerist rather than the artist themselves. By placing her work in this context, Lee was able to share her work with over 14,500 visitors and was contextualised by 53 commercial galleries, providing a stark contrast to the mode of spectatorship at the art fair.Publication classification
JO1 Original Creative Works – Visual Art WorkScale
NTRO MinorExtent
Colour documentation photographsEvent
Moving ObjectsPublisher
Melbourne Art FairPlace of publication
Melbourne, VictoriaUsage metrics
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