Curating a Smell (careful of the stools)
Harriet Body
I bustled into Firstdraft Gallery late for the Q and A sessions with Joel Mu (the curator) and Nadia Wagner (an exhibiting artist). I quietly and discretely pulled up one of those short, collapsible stools with the fold-up legs. Well collapse it did, with me on it, flomph, on to the floor, legs and arms flailing and knickers on show. After all the: are you ok’s? And the kind jokes at my expense we got back to business (me with a rather bruised behind)
The exhibition, This is Curating is about explaining the art of curation and the relationship between artist and curator. It is a group exhibition that presents 40 works by artists based in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Oslo and Berlin.
Joel Mu chatted about his ideas of curating as an art form. I noticed that his curating style is relatively unorthodox and was interested to hear his explanation for this. He said that he is ‘very interested in symmetry and a-symmetry.’ This is apparent with his likelihood to place works higher or lower than the normal ‘eye height.’
Those who are regular Firstdraft goers will be surprised to see the usual Chalmers street entrance bordered up. Instead Joel thought it better to have the entrance around the side entrance roller door. This is an interesting approach if you’re familiar to the gallery as it changes the space completely. He has also blocked all the windows and the front desk with brown card and has used large wooden pallets as plinths for TV screens showing works from a range of artists.
Perhaps the most original and remarkable work is Urban Olfactics from Australian, Nadia Wagner. Her work is a smell that she says is ‘a conceptual fragrance that explains the urban environment.’ The discussion got quite boisterous at this prospect with people heckling Nadia to tell them more. Why do you do this? What exactly is your concept? But Nadia remained complacent and, for personal reasons I suppose, was careful not to give too much away.
Two other artists of note are H&M The Norwegian Hanne Rivrud and Monja Wiik. The three collaborative video works of theirs touched me as humorous takes on everyday life.
