Text in high places: from Courts to Parliament
Extract from Gina Fairley 'Text me babe' published 13 October, Arts Hub.com.au
Boundless Volumes Parliament House Canberra from 30 November 2017 to 11 February 2018
Using found text is a recurrent method across this genre, but a new exhibition of commissioned work at Parliament House in Canberra adds a twist to the source.
As technology has changed, so too has the delivery of information. Known as Hansard, the transcripts of parliamentary proceedings are rarely printed and bound today, instead they are predominately viewed as electronic entities.
So what do you do with 120 years of bound parliamentary recordings? Give them to artists.
‘The artists will explore both the properties of the physical source material as well as the history documented within the volumes,’ explained co-curators of the Parliamentary exhibition, Justine van Mourik and Aimee Frodsham. They commissioned nine artists to enliven, reinterpret, reuse and recycle the leather bound volumes that date back to 1901.
The artists are Michael Eather, Simryn Gill, Katherine Hattam, Pam Langdon, Archie Moore, Elvis Richardson, Kylie Stillman, Imants Tillers and Hossein Valamanesh. You can catch Boundless Volumes from 30 November 2017 to 11 February 2018.
Extract from Gina Fairley 'Text me babe' published 13 October, Arts Hub.com.au