American Corner

Munt, A

American Corner

Munt, A

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Publication Type:: Exhibition
Citation:: Alex Munt: American Corner, 2014
Issue Date:: 2014

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Munt, A	en_US
dc.date	2014-09-03	en_US
dc.date.issued	2014	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Alex Munt: American Corner, 2014	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121671
dc.description.abstract	American Corner (2014) Site-specific Installation: timber; fibreboard; paint; vinyl. 2300 x 1620 x 2100 mm. Photographic, 65 x 80 cm. In the novel Remainder by Tom McCarthy the unnamed protagonist re-enacts past moments, and feelings, with precision. Its a costly and time-consuming exercise but one driven by the desire to inhabit the world `authentically. He has a fondness for right angles. American Corner is a re-enactment of a spatial moment from America: Painting a Nation, 2013, hosted at the Art Gallery of NSW. As a survey of American painting, since 1750, the exhibition delivered a powerful narrative, by any account. However, today the art `Blockbuster increasingly stages its own interior conflict, in the duel between space and content. This can produce unexpected results. In the final zone of America: Painting a Nation the spectator is sharply `painted into a corner. The mise-en-scène includes: a vivid red wall / directions to the `Shop & Kids Zone / a restless young intern / an adjacent white wall / Robert Irwins Untitled (1966-67) suspended in its monocular form. A dead-end? Or perhaps a suspended jump-cut. Since (just like Hollywood) we find out a sequel is coming, with Pop to Popism! next to adorn this surface. A melancholy experience. Feelings of despondence. Maybe it was just me? American Corner re-enacts this moment in order to find out -- at the new home of ALASKA Studios at the corner of William Street and Riley Street in Darlinghurst.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Alex Munt: American Corner	en_US
dc.title	American Corner	en_US
dc.type	Exhibition
utslib.location	ALASKA Projects (Studios)	en_US
utslib.for	1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Faculty Administration
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	ALASKA Projects (Studios)	en_US
pubs.start-date	2014-09-03	en_US
pubs.rights-statement	American Corner was an installation, performance and photomedia project that re-created an architectural corner of the ‘America: Painting a Nation’ exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Research background The research sits in the field of media arts, photography and situated media. It draws on the tradition of the ‘tableau vivant’ and the established art practice of institutional critique, as an inquiry into the working of art institutions. Andrea Frasers’ performance art critiqued the opaqueness of institutional processes behind the exhibition of artworks. In his ‘Live Photo’ series, Crispin Gurholt’s photographic tableaux demonstrate that the decisions made by curators exclude engagement with members of marginalised groups along the axes of, for example, class, gender and race. Jeff Wall’s photographic tableaux which stage art restoration procedures show that assigning authorship to a work of art to the individual artist hides the contribution of a large number of specialized workers behind the scenes. This project asks: what is the role of artwork placement and merchandising in the design of a blockbuster art exhibition? Research contribution By recreating a commercial space that interrupted the historical narrative in the ‘America: Painting a Nation’ exhibition this project draws attention to the way in which commercial imperatives are preferenced over the historical art narrative in blockbuster exhibitions. Research Significance American Corner was exhibited at Alaska Projects contemporary art space in Sydney.	en_US

Abstract:

American Corner (2014) Site-specific Installation: timber; fibreboard; paint; vinyl. 2300 x 1620 x 2100 mm. Photographic, 65 x 80 cm. In the novel Remainder by Tom McCarthy the unnamed protagonist re-enacts past moments, and feelings, with precision. Its a costly and time-consuming exercise but one driven by the desire to inhabit the world `authentically. He has a fondness for right angles. American Corner is a re-enactment of a spatial moment from America: Painting a Nation, 2013, hosted at the Art Gallery of NSW. As a survey of American painting, since 1750, the exhibition delivered a powerful narrative, by any account. However, today the art `Blockbuster increasingly stages its own interior conflict, in the duel between space and content. This can produce unexpected results. In the final zone of America: Painting a Nation the spectator is sharply `painted into a corner. The mise-en-scène includes: a vivid red wall / directions to the `Shop & Kids Zone / a restless young intern / an adjacent white wall / Robert Irwins Untitled (1966-67) suspended in its monocular form. A dead-end? Or perhaps a suspended jump-cut. Since (just like Hollywood) we find out a sequel is coming, with Pop to Popism! next to adorn this surface. A melancholy experience. Feelings of despondence. Maybe it was just me? American Corner re-enacts this moment in order to find out -- at the new home of ALASKA Studios at the corner of William Street and Riley Street in Darlinghurst.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/121671