D.I.A.
D.I.A. was a collaborative project commissioned by MOP Projects as part of showcase of work by artists-directors of artist run galleries (or ARIs) in Sydney; in this case Firstdraft Gallery, where I was a Director in 2009/10. Conceived and developed as a performing installation, the show took the form of an elaborate stage curtain connected to a pulley system powered by a live donkey walking up and down the laneway behind the gallery. The “show” consisted of an endless series of openings and closings of the gallery space itself. The theatricality of the spectacle created ambiguity; as audiences moved behind the curtain in to the *empty* gallery space, the line between artist and audience became blurred as new arrivals expected those people to perform.
In addition to the exhibition, we developed an archive of the initial conception, conversations, correspondence and logistical efforts involved in putting on this show. A small subset of this archive has – along with an introductory essay – been reproduced in a 52 page catalog printed by Blood&Thunder, which can be downloaded here.
D.I.A. was a collaboration between 2010 Firstdraft Directors Connie Anthes, Grace Archibald, Lionel Bawden, Georgie Meagher, Debbie Pryor, Dylan Quirk, Kate Scardifield & Jessica Tyrrell. This project was assisted by a Bundanon Trust residency and a grant from Arts NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government, through a program administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA).
