For in the interim show I decided to show a piece in collaboration with two other exhibitors in the show. Beth and Kinga had made a desk that would be able to be changed into different forms for different purposes, so for example it would be a desk, then one day it would be a fort, and another day it would be a table. For the collaboration, I displayed a few of my cushions when it was in fort form.
This piece was intended to be a performative sculpture, and I wanted to bring in an element of cosiness and safety, while contrasting that with the harsh text on the soft cushions. I wanted to document them being used in a comforting way rather than being used as fine art objects in an exhibition and wanted to document people's reactions to the cushions in situ.
I placed the cushions on the desk when it was in the form of a fort, to add that element of coziness and contrasted with the harsh materials of the desk. There is an element of interference in terms of the soft objects interfering with an object designed for work. In this regard, it is similar to the works of Sarah Horton, where she interferes with the office space by placing soft sculptures inspired by the utensils of the workplace. I also added them when the desk was in table form and placed them on a couple of chairs to allow people to interact with them instinctively.
It was interesting to see people become protective of the pieces and not want to sit on them as they thought they were for show and not for use. This was interesting as it shows the fine line between crafted object of function and fine art piece and shows how a piece such as my cushions are valued because they are hand made, and in an exhibition setting. I think it might be interesting to see them being used in a more domestic setting and possibly observing the reactions and actions of those using them.
Furthermore it gave me the idea that perhaps if I was to do this again, perhaps I should have some sort of sign explicitly stating to use the cushions and to persuade people to interact with them, rather than leaving them in situ. However, I do like the idea of challenging what is an art object, and this collaboration has made me want to consider how I want my cushions to be viewed, and how I want them to be perceived. I think in order for these to become even more successful I need to work these elements out, and to work out the overall purpose of the objects. I also want to challenge the notion that crafted objects are not fine art objects and this area of research will help allow me to explore this notion further.
Overall, I really liked how my pieces looked in the show, and it was really interesting seeing them being used in a different context in comparison to the last collaboration where they were treated as fine art objects. I think I want to do more of these types of collaborations, and I want to keep bring domestic, hand crafted objects back into the gallery space to really challenge what is perceived as fine art object and craft object.
Things to do next:
- Look into domestic objects in fine art context?
- Define purpose of objects?
- More collaborations?
- Cushions in domestic space? - explore further?
- How do I want these viewed?
- Look into bringing in workplace elements? Link back to own experiences of Workplace harassment and sexism?