In ‘River Sections’, the catalogue essay for ‘Art Movement: explorations of motion and change’, Gabrielle Finnane begins with Heraclitus’ claim that ‘the universe is incessant change, or becoming’.1 An appropriate point of departure for both the catalogue essay and this review, Finnane goes on to mention Heraclitus’ most renowned statement ‘you could not step twice into the same river’. Like the world around us, a further reading of Heraclitus’ statement reminds us that in fact rivers remain the same over time and it is the waters that change. The point, then, is not that everything is changing, but that some things change and that makes possible the continued existence of other things.
Similarly, an exhibition space brings to each exhibition the history of every other exhibition that has taken place there. The curator is faced with the challenge not only to design his/her exhibition in a manner best fitting the works to be shown, but also with consideration of what has been ‘done before’, what can be done differently.
How then to solve the problem of UTS Gallery’s notoriously difficult structure? By using simple strategies—like installing m3architecture’s artwork as the glass wall separating the gallery from the foyer, and displaying Daniel Crooks’ Elevator No.4 (of people entering and exiting an elevator) on a plasma screen facing the foyer. It was the first thing you encountered upon exiting the actual elevator and without having to enter the exhibition space. Ricardo Filipe’s exhibition design was simple, yet beautifully effective. Further, it extended beyond the immediacy of solving the gallery’s space issues, it also positioned the works so that the viewer could engage with them individually and still take in the exhibition