Unplacements Between
In a dark little space at Noosa Regional Gallery, to a soundtrack of ‘I Want Candy’, a video projection shows jerky images of a coiffed, Hepburnesque woman in pearls and gloves. She gracefully opens a white gift box but finds only layer after layer of pink tissue paper. She tosses the paper into the air, her anticipation gradually turning to frustration. This narrative is interspersed with flashes of high-glamour magazine fashion and perfume ads, and single words—HUMBLE, NEED, DELIGHT—superimposed over crumpled tissue surfaces. Piles of pink tissue fill the gallery space, and an empty chair faces the screen.
Pleasure Seeking Syndrome presents as a straightforward parody of consumer desire and the merging of the art object and the commodity. This critique has roots in the art of Jeff Koons and Haim Steinbach in the late 1980s and early ’90s and familiars in contemporary art such as Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury and US artist Tom Sachs. However, the process behind the exhibition is its point of difference. P.P.S is the product of collaboration between Majena Mafe and Susan Buret, two established artists with distinctive practices, yet there is no visual or stylistic tension in this installation. The artists’ books displayed alongside the installation (three slim pamphlet-style books and a large pink volume containing notes and ideas) point to a collaborative practice that is fluid, unpredictable, passionate, and even fun.
From the books and the artists’ floor talk, it is obvious that this is an unusually productive collaboration. Initiated in 2006 and operating under the title Unplacements Between, Mafe and Buret’s process involves them bringing information and ideas to each other candidly and without fear. They have introduced unpredictability and surprise into