Reanimator was curated by Catharine Lumby, and featured works from Janet Burchill, ADS Donaldson, Matthys Gerber, Lindy Lee, Mark Titmarsh, and John Young. It was also mounted in tandem with an academic conference/film festival, The Illusion of Life, which was devoted to animation; although no specific links between the two events were foregrounded. All the works had been exhibited in other shows – none were produced especially for Reanimator. Catharine Lumby also produced a catalogue essay.
The works took up the margins of the gallery and seemed to look "inward" – hardly remarkable that paintings be hung on opposite walls, but these particular works, when bundled together, took on an unusually animated character, standing as emblems for each artist, conjuring a curious stand-off of "personalities" pitched into conflict.
In this context the works addressed themselves and each other, ignoring an imaginary viewing subject. My own subjectivity disintegrated under Tippi Hedren's gaze out of Unfurled #3 , 1988, by Janet Burchill. ADS Donaldson's Self Portrait (Type) II and V flatly refused to produce the Self, and so I came away learning nothing about that artist. Both Lindy Lee's and John Young's works were hung at navel level, and even on the floor resting up against the wall – showing scant regard for the fact that most peoples' eyes are at eye level. Lee, however, did "speak" openly and candidly about Succession and Simulation – not to me in particular but to anyone willing to listen, now and in the future. And Young's anti-futurist Untitled slate slabs featured dates from the next century which are way past my bedtime. Elsewhere Mark Titmarsh's Spectacle of One Hundred Acts revelled in the
ADS Donaldson, Self Portrait (Type) II, and V. Installation view, Reanimator, Artpsace, 1988.
