interviewed by Sarah Follent
Chris Downie, Director of 24 Hr Art, the new Northern Territory Contemporary Art Space in Darwin, discusses the changing role of Contemporary Art Spaces in the 1990s, the diverse art community of the Northern Territory, and the benefits and difficulties of establishing a new art space in a city which is pure construct.
Sarah Follent You're setting up a new Contemporary Art Space when a number of those already existing are reassessing their roles and are under threat physically because of rising rents. What is your brief and what is the rationale of the Northern Territory Contemporary Art Space?
Chris Downie There are problems which Contemporary Art Spaces have to face because many of the regional galleries, state galleries and the private gallery sector are showing the sort of work that Contemporary Art Spaces were set up to show ten years ago. You could call it the institutionalization of the avant garde if you like, but basically it's that there's a higher level of sophistication and understanding of what contemporary art is, on the part of institutions that didn't have that understanding ten years ago. So, in some ways, the function of Contemporary Art Spaces is going to have to change. That's one of the reasons I was excited about getting involved with 24 Hour Art, the Northern Territory Contemporary Art Space. It's completely new and it's different in a number of ways. Firstly my brief covers the whole of the Territory. We've already got membership in Alice Springs and Katherine and Batchelor and Groote Island as well as Darwin.
Sarah Follent How has it been developed?
Chris Downie Artists have been meeting in Darwin for four years trying to... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline