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The Gothic: Perversity and its Pleasure was an exhibition of women's art curated by Robyn McKenzie and shown at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane November 11 to December 5, 1986; and at Gertrude Street Artists' Space, Melbourne, March 18 to April 15, 1987. This paper is an analysis of the exhibition which was given at Institute of Modern Art in April 1987 on the occasion of the Feminism and Contemporary Art Forum.
The main interest in decoding The Gothic arose from my initial responsiveness to the concept of the exhibition which later turned to ambivalence on seeing the actual works. Whilst the strategy of the Gothic releases us from the mustiness of most curatorial practice, it raises vital questions surrounding "sexuality” and curatorial practice in contemporary discourse. This paper is as much an analysis of why a viewer may not respond to the works themselves as why Robyn McKenzie s Gothic warrants such close attention in terms of its captivating interfusion of Feminism and Contemporary Art.
The major concern of this writing is an analysis of the curatorial construct; an individual's selection of works and the consequent construction of context for those works. The works themselves will not be reviewed as such.
Due to the time lapse since the exhibition, initially it would be useful to precis the Gothic theme as discussed by the curator in her catalogue essay. Robyn McKenzie's Gothic: Perversity and its Pleasure (and I concede her possession of the construct) is based on the binary opposition of Classical and Gothic Architecture. On the one hand we have a homogenous rationalism reflected in the Classical tradition embodying Truth, Beauty, Balance, Harmony, Order, and Virtue... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline