T
he University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus spreads across the edge of the Brisbane River and measures one hundred and fourteen hectares. The curator of ‘Turrbal–Jagera’, David Pestorius, made sure that the viewers of this exhibition were acquainted with a handsome portion of the campus by placing works throughout the grounds. The show was accompanied by a guide which consisted of a rough sketch of the campus, with numbers dotted across it indicating art work locations, and a list of numbers from one to thirty-four were attached to artists’ names and blurbs.
Visitors were lead into the university grounds by Matthys Gerber’s ‘erection’ Pole (2006), a painted power pole with its blazing stripes of colours looking as if it might be a homage to Emilio Pucci. Heimo Zobernig and his white polystyrene ‘Turrbal Jagera’ sign continued the glamour. It resembled a challenge to the iconic Hollywood sign or the glittery Gold Coast’s ‘Miami’ sign. Along the same path, attached to the back wall of the University of Queensland Art Museum, was a work by Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley. In neon lights—a medium which, outside of art practice, I associate with the red light district—’Smoke mirror’ was spelt out back-to-front. Their work became a sign alerting the viewer to the perverse act of denoting an exclusive place for art.
Other works across the campus included buildings by James Birrell, as well as a lookout dedicated to Birrell by Paul Bai. Bai’s work consisted of a sign with no information and the view from this observation point was nothing more than a fence and some foliage, behind which stood Birrell’s Union College of 1963. The ‘lookout’ appeared to be a... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline