brainstorms:Â momentary psychological disturbances
Curator: Clare Lewis and James Steele
david haines and joyce hinterding, oleg kulik, simon yates Artspace, Sydney 12 May – 4 June 2005
super sonic bionic voodoo power: soda_jerk,patrick swann Phatspace, Sydney 2 – 18 June 2005
When it comes to curatorial initiative, the Sydney art scene can be a bit dry. A welcome surprise, then, that some should crop up on the private gallery trail, at GrantPirrie in Redfern. ‘Brainstorms: momentary psychological disturbances’, curated by Clare Lewis and James Steele, will go down as a gallant attempt at a coordinated group show, even if it falls short of its curatorial ambitions. ‘Brainstorms’ promised a deluge, but only delivered isolated showers—though not for want of trying, mind you. Lewis and Steele are to be congratulated for aiming high. They have mustered here seven formidable artists, strong in terms of both skills and ideas. But as with any such congregation of talent, it is liable to make the curator’s job harder, rather than easier.
The show is probably less apocalyptic than its A5 catalogue claims, although many of the artists do respond to the ‘terminal velocity’ imposed upon contemporary existence by technology. Eleanor Avery, for example, splices vinyl imitations of wood-veneer and corkboard into her schematised landscapes, to make eerily flat scenes of eco-dystopia. Zina Kaye’s LED-stream of air-traffic data certainly fits the brief, but speaks only to itself in a room of decidedly off-line work. Léa Donnan’s iVirgin, in which the Virgin Mary cradles the hallowed iBook, is a witty enough critique of information-age consumerism, but as a reflection on ‘future shock’ it is pretty glib.
Some of the show’s more interesting tangents lead us away from this rubric, such as Kate Cotching’s meticulous