Sydney Biennale Parallel Program
Initiated as a process-based response to the theme 'On Reason and Emotion' and unfolding events of the Sydney Biennale 2004, Sydney's artist run Phatspace produced a dynamic and diverse itinerary in which seventeen emerging artists embarked upon six weeks of playful installations, innovative interventions and performative critique. Aptly titled 'Puff and Swallow', the exhibition referred to the conflicting terms and conditions involved in producing and receiving art.
Defined as a reactionary expression of exasperation or exhaustion, and similarly an overly enthusiastic review or promotional feature, the term 'Puff' was explored in a mock 'speakeasy' environment located in the back gallery, which also functioned as a tongue in cheek pressroom. Swallow on the contrary, refers to the process of devouring, consuming or destroying by ingestion, yet can also imply connotations of passivity, and easily swallowing information-concepts that several artists employed in and outside the gallery. With three sequences of alternating artists, the space and individual works were perpetually re-interpreted, consequently exposing a lateral artistic logic and methodology, and further questioning the positions of an audience.
As the first stage of the 'Puff and Swallow' program commenced Holly Williams, Jen Bell , and Pep Prodromou converted the main gallery into a mawkish pink expanse. A forest of fake Christmas trees sprung in the foyer, ceiling rosettes covered the walls, cracks started to weep bodily substances. A constant soundtrack of swallow songs along with the effects of the nauseating, ultraviolet butcher shop bulbs created a surreal, visceral, and highly self-conscious atmosphere. With the serving of rose flavoured Turkish delight on the opening night, the tone seemed to infer a dubious and beguiling seduction about to unfold.
With the inauguration of the official Biennale