Finite Project Altered When Open
So, its been five years – I know, hard to believe, right? But a good five years, we’ve had the chance to work with some amazing people, amazing people who’ve made David Dale Gallery what it is. And that calls for a celebration surely. A celebration, but also a chance for reflection – a rare chance to look inward for a change and think about what we do as an organisation rather than maintain the standard focus on artists and exhibitions. Of course, the two are inseparable, but the former rarely has a public face.
And, so, what we decided was Finite Project Altered When Open – a project, of course taking cues from Robert Morris (and Jonathan Monk after that), to serve as a summary of what we do and have done. We know there’s an end point, just not when, and we know that we’re constantly changing, but not to what end – and definitely not daily anyway. Like Morris’ 1969 original, elements of chance, intuition and removal of authorship are aspects to be celebrated and promoted rather than simply acknowledged or accepted.
The form our version takes has a simple logic to follow – We are inviting a large (80 so far confirmed) selection of artists, writers and curators who we have worked with previously, over the past five years, to contribute works (or texts, instructions to be enacted, constructed scenarios – contributions) to be installed over the duration of the exhibition. While the exhibition is on, between 06 June and 04 July, works will be installed, moved and removed while we’re open or in the gallery. The gallery will open as empty and works will be installed as and when they arrive, when we get round to it, and where we think works. On the 4th July we stop, call it an exhibition, and have a party – which, of course, you are invited to. The artists, writers, curators and organisations are free to contribute whatever they see fit. A full list of participants, which may increase, follows below.
