I'M SO BORED OF VIEWING, solo exhibition, The Engine Room, Wellington, NZ, 2010

*GALLERY TEXT* (part-written and edited by Dr David Cross)

MORE IMAGES AND A PUBLICATION COMING SOON

I’m so bored of viewing…
Exhibition as medium
------------------------------
Toby Huddlestone
12-22 May 2010
------------------------------
Engine Room Gallery
School of Fine Arts
Massey University
Wellington
New Zealand
------------------------------

In I’m So Bored of Viewing British artist Toby Huddlestone has collaborated with Massey School of Fine Art students to develop a response to the framework of ‘the exhibition’. Working from the premise that conventional understandings of the gallery exhibition are antiquated and in need of change, the artist and his collaborators together shift the focus of exhibition as a place of consumption and ‘showing’ to one of action and production. Much of Huddlestone’s practice consists of work that is often considered on the periphery of an artist’s practice, using research and material such as rejection letters, visits to exhibitions/openings, studio visits and other artists’ flyers to act as a point of departure for which an artwork to exist. These elements of artistic practice are inherent to the whole process of being an artist and so hold no separate or exterior role in the art-making process for him.

Here at the Engine Room, this concept is taken a step further by allowing for the exposure of these often ‘hidden’ aspects comprising one’s practice to form and shape the exhibition. Huddlestone will be sending his collaborators work from remote each day as his research and practice evolves over the course of the two-week exhibition. The students have been invited to take on the curatorial responsibility by intervening between raw material and exhibited product. For example, the artist may send them a proposal for an artistic opportunity he has written, which could manifest itself as an audio, distribution or printed work, or other possibility all of which is totally dependent on the curatorial groups’ decision. The resultant exhibition will evolve and only be complete on the final minute of the final day of the exhibition. A key aim is to draw the viewer into the process by asking them to make repeat visits to witness this growth. The preview/opening will therefore become a much less important event than the finale where the completed work will be revealed.

I'M SO BORED OF VIEWING, solo exhibition, The Engine Room, Wellington, NZ, 2010

*GALLERY TEXT* (part-written and edited by Dr David Cross)

MORE IMAGES AND A PUBLICATION COMING SOON

I’m so bored of viewing…
Exhibition as medium
------------------------------
Toby Huddlestone
12-22 May 2010
------------------------------
Engine Room Gallery
School of Fine Arts
Massey University
Wellington
New Zealand
------------------------------

In I’m So Bored of Viewing British artist Toby Huddlestone has collaborated with Massey School of Fine Art students to develop a response to the framework of ‘the exhibition’. Working from the premise that conventional understandings of the gallery exhibition are antiquated and in need of change, the artist and his collaborators together shift the focus of exhibition as a place of consumption and ‘showing’ to one of action and production. Much of Huddlestone’s practice consists of work that is often considered on the periphery of an artist’s practice, using research and material such as rejection letters, visits to exhibitions/openings, studio visits and other artists’ flyers to act as a point of departure for which an artwork to exist. These elements of artistic practice are inherent to the whole process of being an artist and so hold no separate or exterior role in the art-making process for him.

Here at the Engine Room, this concept is taken a step further by allowing for the exposure of these often ‘hidden’ aspects comprising one’s practice to form and shape the exhibition. Huddlestone will be sending his collaborators work from remote each day as his research and practice evolves over the course of the two-week exhibition. The students have been invited to take on the curatorial responsibility by intervening between raw material and exhibited product. For example, the artist may send them a proposal for an artistic opportunity he has written, which could manifest itself as an audio, distribution or printed work, or other possibility all of which is totally dependent on the curatorial groups’ decision. The resultant exhibition will evolve and only be complete on the final minute of the final day of the exhibition. A key aim is to draw the viewer into the process by asking them to make repeat visits to witness this growth. The preview/opening will therefore become a much less important event than the finale where the completed work will be revealed.