Spaces for Leisure, acrylic on wood, metal trestle legs, metal stools, metallic pen on wall, metal trolley table, coat rack, hangers, dimensions variable, 2014.
Pictured above at Airspace projects, Friday 6 June to Saturday 21 June, 2014.
Spaces for Leisure explored the idea that the gallery or exhibition space can be transformed into a space where visitors can recreate passively. It combines elements of design, installation and drawing. The first incarnation of this project is the installation for AirSpace Projects which focuses on the table-structure as a sculptural and visual object.
The aim of the table is to promote a communal experience – visitors could sit at the table and enjoy a cup of tea provided by the artist. Here the table functioned as an improvised structure. Its unfinished state deliberately undermines the expectation that a table be a well-designed and therefore well finished object or a substantial piece of furniture. The unfinished state also implied that the structure could be dismantled and reassembled at any time – that the table and therefore the communal experience it promoted was temporary. The temporality of the communal table as structure mirrored other instances where tables are used such as for fiestas or other communal celebrations, shared tables at cafés or libraries.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
This project was also supported by Arts NSW’s NSW Artists’ Grant Scheme, a devolved funding program administered by the National Association of the Visual Arts on behalf of the NSW Government.
Photographer: Felicity Jenkins. ©Francesca Mataraga 2014
Francesca Mataraga 