Craig WALSH, Cross-reference 2004

Cross-reference continues a series of interventionist works that address the public, private and transitional aspects of both the gallery space and other public spaces. The defined architectural boundaries of the gallery site are ruptured through an open door, which not only expose an external environment but also provides alternative access to the internal exhibition. As participants of the Big Day Out music festival appear to examine the gallery, its art and its audience, the gallery public also experience an unexpected view of the music festival and its audience. The work not only inverts the space of the exhibition but the uncertainty created between the artwork/viewer is literally mirrored between the exhibition/external public space. The juxtaposition of two disparate sites and the simulated interaction between the participants of these sites aims to disrupt preconceived expectations of specific cultural and social contexts, and the way in which audiences are conditioned to interact and participate. The work consisted not only of the projection located in and beyond the gallery wall but as a temporal public sculpture within the Big Day Out site. A scale model of the gallery, inclusive of miniature art and audience, was positioned within the festival; the festival audience viewed the contents through a miniature doorway while their interactions were recorded through a camera mounted within. The location of this sculpture and its unexpected presence within a music festival context fulfils a similar objective to gallery-based work: that is, to disrupt the formal and participatory conventions associated with specific cultural and social experiences. Image: Installation view at Adelaide Biennale of Australian Art, AGSA Photography: Mark Bradley