Hand
Luggage went Online from Feb 7 1998.
Hand Luggage Opened at:
THE PROJECT CENTRE GRUBERBIERG May 20 1998.
And we are waiting for news of its Tour of Portugal courtesy
of:
Centro Intergrato de Artes
Rua de Pampelido Velho 173 4460 Lavra.
The
site 'Hand Luggage will not in anyway be 'complete' at the
time of opening nor in its duration.
It is conceived as a site of exchange.
It is to be considered equally as an exhibition and as a tool,
a site that will reflect the development of the works, giving
the participating artists and curator the opportunity to show
the 'dead ends' and developments around our thinking in regard
to the exhibition.
To give some insights into our particular working processes
and practices, from the first working 'drawings' and 'notes' to
'works for exhibition'.
The
virtual Hand Luggage has the potential to become the primary vehicle
for communication between curator, artists, viewers and to promote
the exhibition further, in both its manifestations to interested
sites/galleries.
As
each artists work 'develops, their link will be upgraded in two
ways:
Text will be added to reflect that development.
Their original proposal image will become an image map or a
link to developments in their process.
All proposals submitted, as far as it is practical, are to
be included on the Web site.
Hand
Luggage was originally conceived as a portable and low cost touring
exhibition, that would be developed with a parallel web site.
During
May and June of 1998, 21 of the works, in any media are being
carried to Europe in my briefcase and exhibited at COOPERATIONS
Luxembourg, Jardin De Wiltz.
The objects that 'inhabit' my briefcase are to be considered
as just part of the whole exhibition Hand Luggage, in both its
'real'and its virtual manifestations.
Interesting
questions arise, I perceive the ringing of bells all the way back
to Plato and Socrates.
What constitutes a real exhibition or a virtual one? 'Real'
objects occupying 'real' three dimensional space are privileged
over virtual objects, that are ascribed the flattened space of
the screen and loaded with connotations of technical fakery.
Originally
my particular thinking on Hand Luggage privileged through habit,
the physical tour over the virtual (the authentic over its other)
I am also very aware that all the proposals for the show have
come from artists who work essentially in 'traditional arts media'.
I had not to any great extent, when asking for proposals used
the web effectively, again privileging known forms, advertising
mainly via print media and word of mouth.
Cyber artists have not yet appeared. I hope that will change
in the near future.
In
a sense, the space allocated in my briefcase, (145mm x 80mm x
70mm) and the time frame of the originally privileged real tour,
seems to me somewhat restricted in contrast to the space, time-frame
and 'interactive' possibilities of a virtual exhibition that could
change, expand and might tour indefinitely.
Ross Barber. Ross Barber's Site.
