GALLERY 1
A DECADE OF LINGERING GESTURES- C3 AT 10 YEARS
C3 PROJECTS / SARAH CROWEST / C3 VOLUNTEERS / ADAM CRUICKSHANK / BEHN WOODS / JON BUTT / TORIE NIMMERVOLL
c3 is an artist-led organisation built by and for its community. It is a space where artists and audiences come together to support, respect and provoke one another. Over ten years, 1200 artists, curators and writers have worked on 1650 projects presented to more than 300,000 audience members: all have contributed to an exciting decade in the curatorial lifecycle of the Abbotsford Convent.
A Decade of Lingering Gestures takes the form of three discrete projects that explore the nature, scale and site of the c3 community. For the 10th anniversary exhibition, four artists who have had long-term relationships with the gallery were invited to make works in conversation with c3, marking this significant milestone.
Sarah crowEST is working with current and previous volunteers and board members to co-create a work that signifies a passage of time and labour. This project centres on the accumulation of unseen or hidden incidences, moments and traces of community occurring at the gallery over the past decade. Specifically, the project is structured around a covert 10-year durational work set in motion by c3’s Director Jon Butt at the beginning of the gallery’s program in 2008. A tangible manifestation of time, labour and chance- unbeknownst to its participants- the work has been contributed to by almost every exhibitor, installer or volunteer in c3’s history. Adam Cruickshank and Behn Woods respond to c3’s artist archive as a material which frames a conversation around the collective nature of c3’s history. Jon Butt and Torie Nimmervoll prepare a solution to a long term tripping hazard in the space by enacting a hybrid repair job/intervention/ongoing relational work that looks at how artist-led spaces are often long term labours of love requiring an intense physical and emotional commitment.
This exhibition reflects on how we work together towards collective ambitions and how we build the place of practice.
Images Courtesy: Aaron Christopher Rees