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 pen
Office is a series of outdoor art installations
and an evolving investigation into what kinds of behaviours
are possible within public space. The project received
support from Next
Wave’s Kickstart program for emerging artists,
and has developed into a new work, En
Plein Air, appearing this May as part of Melbourne’s
Next
Wave Festival.
Its starting point was a plan to produce portable,
temporary workspaces for people who have limited access
to studio/office/workspace within the inner city, posing
questions about who has access to productive space within
the context of rising real estate costs and urban gentrification.
The project is also an experiment in making do with
less (less energy, less things), and even in eliminating
that part of our workplace responsible for the bulk
of its resource consumption - the building itself.
Finally, the project also explores what possibilities
might emerge from a more open and inclusive working
environment - one in which participants make use of
free public space, are able to move in response to changing
circumstances or inclinations, and are open to the interventions,
interference and contributions of the community around
them.
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The first public outcome of this project,
Open Office for an Editorial Committee, was recently
presented at This
is Not Art 2007.
If you have an event or project in the works that could
benefit from a collaboration with the Open Office please
contact us.
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| Open Office for an Editorial
Committee |
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September 27 – 30, 2007
Civic Park
Newcastle, NSW
pen
Office for an Editorial Committee was conceived
of in collaboration with the National Young Writers’
Festival, who in early 2007 invited us to produce
a nomadic, open-air magazine office operating for
3 days as part of This is Not Art. Staffed by a team
of capable young writers, editors and designers from
Voiceworks
magazine, the office set up shop in a cosy corner
of Newcastle’s Civic Park each afternoon of
the festival, inviting the public to actively participate
in producing and publishing the NYWF 07 anthology.
On the final day, the office was converted into its
own unique stall at the Zine and Independent Press
Fair, where it distributed copies of the finished
anthology.
Part performance, part collaborative magazine publication
and part public sculpture, our living installation
attracted a range of curious visitors interested in
taking part in (or just observing) various aspects
of the publication process, from producing their own
submissions at purpose-built typewriter and cut-and-paste
stations, to selecting content and organising layout
at the picnic/conference table.
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 udiences
were also drawn into engaging with the space by the interactive
nature of the office itself, consisting of a collection
of hybrid objects clustered together in the dappled sunlight,
shifting and changing configuration as new participants
joined in, sprinklers were turned on, winds picked up, or
production of the zine progressed to a new stage. These
ambiguous, DIY objects were hand-made by hijacking familiar
everyday artefacts (BBQs, trolleys, suitcases, picnic tables
etc.) and transforming them into (mostly) functional travelling
workspaces that enable a different way of using the city
and its shared public spaces.
Open Office for an Editorial Committee
was a collaboration between NYWF, Tessa Rapaport & Karl
Logge (Makeshift), Voiceworks and Urchin. This project has
been assisted by Next Wave and the Australian Government
through the Australia Council.
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Read about Open Office in The Program |
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Marc and Ryan from Voiceworks at work
on the designer's desk
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Vanessa Berry & friend with balloons
peruse the office after making their submission
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Young writers preparing a
submission at the suitcase workstations
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Scott-Patrick Mitchell from
Perth making a zine of his own in one sitting
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Poet Tom Guerney from Brisbane typing
out a submission
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Trolley table having been wheeled away
to a quiet park bench
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The Voiceworks editorial committee organising
layout at the conference/picnic table
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The finished product, Nanoworks,
being displayed in the 'super-table' at the Zine and Independent
Press Fair
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Another satisfied customer connecting
with the Voiceworks team
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