Conversation  between  Melissa  Maree  and  Margaret  Roberts  about  Artsider  at   Articulate  project  space:  25  July  2014. MR:  Was  it  you  who  had  the  motivation  to  make  Artsider  a  progressive  changing   project? MM:  The  idea  came  from  a  collab  work  with  Dorit  at  Syndey  College  of  the  Arts.   We  occupied  a  bare,  empty  wall  outside  the  auditorium,  subject  to  the  public  at   SCA.  Both  of  us  discussed  placing  an  artwork  on  this  wall  in  response  to  one   another,  as  a  dialogue.  Intuitively,  this  visual  dialogue  involved  overtime  but  with   our  own  everyday  lives  pulling  us  in  other  directions  the  time  between  placing   more  work/replacing  work  from  the  wall  got  wider.  It  was  at  this  point  the   process  driven  project  dissipated  and  became  a  static,  artefactual  objects  on  a   exhibition  wall. So  I  thought  it  would  be  really  great  to  have  time  in  a  space  where  artists  were   constantly  making  and  producing  work  that  is  ephermal  and  transient,  with  a   focus  on  practice  and  process  over  end-­‐means.  Dorit  and  myself  work  in  a  similar   intuitive  manner  and  were  interested  in  the  everydayness  of  artists  physically   using  space  –  public  and  private  –  to  make  their  artworks. MR:  Does  that  mean  you  are  not  interested  in  making  a  set  of  rules  for  yourself  in   advance  but  making  artwork  that  simply  passes  the  time  in  a  public  space? MM:  Yes  and  no.  There  is  still  a  kind  of  structure,  because  Artsider  occurs  within   a  daily  work  time  9-­‐5  period.  We  as  artist  already  create  formal  rules  for   ourselves,  limitations  on  what  we  choose  to  use  as  materials.  So  Dorit  and  myself   limit  the  'rules'  to  just  formal  organizations,  such  as  when  we  worked  on  the   auditorium  wall  at  uni  –  we  stuck  to  works  being  placed  in  horizontal  line.  I  think   the  more  rules  there  are  the  more  the  process  is  set  out  to  fail.  The  only  real  rule   is  the  everydayness  of  practice. MR:  What  would  you  count  as  failure? MM:  Once  art  in  a  process  driven  show  becomes  static  and  unchanging  it   becomes  a  exhibition  rather  than  process  work.  A  show  that  is  not  evolving,  is   just  a  bunch  of  dead  weight  commodities.  It  looses  the  idea  of  the  artist  being   live  within  a  space.  I  think  if  a  work  sells  in  a  process  show  –  that  is  a  failure  in  a   way,  because  the  temporality,  anti-­‐artefact,  anti-­‐commodity  is  compromised.  I   realized  this  after  my  work  sold  on  the  opening  night,  it  suddenly  became  the   only  object  in  the  room  that  remained  static.  I'd  realized  after  much  reflection    

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during  the  week  that  I  had  commodified  this  object.  The  need  for  constant   change  in  this  sort  of  show  is  imperative.  Its  good  for  my  future  practice  to   experience  this  to  flesh  out  the  problems. MR:  And  what  do  you  actually  call  this  practice? MM:  It's  performative-­‐process.  Live  artist,  making  their  work  in  front  of  an   audience.  Its  like  bringing  an  artist  out  of  the  isolated  lonely  studio  where  he  or   she  is  invisible  and  placing  the  artist  in  a  platform  of  visibility.  It's  about  revealing   the  material  production  processes  of  how  the  artworks  are  being  made.  It  closes   the  idea  that  the  object  is  mystified  or  distant  from  reality.  And  shows  that  its   made  by  hours  of  labour  by  the  artists  hands. MR:  Are  the  red  dots  you  had  around  the  space  there  as  a  parody? MM:  Yes.  Dorit  came  up  with  this  idea,  rather  intuitively  a  day  before  the   opening  show.  During  the  opening  night,  Dorit  placed  red  dots  on  works  to  show   they  have  been  sold.  When  in  fact  they  hadnt.  It  was  a  fun  playful  idea,  to   contrast  the  shows  intent.  The  white  circle  stickers  are  mine,  I  had  a  suggestion   on  the  night  to  place  these  on  the  red  stickers  to  make  Target  stickers. MR:  I  can  see  things  have  changed  here  (in  the  center  of  the  space). The  works  have  changed  each  day,  forming  a  dialogue  between  the  past  images   with  the  present  work  show  throughout  the  duration  of  the  process  work-­‐show.   For  example,  the  white  paper  sculptures  hung  on  a  brick  wall  background  read  as   sculptures.  When  placed  on  a  white  wall  with  lighting,  the  shadow  becomes  an   extension  and  movement  from  the  wind  gives  a  kinetic  aspect  to  the  work,  the   three  aspects  functioning  as  a  whole. nly  object  in  the  room  that  remained  static.  I'd  realized  after  much  reflection   during  the  week  that  I  had  commodified  this  object.  The  need  for  constant   change  in  this  sort  of  show  is  imperative.  Its  good  for  my  future  practice  to   experience  this  to  flesh  out  the  problems. MR:  And  what  do  you  actually  call  this  practice? MM:  It's  performative-­‐process.  Live  artist,  making  their  work  in  front  of  an   audience.  Its  like  bringing  an  artist  out  of  the  isolated  lonely  studio  where  he  or   she  is  invisible  and  placing  the  artist  in  a  platform  of  visibility.  It's  about  revealing   the  material  production  processes  of  how  the  artworks  are  being  made.  It  closes   the  idea  that  the  object  is  mystified  or  distant  from  reality.  And  shows  that  its    

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made  by  hours  of  labour  by  the  artists  hands. MR:  Are  the  red  dots  you  had  around  the  space  there  as  a  parody? MM:  Yes.  Dorit  came  up  with  this  idea,  rather  intuitively  a  day  before  the   opening  show.  During  the  opening  night,  Dorit  placed  red  dots  on  works  to  show   they  have  been  sold.  When  in  fact  they  hadnt.  It  was  a  fun  playful  idea,  to   contrast  the  shows  intent.  The  white  circle  stickers  are  mine,  I  had  a  suggestion   on  the  night  to  place  these  on  the  red  stickers  to  make  Target  stickers. MR:  I  can  see  things  have  changed  here  (in  the  center  of  the  space). The  works  have  changed  each  day,  forming  a  dialogue  between  the  past  images   with  the  present  work  show  throughout  the  duration  of  the  process  work-­‐show.   For  example,  the  white  paper  sculptures  hung  on  a  brick  wall  background  read  as   sculptures.  When  placed  on  a  white  wall  with  lighting,  the  shadow  becomes  an   extension  and  movement  from  the  wind  gives  a  kinetic  aspect  to  the  work,  the   three  aspects  functioning  as  a  whole.  

 

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