Still Vast Reserves

Curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Emily Cormack and Chris Sharp

Gertrude Contemporary presented Stage Two of the international exchange exhibition Still Vast Reserves. Stage One of Still Vast Reserves was presented at Magazzino D’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy in September 2009, where Gertrude Contemporary took participating artists to Rome as part of a reciprocal exchange exhibition. Stage One of this project was curated in collaboration with Roman Curator Francesco Stocchi, and Stage Two has been developed in collaboration with Paris-based Curator Chris Sharp.

Initially Still Vast Reserves explored ideas of the kinetics of compression, encouraging a sculptural interpretation of the body and the self in relation to architecture. This second exhibition extends and skews these ideas fore grounding interpersonal encounters through the psychosexual and socio-sexual aspects of the body, particularly in relation to urban or civic spaces. The works in this exhibition employ a range of materials and tactics to investigate ideas of the uneasy body, exploring its possibilities for immateriality and metaphor.

Still Vast Reserves 2 featured new work by all of the artists in the original exhibition, along with a selection of work by international artists who explore and expand on these ideas. The works span a range of disciplines and featured new works by Alicia Frankovich, Benjamin Armstrong, Laresa Kosloff and Lou Hubbard. This exhibition also showed a large-scale work by Christian Capurro, a performance-installation-event by Marco Fusinato, video and photographic work by Stuart Ringholt  and a new photographic work by Tom Nicholson. Complmenting these works were sculptural installation works by Brazilian artist Fernanda Gomes, photographs by Mexican artist Martin Soto Climent and French artist Jean-Luc Moulène. Japanese artist Shimabuku also be presented a poetic sculptural installation that invited viewer participation.

Conceptually Still Vast Reserves explored the highly-charged intersections between the body and civic or social contexts. Through focusing on the interplay between the intimate/domestic and the public/structural this exhibition reminded the viewer of their own physicality, referring to the dynamics of compression, intimacy and release. 

This exhibition is a reciprocal project, stemming from GCAS’s International Curatorial Residency Programme undertaken by both Francesco Stocchi (2008) and Chris Sharp (2009). This revolving exhibition concept ensured that artists, curators, patrons and writers from each country establish firm and ongoing relationships with new networks and audiences, further extending their creative communities.

In conjunction with the exhibition Gertrude Contemporary produced a second volume to the 100 page publication designed by Australia’s leading Graphic Design Company Fabio Ongarato Design, with images and essays. Still Vast Reserves 2 was made possible with support from the Australia Council for the Arts. Phase One of Still Vast Reserves was made possible through assistance from Arts Victoria.

To purchase the catalogue for this exhibition please visit out publications page here.