Echolalia

In contemporary art, collaborations of employment are everywhere. Artists, often unskilled in so many areas, frequently call upon experts in other fields to increase the quality of their work. Be it directing a performer or employing a craftsperson, we reach out and beg indulgences, that if they just stick with us and keep an open mind, it will all work out. Yet, true collaborations are rare. True, meaning the shared genesis, cultivation and execution of an idea.
This exhibition has been curated from work by six of twelve artists that participated in a twelve-month long experimental collaboration, the success of which was, by design, largely dependent upon the dedication, and participation of the entirety of the group. Or so we thought. Although the original objective might never have been actualized, the process itself was a highly valuable catalyst for exposure to different media, different work processes, generation of ideas and further relationships and collaborative events- like this exhibition, for example.
Taking January 2010 as a starting point, each of the twelve participants would create a piece of work within a month, then pass it down their ‘thread’ to the next artist. Simultaneously, they would receive a piece from another artist to which they would respond by making another piece of work. At the end of that month, their response would, again, be passed along to another artist. With a rotating timetable, each participant would, at one point or another, exchange a piece of work with all eleven others, the final works being a culmination of twelve threads of influence and inspiration from their peers. The pieces have been chosen that best illustrate the “threads” of consciousness that were followed; of the transmission, interpretation and reiteration of an idea; the shift of focus, and attention, and emphasis; the transmutation of a concept as it is translated not only across media, but across mindset and viewpoints.