Gallery Connections 1991 - 1996

Curator: Angus Fairhurst's "Gallery Connections", held at the Tate, measures about 64.5 cm high, 11 cm wide, and 45 cm deep. What strikes you initially? Editor: The exposed wires and boxy, almost sterile design give a feeling of something unfinished, like a dissection of technology itself. It's unsettling. Curator: Fairhurst was quite interested in systems and exposing the hidden workings of things, particularly within institutional contexts. The gallery is implicated in its title. Editor: The wires evoke a nervous system, or perhaps the tangled mess of information and power that operates just beneath the surface of art. Is it a critique? Curator: Perhaps a revelation more than a critique. He's revealing the conduits, the unseen pathways that connect artworks and viewers within the gallery space, physically and conceptually. Editor: That resonates. Looking at the holes and exposed elements, there’s a sense of vulnerability, as if the artwork itself is opened to scrutiny. Curator: Exactly. It's almost as if he’s suggesting that the meaning isn't solely in the object but in the unseen connections it creates and relies on. Editor: It encourages us to question what lies beneath the art that surrounds us. A revealing piece. Curator: Yes, and it asks us to look beyond the surface of the work, both literally and figuratively, to find deeper meaning.