SPIN CYCLE MANIFESTO

Some of you may not be aware of Virginia's intention for the BRAG Showcase exhibition this July so here is the manifesto that guides us:


SPIN CYCLE

(INSTALLATION & PERFORMANCE)

Pre-wash
Wet
Dry


Pre-wash

The Tea Towel is forever in a spin. Wet. Dry. Wet. Dry. Wet… Always rubbing and polishing, shining and wiping, busy servicing our needs. Greetings from SANDFIRE ROADHOUSE. Often gifted out to friend and family as a ‘great time’ souvenir, the resilient Tea Towel is caught in a cycle, trapped in the machinations of the machine, tangled with the tights, slapped taught then hung out to dry.

The Souvenir Tea Towel, related to the common variety Tea Towel, is the rarer and more desirable form within the Tea Towel genus. Her plumage is gaudy and cheaply printed with pictures and anecdotes of a conquering past. WITTENOOM W.A. Caught in a game of Captain Cook she is bought and sold, given and received as a flag-type symbol of ‘we was here’ reinforcing the colonization cycle: Wet; dry; wet…

The Great Australian Roadhouse; small-town general store; tourist bureau; Wombat Lodge or your altruistic fundraising charity distribution chain (CWA, P&C) are the preferred habitat for the Souvenir Tea Towel. She is desired by the panicked traveler sans imagination, the sensible shoe brigade and the astute collector oblivious to the inherent values embedded in the object itself and it’s covering decoration. CARNARVON WA jostles for provenance with MADE IN CHINA.

The Tea Towel ends up on the line. She is hoisted up dripping and bleached by the Australian sun until rigid. Pulled down she is roughly folded then jammed third drawer down on top of the Souvenir Tea Towel. Too good to use and too sentimental to throw away, she languishes nibbled by silverfish until recycled by the local Red Cross. I swam with the dolphins at BUNBURY WA.



Wet

An examination of the production and use of the Souvenir Tea Towel will be the focus of exploration for this exhibition. It will be examined as a metaphor for and symbol of culture, society and the individual.

The Tea Towel is a signifier of our colonial past and an icon of colonial conquest. The origins of tea and ‘tea time’ rituals indeed come into question here as loaded meanings inherent in the Tea Towel itself. These will be explored further in the exhibition.

In addition the Tea Towel is stamped and marked with other meanings creating a layered effect, like culture over culture. This will be interrogated in the creation of a new range of Tea Towels which will be produced (BUNBURY,WA); gifted (we was here); used (wet, dry, wet…) and recycled into exhibition (spin cycle).

Dry

The exhibition is cyclic in nature and will constantly change.

The audience will encounter a quiet, still laundry room caught mid-cycle. Tea Towels were laundered on washing day. They now hang, filling the space; a moist, laundered scent mixed with the fetid odour of a thousand roast dinners will fill the space. Piles of tea towels are strewn on the floor.

Several days later, the tea towels are miraculously transformed. They are folded, crisp and dry. They are ironed in-situ once a week as part of the laundry cycle, a performance element of the installation.

The fresh Tea Towels are sent out for use as the next batch arrives to be strung up. This installation is designed to evolve to emphasise the cycle of production and use; supply and demand; wet and dry. Laundry is always getting done yet is never actually done.

The audience will notice that each Tea Towel is a unique response to the multiple meanings embedded in the Souvenir Tea-Towel (see pre wash, above) and how this layering reflects a false sense of Australian culture.


Spin Cycle reminds us to look closely at those things we take for granted and have forgotten to see.

It is a reflection of the false values we allow into our homes stamped on a tea towel that become normalized and overlooked over time.

The performance element of the exhibition emphasizes the endless Groundhog Day of daily ongoing rituals that give meaning but in themselves become meaningless. Silent endeavour.

The installation will be a unique “creeping” style exhibition where the viewer experiences a different exhibition each time they visit.

This exhibition promises to reach beyond the realm of the typical exhibition experience in the South West in that it will be a large-scale conceptual installation. These types of exhibitions are rare – even in Perth – and establish a sense of art as beyond the object or the process itself encouraging discussion and debate.