Coalesce: Happenstance

SMART Project Space

Arie Biemondstraat 105-113 Amsterdam 10.01.09-22.02.09

‘Coalesce’ is the title of an evolutionary exhibition project, initiated by curator Paul O’Neill (Bristol) in 2003. ‘Coalesce: Happenstance’ at SMART Project Space is the final version of the project and is the culmination of O’Neill’s past six years of research and development into the possibility of an exhibition as a form of co-production between multiple agencies. Artists from previous editions (in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain) are gathered together for this large cumulative show. ‘Coalesce: Happenstance’ provides the first major exhibition of O’Neill’s work in the Netherlands. An evolving exhibition as a work of art in progress, it posits exhibition-making as a form of artistic practice where the accumulation of actors and actions co-produce a single co-habited exhibition form. O’Neill has invited a vibrant selection of artists to take part in his project as co-producers to develop new work in response to each other, and to the overall exhibition structure and concept. Works overlap with one another, with the exhibition completed on-site by artists using the exhibition space as their space of production, whilst considering the exhibition as a collaborative structure that facilitates a space of co-habitation, critical responsiveness and of cooperative exchange. By exploring and articulating both formal and conceptual similarities, Coalesce is an inter-mingling of individual works operating at different spatio-temporalities from fast track to slower durational works. Taking the conceptual-form of a pictorial plane, the exhibition moves through three principal categories of organisation, with the Background, Middle-ground and the Foreground coalescing with one another. Supported by: Mondriaan Foundation; Gemeente Amsterdam; Bureau Broedplaatsen; Stichting Doen; Filmfonds; Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

From left to right:

Sleeping bags made of found matrasses’ fabric; size-H 10 x L 200 x W 80 cm

Curtains of safety debris netting stitched in various colours; size- H 350 x 200 cm On wall three picnic towel paper with spray; size-H 150 x W 300 cm and sleeping bags

Two sleeping bags