Four month letter writing exchange between artists in Australia and UK
Month long residency and performance program at West Space Gallery, Melbourne
Month long residency and performance program at Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow
Strangers and Intimacy was an international research and performance project that involved eight artists and performers including Alice Hui Sheng Chang, Robert Walton, Lalage Harries, Ivor McAskill, Madeleine Collie (Hodge), Sarah Rodigari, Brian Fuata, Pete Harrison.
The project took place in stages and involved a correspondence, residency, and exhibition outcomes in Melbourne and in Glasgow. The project extended or attenuated the process of becoming intimate with strangers, the process often undertaken by artists when working together for the first time in residency contexts. It sought to blur lines between stranger and friend, truth and fiction and brought the audeince into the process of becoming familiar with each other.
Part 1: International Writing Project, September – December 2004
Part 2: Performance Installation, 27th Jan – 5th Feb 2005, West Space Gallery, Melbourne
Part 3: Studio Performance, 9th, 10th March in CCA, Glasgow
“In fact, the term ‘audience’ is rendered useless–the work engages everyone so deeply that no-one and everyone is ‘watching.’ We, who were not part of the letter exchange, enter a world in which we develop intimacy; suddenly we are paired with another audience member, dancing slowly, closely, repeating a forced echolalia of “My darling, I love you, I have always loved you. I always will.” We are thrown into a bizarrely intimate situation with a complete stranger: we feel ‘close’ to them, bound perhaps by a mutual sense of discomfort and awkwardness. It’s not real intimacy, but a re-enactment of it.” Nicola Shafer, Realtime 66
Strangers and Intimacy Installation of Letters, West Space Gallery, 2005. Photo Christian Capuro
Strangers and Intimacy Installation of Letters, West Space Gallery, 2005. Photo Christian Capuro
strangers & intimacy publication