Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers
Textbase
June 30 - July 25, 1999
Entering into an untouched plateau
My eyes settle the land
The field is altered, irrevocably
Frontiers fill and flow
I write it down to hold it still
so I can look at it again
the field is framed, recoloured,
the wave-motions reformed
Language coagulates, thickens
At certain points rupture
Text bubbles to the surface
Textbase, 1999
Textbase is a collective of Melbourne based writers and artists
who have been exhibiting and publishing since 1996. Disillusioned
with the way that text and writing are sidelined within the gallery,
and made subordinate to the art object, Textbase aim to redefine
our understanding of text within the artworld. Initially formed
in partnership with 1st Floor gallery, Melbourne, as a means to
include writing as an integral part of the art space's operations,
as Textbase developed they moved their project into other arenas
outside of the gallery. Since 1996 the group have produced collaborative
exhibitions, catalogues, radio shows, and journals, and with plans
freshly hatched to make bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and other
consumable goodies, Textbase are expanding the limits of writing
about art, into art. Their exhibition at The Physics Room,
Echoes, ripples, and buzz'd whispers, continues this examination
of the role of text in the artworld, and in the commodification
of art.
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