Background

The → ↑ → Installation was a self-contained one-room mini-retrospective of the work produced by → ↑ → between 1977 and 1983. The installation featured posters, publications, records, films and videos produced by the group, here presented in a mock domestic loungeroom setting which allowed visitors to peruse and digest the work on display.

Credits

Concept and design - Philip Brophy

1983

AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTA - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
FROM ANOTHER CONTINENT - Musée d'art moderne, Paris

1984

Praxis, Fremantle
Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, Hobart

Installation view - Praxis, Fremantle © 1984

Overview

The idea for The → ↑ → Installation resulted from being invited to exhibit in PERSPECTA '83 - a bi-annual survey of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. As → ↑ → never regarded itself as 'producing art' for museographic display, the idea was to simply 'evidence work' done by the group up to that point. The focus, then, was on the products made by → ↑ →: records, films, videos, publications and posters.

To stress this point, the installation was as unartistic as possible: the more it looked like the waiting room for a bland office, the better. The decor for the installation's various iterations was sourced directly from each institution's public seating. The presentation relied not on sophisticated hi-tech modules, but simple store-bought domestic hi-fi and television set-ups. Potted plants were usually included too; the TV was always tuned to the crassest commercial station. (In Paris, most people thought it was an actual rest area.) Rather than make something to shine under gallery spotlights, The → ↑ → Installation was a momentary occupation of the museum, pointing to things that occur outside its environs. Referencing Richard Hamilton's 1958 pop collage, it artificially brought to life everything that wasn't art, and everything that was → ↑ →.

Installation view - Praxis, Fremantle © 1984

Technical

Contents

Various posters for → ↑ → events, performances & tours
The Made By → ↑ → book
Videos: Ads, Asphixiation: Aural/Oral Risk & Muzak Rock & Minimalism
Various → ↑ → records
Copies of Stuff magazine
Installation view - Praxis, Fremantle © 1984