“Spectacle/Obstacle”
Greta Alfaro, Justin Balmain, Rebecca Baumann, Tim Bruniges, Michaela Gleave and Pia van Gelder
28 Oct → 19 Nov 2011

The music gets faster, the lights get brighter, the image is broadcast from every angle. The spectacle demands attention – soliciting, seducing and imploring our gaze. The question, however, remains: is its very nature, its overwhelming force, an obstacle to our comprehension?

The curators of Spectacle/Obstacle believe the spectator, like the student or scientist, is constantly observing, selecting, comparing and interpreting and, in this way, is actively confronting the obstacles generated by a spectacular society. Through the works of Alfaro, Balmain, Baumann, Bruniges, Gleave and van Gelder we see artists who are prepared to interrogate the world, holding up spectacle to harness its wonder and provoke a reaction in audiences that is hard to resist.

SuperKaleidoscope is a contemporary art initiative established by artist/curators Kim Fasher and Sarah Mosca to provide a platform for emerging artists to show innovative work in and outside the parameters of the gallery space. www.superkaleidoscope.com

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Greta Alfaro

Justin Balmain

Rebecca Baumann

Tim Bruniges

Michaela Gleave

Pia van Gelder is a Sydney-based electronic artist, teacher and curator. Van Gelder develops performances, interactive installations and event based works that explore different understandings of our relationship with technology and electricity. Recent projects have included The Instrument Builders Project, National Gallery of Victoria, 2014; Psychic Synth at Performance Space, 2014, a large-scale interactive installation powered by a participant’s brain waves.