PLACE OF ASSEMBLY

An exhibition of site-specific installations and creative actions of assembly

D // 10-27 October 2012
L // Schoolhouse Studios
97-99 Nicholson St, Abbotsford VIC, Australia.

 

Schoolhouse Studios is a gathering place for activity, exchange, and collaboration for 75 artists. With the

inevitable demolition and commercial residential development of the site scheduled at the end of 2012,

Schoolhouse Studios’ founders, Elizabeth Barnett and Alice Glenn, have curated a two-week, site-wide

exhibition. Place of Assembly to celebrates and commemorates the site and vibrant history of assembly and

learning. The enduring creative and social potential of ‘assembly’ becomes both theme and action-plan in

the face of demolition and disassembly.

In March 2011, Elizabeth Barnett and Alice Glenn instigated a lease for 95 – 97 Nicholson Street

Abbotsford – an architecturally diverse site of (approx. 4800 m2) with a 120-year history of education and

assembly. Art and design swiftly infiltrated the every possible space. Barnett and Glenn engineered a

brilliant transformation of the disused buildings to create affordable workspaces for artists across diverse

media, methods and contexts enabling them to focus, co-exist, interact and collaborate.

The unique site of Place of Assembly offers artists, curators and audience the rare opportunity to

experience an environment of interconnected artworks and interventions on a scale unlike any other in

inner Melbourne.

All 75 Schoolhouse Studios residents are invited to collaborate in this large-scale project, contributing

their assembly of diverse creative practices and studios. An additional 12 artists have been commissioned

to join this process, creating new site-specific installations throughout the building. The works engage with

the layered history of the site and its function as a “place of assembly”, from its origins as a tannery, a

monastery, technical college, through to the more recent presence of Sophia Mundi Steiner School, to it’s

current function as arts precinct. The project actively encourages all artists, emerging and established, to

actualise works that would not be possible in conventional gallery or exhibition structures.

Place of Assembly guest artists:

Beth Arnold

James Carey and Campbell Drake

Martine Corrupt

Katie Lee

Bridie Lunney

Dominic Redfern

Robbie Rowlands

Zoe Scoglio

Jake Walker

Julian White

Statement of Environmental Accountability

Through implementing an environmental plan for Place of Assembly, Barnett and Glenn commit to

creating an environmentally ethical project. Despite the demolition of the site the curators believe it is

important to communicate and demonstrate sustainable practices and outcomes in the arts. This is an

important message for the community, and attendees of the exhibition. It is our aim that this message will

inform and inspire other arts and cultural projects. Barnett and Glenn have engaged a sustainability

consultant, Laura Morgan, to develop environmental plans for Place of Assembly and provide ongoing

advice.

For further information: contact info@schoolhousestudios.com.au

Relevant web sites: www.schoolhousestudios.com.au/placeofassembly

Elizabeth Barnett and Alice Glenn would like to acknowledge the support of Arts Victoria, City of Yarra

and the community at Schoolhouse Studios.