Access Artist Run Centre became, for the duration of the exhibition, a clubhouse. Part installation, part performance document, this multi-faceted project brought together the artists' interest in unscripted, social interactions with the structured context of a gallery exhibition. For five weeks Norma used the gallery as a "home base" for their performances and collective activities. Games (ping pong, Scrabble, etc.), group portraits, uniforms, memorabilia, and a variety of other accoutrements associated with clubs and social organizations comprised the installation. Members of Norma met at Clubhouse on evenings prior to their public performances: group loitering around Vancouver. As a practical, working gathering space, the structure of the clubhouse-installation shifted as the artists tailored it to suit their particular tastes and requirements. Influenced as much by boy bands as contemporary art practices, Norma's Clubhouse circumvents traditional expectations of the gallery space, and paints a sociable portrait of the artist in contemporary culture.
|