Lisa Steele & Kim Tomczak. 1987. Video, colour, sound. 18:00
We made this tape to ask: Could a large public art gallery be taken over by private interests and capital? And if this happened, how would the relationship be altered between the newly privatized gallery and its audience and the artists who exhibit there? This tape reworks the mystery/detective style of storytelling, seeking to reveal how the terms “public” and “private” are perceived. How do individuals define themselves in relation to mechanisms of control? Why is the government busy intervening into the personal lives of citizens while at the same time moving at a furious pace to divest itself of its own companies and crown corporations? While undeniably fictional, this tape speculates on the future of art under questionable conditions of patronage.
