Corban Walker, Short Minute Matter, 2015

I’m interested in the idea of using stanchions as a component for an installation because of the tendency of the barrier to interfere with an artwork, in a museum. From my perception/perspective, it is a recurring problem. During the residency at Atelier Calder in France 2015, I had several dozen low stanchions fabricated and installed them in a labyrinth in the studio. Last year, my response to the Crawford Art Gallery’s collection was primarily based on orientation: where my orientation in the galleries was guiding the viewer or reorientating the viewer to my perception of scale. The installation of stanchions in the centre of the Long Room, Short Minute Matter was recognized by my orientation (Corbanscale) and how I envisaged the viewer in the room, very much conscious of their own presence, surrounded by the artworks, I curated from the Crawford collection. It was a means for the viewers to find and navigate a path in the gallery. The selection of works added to the quantifiable and directional axis of the whole exhibition by defining the scope of the intervention and spanned from the stairwell to the Gibson galleries and the Long Room. I was responding to the collection, the building and ultimately, I envisaged I was responding to the viewers.