Nathan Gray: Work with me here - Curation

BACKGROUND: The exhibition project 'Nathan Gray: Work with me here' comprised a month-long program of conversations, actions, lectures and performances. Featuring the works of artist-musician-performer Nathan Gray, 'Work With Me Here' transformed Design Hub into an open studio where new works in the series were generated collaboratively, on site and in public. During the exhibition, Gray was in residence, administering a program of events and working with practitioners from experimental music, dance, contemporary art and performance. The exhibition was curated by Fleur Watson, Kate Rhodes and Nella Themelios. CONTRIBUTION: The title 'Work With Me Here' was an invitation to rediscover the social body around making. The project aimed to change the studio from an isolated workplace and make it over as a space for other spaces and other inhabitants. It also included a special program of events curated in collaboration with sonic art festival Liquid Architecture. 'Work With Me Here' also engaged with students and RMIT researchers from interior design, industrial design, architecture and games. The exhibition curation builds upon the intent at the Design Hub to curate a progressive program that explores, visualises and performs the making of design research through exhibitions. This work demonstrates Watson's ongoing investigation into new ways of presenting and mediating architectural and design practices within a collaborative model. SIGNIFICANCE: The exhibition presented Gray's complete collection of films in the 'Works<30s series' for the first time in one space. It was designed for the RMIT Design Hub, a progressive educational environment that houses a community of architects, designers, curators and students for collaborative, inter-disciplinary design research. The exhibition was reviewed in The Age.