The Change Room

Research Background: Across contemporary art and architecture, "relational" approaches are being increasingly explored as a way to depart from more hermetic ideas about the authorship, agency and social engagement of creative work. Largely, 'relational' approaches assume that multiple people participate in the durational development of the work. 'The Change Room' was one component of Stitching Time, by Prof. Erin Manning, produced for the 18th Biennale of Sydney. Manning's "relational architecture" invited people to produce garments with and in a vast display of sewn fabric fragments, which had been produced though an international network of sewing circles. The Change Room was a relatively private enclosure within a large, open and busy space, where people could change their clothes if required. Research Contribution: Design production began with a given material system, designed by Ednie-Brown for a 2009 installation to evoke a scalelessness, ambiguous/blurred boundary conditions, and an ambience of the indefinite - qualitatively similar to clouds. A small group engaged with this system in helping to develop the composition of the Change Room. When exhibited, the room was a relatively static entity that was not intended to be physically altered in the way the rest of Stitching Time invited. This produced a productive tension, offering a counterpoint to explicit, physical engagement while operating 'relationally' in spatial and aesthetic ways. Its contribution lies in reconsidering relational approaches in terms of both environments and aesthetics, rather than the explicitly participatory. Research Significance: The Sydney Biennale is an important international art event. In 2012 it achieved 665,488 visits across all venues. Prof. Manning, University Research Chair, Faculty of Fine Arts (Concordia Uni), is a significant, international renowned figure across art, philosophy and dance. The 18th Biennale (2012) received significant coverage in national media.