by Sam Beard.

an invitation to dance marks the ninth and final exhibition at Cool Change for 2024, accompanied by the concurrent loose ,, sparkling by Kelsey D. and Justine Walsh, which is nestled in a corner of the same gallery. an invitation to dance consists primarily of collaborative works by Jess Tan, Audrey Tan, Kristen Brownfield, jemi gale, and Clare Wohlnick. The gang of five share aesthetic sensibilities. This has resulted in a body of work that could very well be the vision of one individual, in terms of continuity. Among the most arresting works, if not for scale alone, is the hanging assemblage consisting of a central banner suspended by two ribbons hanging from either side. It is a collaboration between Brownfield, Wohlnick, and Audrey and Jess Tan consisting of stitching, weaving, collage, and found objects—a combination repeated throughout much of the exhibition. Across the room is another collaboration, a large expanse of wool mounted to the wall. Wriggly stitchwork and bits of organic matter are fixed to the surface. The sheet oscillates between appearing like a mouldy section of carpet and an earthy abstraction. 
        Nearby to the woollen work are two suspended sheets or tarpaulin with painterly swathes on either side. Suspended with twigs, bark and plant matter, they remind me of messy painter’s aprons. On closer inspection, there are elements of painting that are reminiscent of Joan Mitchell’s later paintings—though perhaps this is a stretch, as the occasional foray into figuration (and somewhat strained figuration at that) dismantles the flowy, painterly forms that constitute the most interesting parts of these works. Nearby, Brownfield and Audrey Tan display a selection of minute found objects. Pinned to the wall, these objects include plant matter, a scrunched up scrap of aluminum foil, a dead moth, bits of plastic, etc. Unfortunately, these tiny remnants are simply too diminutive to stand out from their jerry-rigged display and fade into obscurity amongst the larger, more bombastic works.
        Of most interest to me are the suspended mobiles by Audrey and Jess Tan.  Like a hippy Alexander Calder, these cloudy, pastel, lumpy mobiles softly move in the dead air of the gallery. A mix of wonky copper wire, puffy pillow-like forms, and grotty bits of what appears to be seaweed, they are intriguing assemblages that remain somewhat unresolved. One has the feeling that these are the prototypes for further work—“process” yet to be undertaken. This brings me to the curatorial premise: the ‘privileg[ing] process-led art practices’ and ‘minimising emphasis on extractive value and outcome’. In the absence of ‘outcome’ is the presence of ‘pottering’—or what the curators described as the ‘embodied but unfocused thinking and working that playfully engages with and reassembles matter’. What strikes me about this definition of pottering, is how familiar it is, or, put differently, how often artists of all disciplines attempt to describe these moments of uncontrived contemplation. These moments underpin creativity, and are increasingly described as “under attack”, be it from social media, 24-hour news cycles, waning attention—you’ve heard it all before. For artists, or anyone undertaking a creative endeavour, time spent pondering, reflecting, mulling over, or however one chooses to describe it, is crucial.
        Yet, what seems confused in the premise for this exhibition and in its privileging of the ‘process-led’ is that, ultimately, it is the results, or remnants, of these “processes” that we, the viewers, are left to contemplate—and not the process itself that is being “privileged.” This leaves one to ask, is this not almost always the case? So, from the initial premise, couched in the language of creative radicality, we return to a rather traditional end result. an invitation to dance presents the work of a group of artists who represent an increasingly distinct contemporary aesthetic ‘current’ (to borrow from Terry Smith). It is a current that has been less generously described as the “sticks and stones” trend but more generously as eco-critically minded. However, eco-critical does not fully encompass the particular sensibilities of these artists, who favour a mix of pastel colours, found objects, playfulness (or a lack of seriousness, depending on one’s perspective), whimsical and naïve drawing, weaving, stitching, all seasoned with a sense of spiritualism.
        My curiosity about the curatorial remarks was piqued because they (re)present what most artists tend to do as something new, different, or divergent; an attempt at transforming the norm into the new. Most artists (those who really think through or take seriously their work) create in the way described by the artists here. One example that comes to mind is the exhibition at Nyisztor Studio, Materialogic, held last year, which included recent works by Juriek Wybranic, Trevor Richards, and, of relevance to this conversation, Alex Spremberg’s cardboard sculptures. These three artists showed a particular fascination for found or repurposed materials, as many have throughout the history of modern art. Spremberg is relevant here for his intention to create large scale sculpture with a light environment footprint by using packaging and cardboard—certainly a motive and concern shared by the artists of an invitation to dance. Is the “process-led” the real differentiating factor between these creative endeavours? Or, instead, is the difference aesthetic? (The hard-edged versus the hippy?) Surely, ‘process-led’ is simply a way of signalling that it is not the “output” we should be appreciating. However, this is a hard task when it is only the output that remains in the gallery for the viewer to appreciate.
        Closing off the year for Cool Change, an invitation to dance and loose ,, sparkling act as a concluding statement for the arts organisation, which this year has—more often than not—favoured presenting works-in-progress and unresolved experimentation rather than fully realised exhibitions. Beginning 2024 with Tom Roger’s 4Spells and Guesting and Hosting, a collection of works by Lithuanian artists curated by Sophie Durand, both at FORM, Cool Change soon took up a partnership with PS Art Space. This partnership resulted in: a series of works in progress by Ilona McGuire; 1948: Palestine in Pictures curated by Zaid Snobar and Saskia Willinge; Andrea Meacham’s wonky sculptures in Tear Jerker, paired with a fascinating selection of videos curated by Cassandra Tytler and Andrea Rassell (which was ultimately held at Artsource after a last minute change); and to hold a space for the body to give Shan Dante, paired with Makaela Rowe-Fox’s single-channel video, Actional Attempt. Nearly two years on from establishing a new space at the King’s Complex building, I remain hard pressed to understand why Cool Change has not fully utilised their own venue for exhibitions. Instead, “takeovers” of fellow galleries have constituted the bulk of Cool Change’s programming. While the King’s Complex location comes with myriad complexities of its own, it is also an undeniably and wonderfully absurd venue—rich with potential for anyone thinking outside the box and eager to do something unorthodox and fun.
        Overall, one leaves an invitation to dance with the sense that this exhibition was more fun to create than to see—perhaps this is the salient feature of the “process-led.”


an invitation to dance is presented by Cool Change and hosted by PS Art Spac, and runs 23 November – 21 December 2024.

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Image credit: Artworks by Kristen Brownfield, jemi gale, Audrey Tan, Jess Tan, and Clare Wohlnick, at PS Art Space. Photographed by the author.