Events

When we talk about 'sustainability', we often do so in terms of large scale projects. And yet, simply doing things 'smaller', buying one car instead of two, undertaking one overseas trip instead of three, consuming one foil-wrapped bonbon instead of four, and so forth, can contribute significantly to building a more sustainable future for animals, human and non-human.

In the last hundred years or so, art has moved out of the home into the public sphere. Public art on a grand scale has been privileged over intimate works designed for private viewing. And while the so-called masses are free to flock to the public art gallery and to dedicated civic spaces, they have little opportunity to choose what they wish to see if their visual idioms do not coincide with the larger collective project of the nation and its culture. In terms of cost and scale – with larger works being costlier and also requiring large spaces within a home not needed for other purposes – art is no longer available to even middle income groups.

The purpose of the Small Art Project, and the works gathered together in this exhibition, is to explore the possibilities of 'small art', art as an intimate object that functions on a human scale, art that is accessible in size (and cost) and that consumes a minimum of resources.