Exhibition

24.09.04 - 23.10.04
Main Gallery
Ben Morieson
BURNOUT

This exhibition represents the culmination of Ben Morieson’s Burnout project, a series of drawing performances initiated in 2001 which has toured in various states in Australia, as well as Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia, China and New Zealand. Appropriately, it marks the conclusion of a cycle that began at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces in 2000, with an exhibition featuring slabs of tyre-marked asphalt, framed in timber map drawers.

In one light, the Burnout series could be viewed as pure spectacle: the audience watch from a grand stand as cars begin to perform a theatrical display of choreographed manoeuvres. As the cars’ rear wheels screech and spin, the rubber melts, leaving plumes of smoke, and an orchestrated sketch of velvety charcoal is left on the surface of the carpark. As the smoke from the burning tyres clears, the spectators are presented with a bold, abstract image.

These gestures, viewed from elevated seating, can be seen like a signature, graffiti tagging, or the fluid flourish of a virtuoso. By taking these frenetic drawings out of the urban landscape and placing them in a sporting arena, the spectators are challenged to contextualise the burnout culture. Morieson’s unconventional approach subverts the expectations of competition implicit in this sporting environment, and presents art instead.

Morieson’s exhibition in the Main Gallery at Gertrude consists of videos and photographs from the most recent Burnout event - held in Canberra and commissioned by Canberra Contemporary Art Space and Arts ACT, as well as a unique customised Burnout video game console, in which participants can create and print their own Burnout drawings.

Adrenaline and theatre fuel the Burnout performances. The Burnout events incorporate and transcend traditional notions of art and sport, street culture and I.T. Hype.

Ben Morieson’s Burnout 2004 project was presented by Canberra Contemporary Art Space as part of the ACT Government’s Temporary Public Art Program 24:7, May 2004.

Ben Morieson lives and works in Melburne, and has presented numerous solo projects including Burnout 2004, Sutton Park Driver Training Centre, Canberra 2004 and Burnout 2001, Melbourne Docklands; and Façade, cnr Smith and Gertrude Streets, Fitzroy 2003; as well as group exhibitions including Friendly Fire, touring throughout Europe and New Zealand, 2003-2004; Home Loan, Caroline Springs, Melbourne 2003; and Love Letter to China, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney 2003. Morieson has also undertaken studio residencies at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces (1999 - 2001) and the Cite International Des Arts, Paris (2001-2002).