RAUM gallery was looking for exhibition proposals and we proposed a two week long event: during the first week the gallery would act as a studio, as we would come up with our own ideas on how to embed book in the space and welcome visitors to see the progress. Collaboration / intersection between artists projects was discussed on site, but we all ended up carrying out individual takes on site-specificdeness.The second week would be the exhibition itself with a private view scheduled for (the 2nd)  Monday and RAUM would go back to its status of gallery. 

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We were very interested in the space because of its rather quirky configuration, narrow, long but full of corners and idiosyncrasies.

 

Corners are an obvious catch for a book artist, as it provides a formal and physical analogy to the double spread, so everyone was excited. 

 

I was particularly excited about the wall with a frame around it, where I ended up creating SHALEOPOLY. This frame embodied the feelings I was having about the world through my recent readings: like we reached the status of being framed by the system, in a constant loop in which we are both a perpetuator and a victim of a vicious cycle.

 

As project manager for this event I dealt with all liaison between the group and the gallery coordinators. This included organising and vacating the space, help and guide the participants with logistics, prepare all writing for the Press Release material to be designed by the gallery coordinators. Being the project manager also meant having to keep participants in keeping with deadlines. 

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I also set up a blog for the residency, so not only we would register our work and progression, but also so that we could have a professionally looking digital archive solely dedicated to the event. I considered blogging because it also facilitated access by all members and pushed the participants to reflect on the residency - collaborative aspect of artists' practice - and feel more engaged with it.