Group Name: Art of This Gallery (John Marks, Daniel Palahniuk,
Kristin Abhalter, David Petersen)
Art of This Gallery
Drawing of Proposed Shanty
Abandon Antarctic
Description of Concept
Art of This Gallery would like to present its Abandoned Antarctic Shanty for the Art Shanty
Project 2008. Abandoned Antarctic Shanty will be a pseudo-research post where the artists of Art
of This will collect from visitors items they are willing to abandon at the shanty. These random
abandoned items will thus be transformed into art objects.
Abandoned Antarctic Shanty subverts two existing relationships. First is the relationship between
the frozen surface of Medicine Lake and the likewise frozen surface that is Antarctica. Despite
claims being made on each surface, e.g. the plot on which an art shanty rests, or a larger claim
where a research post exists, neither surface is a piece of real estate and is not and cannot be
owned. Also, because of this reality, both art shanty and research post are temporary structures
where temporary activities take place. However, there is a distinction when this finite period of
time concludes. At the end of the season, the art shanty is packed up and moved back onto "permanent
land." Antarctic research posts, in contrast, are abandoned when the continent's harsh conditions
have rendered them inoperable. The research post must be rebuilt at a new locale, leaving
the old facility behind. Abandoned Antarctic Shanty is the conceptual "reusing" and "rescuing" of
the abandoned, first reusing the research post, and then removing it from the lake when conditions
require.
Abandon Antarctic 2
The second concept that Abandoned Antarctic Shanty will pursue is that of the artist and
viewer, and how each has a role in making an object an "art object." Traditionally, the artist creates
the work of art and the viewer's participation is passive. In this instance the artist and audience
will each play an active role. The artist must defer some of their "power," i.e. their ability to
transform a raw material into an art object, to the viewer, who, by leaving behind an object, will
be dictating what will be art in the research post. The artist, acting as researcher, will display
these abandoned objects inside and outside of the shanty, per participant's request. This reversal
of the traditional role between artist and audience, will reverse the way in art is made, as now the
participant is the artist as well.
Visual Description
The Abandoned Antarctic Shanty will be based upon the construction of an abandoned Argentine
facility. A simple rectangular structure with pointed roof (an A-frame), made from wooden construction
materials, the shanty will offer visual elements both inside and out. The exterior walls of the
shanty, while yellow in color will be treated like the walls of an art gallery. Items abandoned by
visitors who wish their objects to be displayed outdoors, exposed to the elements, will be "hung"
or installed on the exterior surfaces, e.g. on a shelf or affixed directly to the wall with a fastener.
Indoors, objects will be treated somewhat differently, as they will be protected from the winter.
Interior abandoned objects will be collected and stored in glass jars or in wooden boxes that will
be stored on shelves inside the shanty. All materials collected by Art of This will be recorded and
posted outside. Due to conditions and hazards on the ice, both weather and recreation- related,
the shanty will be built upon skis for easy movement and will have recycled bicycle reflectors
(abandoned by an artist that visited Art of This in July) affixed to the exterior of the structure.
Abandon Antarctic 3
