The Grey Zone: Collecting and Collaboration in Contemporary Art and Design

Pairings of art and design works, curated by Edition Office and Trent Jansen, formed a meditative collision of cultures and contemporary thought at Artbank Melbourne

Australia’s First Nations people developed purpose-built design — including complex tools, structures and self-sustaining systems of aquaculture — on this land before written records began. While European industry may have come ashore with colonisation, the acknowledgement of some 60,000 years of technologically adept Indigenous civilisation forces a seismic revaluation of the country’s design heritage.

‘Typically there have been gatekeepers of design, who declare what it is and isn’t based on status, class, or racial or cultural differences,’ says Kim Bridgland, co-director at Melbourne-based architecture practice Edition Office. ‘This has meant that traditional vernacular design isn’t considered on the same platform. So for us, The Grey Zone exhibition needed to be a space of equity.

Having completed the design of the Artbank Melbourne gallery in 2018, Edition Office was invited by director Emma Crimmings to curate an exhibition in the space, alongside prolific Thirroul-based designer and lecturer Trent Jansen.

Titled The Grey Zone, the show presented thoughtfully chosen pieces from the Artbank archive by Narelle Autio, Nathan Beard, Stephanie Schrapel, Tim Johnson, Philip Juster, Jim Marwood, Alasdair McLuckie and Pip Ryan, paired with contributions from Edition Office, Maree Clarke, Trent Jansen and Johnny Nargoodah, Field Experiments, Charles Wilson, Guy Keulemans, Kyoko Hashimoto and Vicki West, in a poetic spatial examination of the meaning ascribed to objects.

‘Our connection with designed objects has been lost, largely because we see them as historical artefacts rather than functional, beautiful, skilfully and intelligently made works,’ says Jansen. ‘In some instances, they served their purpose more so than the kinds of things we consider to be contemporary design today.’

Both Edition Office and Trent Jansen frequently collaborate closely with Indigenous Australian designers, recognising these practitioners’ long and diverse heritage as foundational to a broader public understanding of design. ‘We feel that all design, even things like dining tables and knives, which we use on a daily basis, needs to be influenced by a more diverse group of lived experiences,’ Bridgland says.

‘In developing the exhibition, we ensured we had a broad representation of our design history, both pre- and post-colonial,’ Jansen notes. ‘It’s only when we understand the importance of Indigenous stories to the national identity that they can truly become respected and loved.’

Early discussion on The Grey Zone involved artist, designer and curator Maree Clarke, a Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung woman, who ultimately bowed out due to time constraints after winning a major commission for Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel project. Her evocative Kangaroo Tooth Necklace appears in front of Pip Ryan’s watercolour illustration Hell Mouth, demonstrating visceral similarities between the two works. Other pairings of object and artwork express humour, beauty, striking contrast or a political bent — unprescribed messages to be interpreted by the individual. ‘For me, it was about creating a space of ambiguity for the audience, where they could find themselves stuck in the middle,’ says Bridgland.

Debuted in March 2020, the exhibition was open to the public for only a week before the first of last year’s state-wide lockdowns hit Melbourne. Given the unpredictability of hosting physical gatherings in the wake of COVID, Artbank has made a three-dimensional tour of The Grey Zone available online, enabling immersive virtual visits to the Melbourne gallery.

Text / Sandra Tan 
Images / Ben Hosking