LH: The artists give the show its name, because any other would have felt like a retrofit – an attempt to tie up the show and hide any loose ends. Where possible, I’ve always tried to make the process visible and, as the show is the work of three artists, any other name would have felt like the exhibition was wearing a badly fitted suit. EG: Were there any surprises, as you got deeper into the project? LH: There were plenty of surprises along the way, particularly as this was my first show. I’m not sure if this counts as a surprise, but I’m grateful for how generous Rosalie, Cornelia and Catherine were in terms of their time to create new work, engage in a collaborative
conversation, and travel to Swansea to install the work and open with a public talk. Their travelling from ‘elsewhere’, respectively from London, Berlin and Gothenburg, has encouraged me to think more about exhibiting international practice in Wales. Welsh artists tend to bring a Welsh audience and without the existing connections to Wales, I feel the opening talk wasn’t quite as busy as it could have been. Perhaps it wasn’t that at all, but it made me question the relevance of a show like this happening in Swansea, as opposed, for instance, to London, Berlin or Gothenburg. Is it important? Is it different from what’s gone before? Do these questions even matter? I didn’t set out to work with artists who hadn’t worked in Wales before, but I didn’t let their location stop conversations either. It was a surprise for me that I came to work with two artists who are not based in the UK, and the third currently working predominately elsewhere – which her work addresses in the show.
EG: What level of risk did you think you were taking in working with artists you hadn’t met before? LH: I had met each artist only once before the install, but these early conversations gave us enough knowledge of each other to know that we could work together. Of course, though I had met each artist, they had not met each other, and so there was certainly an element of risk there, the show being a very collaborative conversation. The other risk was the unfamiliarity with the space – none of the artists had been to Mission Gallery before, only viewing the space through photos and videos. EG: Could you talk about the individual pieces in the show and how they all work together in the gallery? LH: I think it’s useful to mention first that Mission Gallery is a converted Welsh chapel. The gallery space is made up of two rooms – a large square-ish space with a vaulted ceiling, and a round apse space with a small alcove off to the left. On entering the gallery, Rosalie’s fridge is to your left. Rosalie buys a fridge magnet wherever she goes for work and, at Mission Gallery, she presented the migrant worker’s fridge magnet collection, displaying her collection for the first time in public on a fridge stocked with local drinks. At the public preview, Rosalie offered to share a story behind a magnet in exchange for a drink from the fridge, and, after the opening weekend, the fridge stayed on and served the exhibition as a bar. Rosalie is interested in the idea of the artist as migrant and how it can seem sexy to travel around a lot, when actually she’d rather be in one place. She travels to sustain her practice, and pay rent in London. Pulling at the wiring of Rosalie’s fridge, and interacting with the notion of the group show, is Cornelia’s site-specific wall work Pinch, expanding on a recent exploration of making site-specific murals. Colours and
previous pages, left to right: Allowed–not allowed, Rosalie Schweiker, 2016 Mattress, Rosalie Schweiker, 2016 Stay at home, Rosalie Schweiker, 2016 Fridge, Rosalie Schweiker, 2016 this page: Big Hams, Catherine Biocca, installation view at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, 2013, industry marker on 6 assembled wax cloths, 350 x 300 cm, courtesy the artist and Jeanine Hofland, Amsterdam (NL) opposite: Pinch, Cornelia Baltes, installation view at Mission Gallery, Swansea, 2016, emulsion paint on wall, black cabling, dimensions variable, courtesy the artist. Photo: Warren Orchard