Studio 12 Exhibition

Dividing the gallery space both literally and metaphorically, Arlo Mountford’s Ramp for S/Elective Viewing proved an ambitious, large-scale installation which created a mediating structure between the white cube space of the gallery and the black box of cinematic projection. Walking underneath the ramp, viewers were invited to poke their heads through strategically-placed holes in its roof, in order to view the projected animation in the other half of the space. This interaction created a sense of disembodiment, as the viewers would then negotiate the animation as bodiless heads. The animation element of the work was able to ‘scan’ previous acts of disembodiment, including the French Revolution, through the use of an avatar, a digitally-generated character which interacts with previous works by artists such as Vito Acconci and Pipilotti Rist. Ramp for S/Elective Viewing playfully examined issues of visual engagement, art history and the viewer’s relationship to the gallery space, as well as the historical form, function and configuration of these spaces. Through the literal imagination and construction of a metaphoric process, the installation interrogated and extended the language and possibilities of art.

Mountford completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002. Group exhibitions include Unsigned Artists 2003, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 2003; Site, Conical Gallery, Melbourne 2002; Proud, VCA Gallery, Melbourne 2002 and Fallout, VCA Gallery, Melbourne 2001. Ramp for s/elective viewing is Mountford’s first solo exhibition.