In response to Michelle's email I'd just briefly like to say that I wish all my experiences installing were like installing at Zone. I think its interesting that some of my best installation experiences have (ironically) been working with the smaller (incl. smaller budget) and/or artist run spaces (which didn't figure at all in my war stories!)- maybe its because they know they don't have massive resources or staff to fall back on and so they have to plan well...or maybe because they are smaller they can work more closely with the artists concerned......

Its a great shame that some of these...including NAME gallery, Chicago and Zone gallery, Newcastle no longer exist...
 
 

Michelle Hirschhorn wrote:

I'd like to add another point to this thread which is security. For many
small galleries, this is an issue which makes the reconciliation of
equipment placement & aesthetics even more problematic.

When I was the Curator of Zone Gallery (a small publicly-funded gallery in
the North East of England), this was a problem that I had to contend with
repeatedly. Zone was an odd shaped space (two store fronts knocked together
to form gallery & cafe) with entrances/exits on two streets. Our office was
situated in the centre, but visibility was limited and extreme precautions
had to be taken in order to ensure that the equipment we worked so hard to
acquire, didn't go walking out the door (which did happen on more then one
occasion).

Working with the artists that we presented, we tried to devise solutions
that were discreet (mdf boxes, hidden cables & bolts, etc), although this
was not always possible. I remember one show in particular (Ex Machina/1996)
which included a large amount of visible equipment. For Susan Collins' work,
Touched (which included a number of small projectors that were suspended
from the ceiling at about abdomen/chest height & which the audience
physically moved through), we had to find a way to secure the projectors, as
they were very vulnerable, being small and within a darkened space. We got a
local metal artist to weld protective coverings, which in the end made them
look like periscopes! Luckily, Susan liked the outcome, but which obviously
changed the way the work looked.

Any other experiences/solutions?

Cheers,

Michelle


-- Susan Collins, Head of Electronic Media, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/scemfa.html
http://www.susan-collins.net