Gertrude is pleased to announce that Justin Balmain’s exhibition 31 Days without Light will be revealed to the public from this Friday at Gertrude Glasshouse. The exhibition will be fully viewable from outside of the gallery without requiring entry into Gertrude Glasshouse.
Please note, in line with Victorian Government guidelines, all visitors must check-in and share their check-in status indicating proof of vaccination with Gertrude staff. Please do not attend if you are feeling unwell.
31 Days without Light is a sculptural, architectural and artistic intervention within, and outside, of Gertrude Glasshouse.
Within the archives of The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseille, France, is a malefic mirror that has haunted at least one artist, museum staff, and institutions across temporalities. It has been subject to an exorcism (if objects can be exorcised?), has been held responsible for an appendix removal and a driving accident and now exists within archival limbo. Viewing the mirror, it seems diminutive for the magic it holds; the size of a 7” EP. (I’m on Discogs trying to find an Eddie Amador 7” but I don’t think they exist. That’s an aside.) The idea of objects always seems more potent than their actuality.
Acting as a precursor to an in-development film, which draws upon ideas of magic, reflection and representation, this exhibition utilises and reimagines the architecture as a means to think through inversion, power, shadows and doubling. Like a mirror, the exhibition seeks suspension, a further image obscured, transient, held together by something outside itself. I think that is magic?
You can read more about the exhibition here
Gertrude Glasshouse is generously supported by Michael Schwarz and David Clouston.
The 2021 Glasshouse Program is supported by a City of Yarra Annual Grant.
Make your visit to Gertrude COVID Safe and help us stay open.All visitors must check-in and share check-in status including proof of vaccinationAll visitors must register and sanitise or wash their hands on arrivalFace masks must be worn in line with Victorian Government guidelinesObserve physical distancing guidelines and capacity limitsPlease do not visit if you are feeling unwell or have any of the following symptoms: fever, chills or sweats, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of sense of smell
