CONCRETE POETRY

A collaboration between Anwyn Crawford & Emma Davidson

13 February - 10 March 2012

Taking their cue from the Redfern-Waterloo Authority Built Environment Plan, Anwyn Crawford and Emma Davidson have plucked out words that ring with bureaucratic jargon; feel-good triggers that are rendered meaningless by their lack of concrete appreciation. Words such as revitalise, leverage empowerment, and upward mobility are paired with graphic collages that play on a nostalgic utopia fantasy. Anwyn commented wryly, "...the plan was plundered for its prose style."  She continued, "We like bad puns!"

Walking a line between pedantic and serious consideration, Emma and Anwyn have used the language of the 'mind map', charting flows and connectivity in a perpetual circle of buzz that feeds little but itself. They echoe the modernist zeal of the early 20th century and its 'machine for living', in a voice lifted from Russian avant-garde's use of shop front windows to present a dissident comment on our current situation.

They have collaborated since 2004 often using the photocopier, their preferred mode of production, to create installation works and zines. Growing up in Sydney's Inner West, both artists have experienced first hand the rhetoric of development that has effectively denied them a place in the city. Here their alert and engaging installation offers an alternative reading of our local 'utopian plan'.