Provisional arrangements: Paul Cullen

Abstract

Curated exhibition and wrote catalogue text for ‘Provisional Arrangements’, Ilam Campus Gallery, University of Cantebury. (text available, 1 review available) 2016, 2017. An almost entirely reconfigured iteration, including new works i asked the artist to provide, was shown at Two Rooms Gallery, in February, 2017. The review from EyeContact refers to the Auckland version of the project (see attached). “What is an apparatus?” asks Giorgio Agamben in his essay on Foucault’s use of the term. An apparatus is a type of provisional arrangement, really. It’s a set of things linked through a shared task or purpose. Something or some set-up at work, a related group of things, procedures, and rules, enlisted to perform a particular operation. An apparatus works by co-opting a variety of parts from their general business in the world to converge on a particular project. An apparatus may be a composite object with all its synchronised parts aligned inside a box or casing—such as a camera or an electric blender; or it may be a surrealist relay of objects whose congress occurs through tubes, pipes, and taps across tables—as with one of Marie Anne and Antoine Lavoisier’s 18th century experiments to observe the chemistry of deflagration combustion; or it may be a compilation of market algorithms, information technology networks, and policy statements that structure and support the operation of a corporate finance company.