From Sharne Wolff…
Slot isn’t your typical white cube gallery – it’s actually a 24 hour window space set in the middle of one of Sydney’s busiest intersections. That’s just as well really, because Real Democracy Australia isn’t the kind of conceptual piece that can be engaged with inside a restrictive frame. The artist responsible for the show is Melbourne’s Carl Scrase, an artist and political activist whose aim is to ‘put democracy back on the agenda’.
Just as in the never-ending street campaign to save Bill Posters from prosecution, Scrase appears to have faith in people power. Real Democracy Australia is a poster campaign with an interactive component via street signage, and conversation over the internet and on Twitter. Posters have been placed in the window space at Slot and in the surrounding streets. They’re also downloadable by the public from Real Democracy Australia and the artist has invited the public to forward their responses to him. Scrase wants to encourage an authentic grass roots conversation from the streets. It’s an experiment which ultimately examines ideas of representative and answerable governments. Questions on the posters include ‘Should whistleblowers be protected?’, ‘Do we need to crowdsource a new Australian Constitution?’ and ‘How can we best acknowledge and respect the first nations of Australia?’. The artist was encouraged to note that one of the first answers received to the first nations question, ‘GO HOME’, received a quick rebuttal from the next person to respond.
Scrase can be found on Twitter @carlscrase. Use the hashtag #Gov2Au to join the conversation.
Until March 30
Slot Gallery, Redfern
Pic: Carl Scrase, Real Democracy Australia, 2013. Installation photograph.
