CURTAIN CALL: 1000 2000s SOAP brings together works by artists who have previously exhibited at BLINDSIDE.

1000 2000s SOAP uses the curatorial position to examine the role of the artist in relation to the gallery and the channels of exchange between artist and institution.

Using a ‘call and response’ method of curation, SOAP contacted all artists who exhibited at BLINDSIDE in the years 2004-2009, inviting them to participate in CURTAIN CALL. Being the first 5 years of operation for BLINDSIDE this period was selected by SOAP out of a curiosity to consider the shifts brought about with the new millennium, in relation to the politics of artistic production and participation.

The ‘call and response’ method addresses the challenges of working artists in Australia: the networks formed inside and outside the internet, the scarcity of cheap gallery space and the sparse public and private funds to remunerate artists.

SOAP’s curatorial premise brings this exhibition as a form of a democratic collective action. Artists’ diverse but complementary responses range from concepts commenting on art and language, economy of space and time, to visibility, identity politics, individualism and isolation in the digital age.