audience: i am just after having a look at the work that i put in Halftone Print Fair this year, which is exhibited in The Library Project for the next 2 weeks in Temple Bar. this gallery doubles as a shop for art, print and photography books and is in a very central location in the city centre where thousands of people pass its glass shop front, so whether people enter the space or not, i expect that it will get a lot of audience exposure. as expected and similar to last year, it’s a busy display where my print sits in a central location surrounded by diverse print works in terms of scale, content, colour, process etc.
agency: in terms of display, these are things i have come to expect in art fairs and sometimes in group exhibitions. not being the curator, i have no input in terms of where or how it is displayed. in terms of this type of print work, i tend to let them off into the hands of others. however, when it comes to my video work, i tend to be more prescriptive in how i want the work to be installed and how i feel the audience should engage with the work, installing it myself if possible or necessary. funnily, for my recent ‘in/complete’ print works that i made on scrolls of paper and in split paper formats, i have a greater sense of wanting to be involved with their installation. probably because of its format and, as teased out in group discussions recently, maybe it’s about installation rather than display?
testing a practice: i think i am quite proactive when it comes to trying to get my work out there and share it with an audience. it’s not something i force because i seem to need to do so – trying to find others who might hear, understand (or not) or even talk back. there seems to be lots of opportunities to submit and exhibit print works in a range of non-commercial but mainly commercial setting – print tends to be sellable and straight-forward to install. but is this really testing a practice? what do i know what the audience think of it or what associations, if any, it creates for them? i simply let it off and walk away… actively seeking feedback is a funny thing – i want it, i don’t want it, i want it from some people, i don’t from others, i like when they get it, i like when they get something different, i like when they engage with it on some level and i don’t seem to mind if if they don’t because i usually have gained something from its making anyway. i wonder if perhaps i have not been truly tested or truely listened or do i know my audience?
oh and on exposure: as a p.s., i just found out that ‘medusa’ is being used in District Dublin Guide this month to advertise Halftone – a magazine listing and describing what’s on in the city re art, music, theatre etc. that’s a lot of exposure to a wide and varied audience when you think about it, who ever they are?
elaine crowe 
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