by Jenny Brownrigg, April 2004

Continuing the Exhibitions Department’s ongoing research into the preoccupations and concerns of current contemporary art practice, we present an exhibition from two Glasgow-based artists examining the process of exhibition production and the language of the logo.

Katie Exley’s work often dissects, questions and attempts to subvert conventional systems or social constructs. Whether it is the act of making and exhibiting art in galleries, or human interaction in commercial and generic environments, the framework is stretched out for examination and intrusion. For the Cooper Gallery, Katie intends to make the exhibition process transparent by producing a series of video works that document the hidden mechanisms of exhibition production. The videos will therefore show some of the behind the scenes meetings that take place to organise an exhibition, including meetings between artists and curators, the production of work in a studio and the administration process. This work will then be placed into the arena of our art institution.

Jane Topping’s work is concerned with the artist as brand creator and interpreter of cultural artefacts. Topping adopts and re-customises the language of logos in order to discuss the intriguing relationship that exists between the consumer and their particular object of desire. By branding her work she aims to ask the question if her contemporary art product is easier to consume. For the Cooper Gallery, Jane will make two sculptural works. The first is a reconstruction of a now demolished façade in Glasgow and the second is a flock of white plaster swifts used in the fictional corporation logo of ‘World Enterprises’ in the film ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’.

Katie Exley is an artist and curator, curating projects such as the public art project ‘October’ (with Karla Black) where one artwork was shown per day in the month of October along St Vincent Street in Glasgow. Jane Topping is currently a committee member at Transmission gallery, Glasgow. She has exhibited internationally and has undertaken residencies and commissions including artist-in-residence at the Wellcome Trust Research Facility at Western General Hospital, Edinburgh in association with Artlink.

The exhibition will run until 18 April at the Cooper Gallery, DJCAD.