Social Capital
9 March- 15 April, 2006
eX de medici
Ellis Hutch
Mary Hutchison
Martyn Jolly
Cathy Laudenbach
Bernie Slater
Anna Zagala
curated by Lisa Byrne
Introduction
Lisa Byrne
February 2006
Social Capital grew out of the history of Canberra Contemporary Art Space’s current location at Gorman House Arts Centre. In 2004 Canberra Contemporary Art Space received Arts at the Cutting Edge funding from artsACT towards the development of new works by five ACT artists and a social historian. It seems timely that upon my departure from Canberra after six and half years that this project opens reminding me of some of the extraordinary historical narratives found in Canberra.
Once a boarding house or hostel for newly arrived citizens of the ACT, Gorman House was one of the earliest locations of public housing in the ACT. The recent history of Gorman House’s building usage got me thinking about the history of public housing in the ACT and how this contributed to a greater sense of local social capital.
Upon further consideration it became quite obvious that Canberra does indeed have a unique public housing history. Social historian Mary Hutchison, one of the seven contributors to the project has a wonderful piece in this catalogue that describes the range of ‘guvvie’ housing available in Canberra and the way in which these houses came to influence the community psyche of Canberra.
Each of the five visual artists commissioned to make a work for Social Capital have responded in thoughtful ways to the brief. Cathy Laudenbach, Anna Zagala, eX de Medici and Martyn Jolly use documentary modes of visual language to provide various perspectives on the present and past experience of living in public housing in the ACT. Bernie Slater and Ellis Hutch use the experience of housing to inform works that depart from a more literal approach to the subject matter.
Often in thinking about history of place much of what is deemed remarkable is event based and associated with dates. In contrast this project acknowledges the many and varied people, the social understandings and the idea of public housing in Canberra. Importantly it removes itself from a focus on the physical location of public housing to the people who have shaped and informed the narratives of public housing over the last eighty or so years. At times confrontational, at time celebratory each of the participating artists, and the people they worked with,
currently living in public housing, provide this project with an evocative insight into the contribution the people who live in public housing have made to the social fabric of Canberra.
I take this opportunity to thank each of the participating artists who worked on this project over the last twelve months. To Mary Hutchison who provided her expert knowledge to us all through the development period a special mention. And finally for her fantastic essay reflecting her knowledge of ‘guvvie’ housing and empathy for the people living in public housing past and present.
