Queer

BACKGROUND Queer 2016 was presented as part of the 30 artworks installed for Out of the Matrix exhibition at RMIT University Gallery. Using the premise of the matrix, that from what all prints emanate, this exhibition activated an expanded understanding of print imaging. CONTRIBUTION Queer 2016 specifically utilises a combination of the readymade, repetition and the multiple to evoke an extended understanding of otherness through a print informed practice. The use of acrylic mirrored strips to create a barcode challenges the conventions of what a print can be through materiality and activates references to Foucault's heterotopic space. By installing the work in a corridor the gallery visitor activates this transitory space and highlights a between space. Queer 2016 captures, inverts and replicates the viewer making them the matrix of their own image. This work attempts to place the viewer outside themselves to highlight sameness and difference and the queering of the self. This is a new work, not previously exhibited. SIGNIFICANCE RMIT Gallery is one of the leading University Galleries in Australia that is recognised globally as a gallery of substance and is listed as an ERA All artists selected are key Melbourne practitioners and educators in Printmaking (Monash University, RMIT and VCA) and have international status as evidenced through ongoing presentations at conferences such as the IMPACT International Printmaking Conference. Queer 2016 was discussed in the published catalogue, video output, interviews and floor talks over the duration of the exhibition, placing identities of otherness in mainstream art production.

背景
《酷儿2016》（Queer 2016）是皇家墨尔本理工大学美术馆（RMIT University Gallery）举办的《走出矩阵》（Out of the Matrix）展览的30件参展作品之一。本次展览以“矩阵为所有版画创作之本源”为核心前提，拓展了学界与观者对版画成像的认知边界。

创作贡献
《酷儿2016》（Queer 2016）特别结合现成品（readymade）艺术、重复创作与多版原作（multiple）的创作手法，依托版画创作实践，深化了观者对他者性（otherness）的理解。作品采用亚克力反光条制作条形码造型，通过物质性挑战了版画的传统定义，并呼应了福柯的异托邦空间（heterotopic space）概念。将作品安置于美术馆走廊中，使参观者置身于过渡性空间，凸显出间性地带的特质。《酷儿2016》（Queer 2016）捕捉、反转并复刻观者的形象，使观者自身成为其影像的母体。本作品试图将观者抽离于自身身份，以凸显同一性与差异性，以及自我酷儿化（queering of the self）过程。本作品为全新创作，此前未曾公开展出。

作品价值与意义
皇家墨尔本理工大学美术馆是澳大利亚顶尖的大学美术馆之一，在全球范围内以兼具专业影响力与学术分量的艺术场馆著称，该美术馆同时入选澳大利亚研究卓越评级（ERA）名录。本次参展的所有艺术家均为墨尔本地区核心的版画实践者与教育者，分别任职于莫纳什大学（Monash University）、皇家墨尔本理工大学（RMIT）与维多利亚艺术学院（VCA），且具备国际学术影响力——其学术成果可通过持续参与国际版画研讨会（IMPACT International Printmaking Conference）等国际会议得到佐证。展览期间，《酷儿2016》（Queer 2016）通过出版画册、影像资料、专题访谈及现场导览讲座等多元形式得到深入研讨，将他者性身份议题纳入主流艺术创作的讨论框架之中。