Brad in Secret Files from the Working Men's College

This exhibition was curated by Stephen Gallagher for the RMIT Galleries for the Midsumma Festival, the largest queer festival in Victoria.. Artists selected for the exhibition included: [Anon}, Rhett D'Costa, Richard Harding, Kate Just, Spiros Panigirakis, Nikos Pantazopoulos, Drew Pettifer, Jon Riethmuller, Jonas Ropponen, David Sequeira, Glenn Walls. The exhibition included a brochure with an introductory essay by Stephen Gallagher.Excerpt from the catalogue: 'Established in 1881 and opened in 1887 this college was the precursor to RMIT University, holding classes in technical, business and arts areas. Secret Files from the Working Men's College highlights some of the talent that over time has been fostered and released from the School at Art of RMIT University. Gallagher brings together artists who reflect on gay lifestyle through the subtle inclusion of queer content into their art practice."The work produced for the curated exhibition builds on current dialogues relating to the 'other': in the context of this show, the 'other' being defined as 'queer'. The work deliberately antagonizes the unstable space between perceived heterosexual and homosexual positions and the languages, stereotypes and tropes which each group works between and across. 'Brad' is both a 'real' and 'fictitious' character working between these spaces and often falling between the secrecy, assumptions and innuendo described to him. Using the video artist Tacita Dean's structure for a show she curated called, 'An Aside', the work developed in a way which could not be predicted at its point of conception but rather built across various trajectories unfolding multiple narratives which, like the image of 'Brad' is open, suggestive and vulnerable.本次展览由斯蒂芬·加拉格尔（Stephen Gallagher）受RMIT画廊（RMIT Galleries）委托，为维多利亚州规模最大的酷儿节庆密苏玛节（Midsumma Festival）策划。参展艺术家包括：匿名艺术家、雷特·德科斯塔（Rhett D'Costa）、理查德·哈丁（Richard Harding）、凯特·贾斯特（Kate Just）、斯皮罗斯·帕尼吉拉基斯（Spiros Panigirakis）、尼科斯·潘塔佐普洛斯（Nikos Pantazopoulos）、德鲁·佩蒂弗（Drew Pettifer）、乔恩·里特穆勒（Jon Riethmuller）、乔纳斯·罗波宁（Jonas Ropponen）、戴维·塞凯拉（David Sequeira）以及格伦·沃尔斯（Glenn Walls）。本次展览配套发行的宣传册收录了斯蒂芬·加拉格尔撰写的导论文章。展览目录节选如下：'这所始建于1881年、1887年正式开放的学院是皇家墨尔本理工大学（RMIT University）的前身，彼时开设了技术、商科与艺术类课程。《工人学院的秘密档案》（Secret Files from the Working Men's College）着重展现了皇家墨尔本理工大学艺术学院长期以来培育并输出的诸多杰出人才。加拉格尔集结的这批艺术家，均在艺术实践中以隐晦的方式融入酷儿元素，借此反思酷儿群体的生活形态。'本次策展创作的作品，接续了当下围绕'他者'展开的讨论脉络：在本次展览的语境中，'他者'被定义为'酷儿群体'。这些作品刻意在人们认知中的异性恋与同性恋立场之间的模糊地带制造张力，并针对双方各自依托的话语体系、刻板印象与修辞范式展开交锋。'布拉德'（Brad）既是兼具'真实'与'虚构'双重属性的角色，游走于上述的模糊地带，且时常陷入围绕他的隐秘揣测、预设臆断与含蓄暗示之中。本次展览借鉴了视频艺术家塔西塔·迪恩（Tacita Dean）为其策展作品《题外话》（An Aside）所采用的创作结构，让作品在构思之初便无法被完全预判，而是沿着多条叙事轨迹逐步铺展，最终呈现出多重叙事。正如'布拉德'这一形象本身，这些作品始终保持开放、富有暗示性且充满脆弱感。