Past Exhibition

In the fading light of a few fleeting summer evenings Salmond offers visitors a gap in the bustle of everyday life for collective contemplation on the finality of death. Night-time visitors will be confronted with a shallow grave that has been dislocated from its familiar setting and placed next to a busy state highway and under the bright lights of a miniature grandstand. Visitors will be invited to sit and think; as spectators to the only real certainty in life — its end.

With Hopes for the Future, Salmond presents a shrewd perspective on contemporary western way of responding to dying and death. The potential darkness and depth of the grave is bleached by the light and spectacle of her staging. Through this construction she draws in, to question, contemporary currents of persuasion and explanation: the brashness of media spectacles and the harsh light of scientific reasoning.

She asks: how much has our process of giving meaning to the passing of loved-ones been short-circuited by superficial spectacles and shallow gestures? Has the space for personal meaning been neutered by the authoritative voice of science and it’s ability to offer visible proof; where ‘seeing is believing’.

This project would not be possible without the generous support of Dow Excavation, Fence Hire Otago and the National Bank.