Constance ARI

Decorama at INFLIGHT is an installation work that involves a partnership with the management of the Moonah home furnishing store Decorama which engages their staff, customers and the regular INFLIGHT audience.

Decorama at INFLIGHT will be held over a three-week period, and open as a 'sale' shop front where normal trade will be undertaken. It is staffed by actual salespeople and involves genuine discounted decorating fabrics.

One of the aims of this exhibition is to create a paradox between the two distinct types of people that enter the exhibition space, both seeking a creative experience; the consumer, to choose a fabric for interiors, the gallery visitor, to engage in a cultural event. Taking into account gallery protocol, the works seeks to corrupt the visitor from their original intention.

The foundation of this project is underpinned by viewer interaction with the gallery space. It is loosely based on the theories of relational art as put forward by French art theorist and critic, Nicolas Bourriaud, who in the late 90s coined the term 'Relational Aesthetics' to described a new form of art, predominantly being shown in Europe. Utilizing this theory, the project looks at the ambiguity created between culture and commerce and in this context, plays with the audience's relationship to the gallery space.

Fiona Lee's current practice explores identity and its association with the ornamentation of domestic space. Within this element of her practice, she looks at new ways in which audiences experience art, asking them to question the relationship they have with the exhibition space.

Lee's previous exhibitions include Acidophilus; Live culture at the Museum, curated by John Vella at the TMAG during 10 Days on the Island and Come with me, curated by James Newitt at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. She is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in Fine Art at UTAS and her works are included in state, private and corporate collections.