Westspace 30 Year History

Imagine an administrator saying words like “radical”, “safe” or“transformation” out loud in the art world. Or even worse, picture these words coming out of cis- man’s mouth. Wait, the man has an accent from the global south, so now you are listening. I guess it suits your very complex and sincere politics. Please be my friend, I really trust you. I want to be at your dinners, belong toyour transactional network of optics. I’m so desperate to be nearyou. Now imagine these terms leaving everyone’s mouths in the same sentence as “artist run space”, “artist led organisation” or most cringe of them all, “ARI”. Ah, yes. If you have never heard anyone awkwardly spell these three letters before, it is an acronym for the equally uncomfortable term “artist run initiative”.

This naff diversity language kicked off around 2015 to 2018, when theTumblr Discourse made its way to art criticism via The White Pube, fed by Buzzfeed articles. Of course, so called Australia imitated this movement by platforming a group of people who were “destined”to shift and diversify the landscape across a wide range of activities and arts organisations.

Imagine that...  

Well, I don't need to imagine because I was there, when everyone was profiting from these terms at galley openings, comment sections and therapy sessions. So were you, I bet. Otherwise this incredibly nichehangup wouldn’t be reaching you right now. From 2018 to 2023, I was the “Director” of an artist run space, which is an obfuscated way to say that I ran a gallery with my friends. The gallery put on shows. The shows were uncompromising, at best of times. The artists were emerging. Emerging means they were new. We had a boss called theBoard, a committee made of industry professionals. This is an interchangeable model across the nation with minor variations that respond to local context—something that the art world hilariouslycalls ‘ecology’. I was surprised to find out that people in the ‘ecology’ had a standard of professional managerialism, even though everyone else thinks are were playing doll house. Gee, how embarrassing.

Yes, hard working people always asked me if I had a job, when they heard Iwas the Director of an ARI, prompting me to clarify that State government funded my position. Those on the Left criticised or applauded these circumstances depending on their own financial situation at the time, which is fair enough. The Right, well...they never seemed curious. The next question was always if it is difficult to work with artists, and I always said: “no, most artists are sogreat” but I strongly emphasised that arts professionals are the problem, because they are mostly insufferable. I’m talking long emails, HR language and tons of stationery. Of course, the third question was the name of my gallery:

“Westspace”I would reply. They would inevitably frown and say, “like the bank?”, “no, more like a space in the West that is not in theWest anymore, but still carries the same name: Westspace.”

Yes,I was at Westspace for five years and it was an experience unique to Westspace and only to Westspace. Nothing compares to you, rest inpeace.

If you didn’t know, Westspace is kinda like a big deal. It was founded by Brett Jones and Sarah Stubbs in 1993, so it’s old. Funny thing is that most spaces in Naarm/Melbourne want to be like Westspace or this “idea of Westspace”, which seems to encourage a blunt state of homogenisation. It’s like, sometimes I can’t tell the difference from one gallery to the next. As most arts organisation mindlessly work towards this dead end of corporate speech and disturbingly sterile cubes, where art quickly becomes a means to anend. It’s like watching American Psycho but everyone is talking woke instead of probo. But once upon a time the difference was more pronounced, and I can clearly recall how intimidated I felt when I walked into Westspace for the first time in 2011, after they relocated from Footscray to Anthony Street and set shop in BourkeStreet.

Back then, there was a very clear distinction between Westspace and otherARIs, such as Seventh Gallery, Kings Ari, and Bus Projects. This was a vibe thing first of all, as their galleries were huge and clean like a corporate lobby for their office, which had no walls or separation, presumably to signal transparency. But often made me wonder what they could possibly be doing there. And after five years of running a gallery, I still don’t know, I think arts workers just don’t like sitting close to each other, smelling each other’s humanity—a difficult reminder that they are more than just a label with currency. They had these things largely because of multiyear funding that allowed them to hire staff, commission new work, instigate international projects and program exhibitions. You will be surprised to hear that artists paid to show in a competitive process, instead of getting paid, as it was the standard back then. I also heard recently that every member of the Board donated $10,000 of their own money to do the fit out in Bourke St, which shows the level of investment and faith in the space. Of course, City of Melbourne kicked them out later because life is cruel. Some names from BourkeStreet include Tamsen Hopkinson, Pip Murray, Kelly Fliedner, Liang Luscombe and Thea Jones. Half of which I love, half of which I have never met. Specially love Thea Jones.

Somewhere in there is the institutional peak of Westspace, and whenever you see an ARI trying to turn into a respectable white cube, that is the hight hey are chasing. They showed other ARIs that they can become a new centre of power, instead of acting as decentralising agents that offset the pull of institutions. I call this the threshold of death, because the moment an ARI reaches that spot, it must invest all of its efforts to sustain it, which means it loses purpose, depth and relevance. It’s like the organisation gets a sick ego, and infects everyone around it with it. Therefore, it loses funding. Of course, this Westspace’s influential peak was troubled with issues of exclusion, as it was intimately tied with universities and was predominantly white. I haven’t said that word in so long—white—but many friends and foes made a career out of calling it out, for better and for less better. Many of these people became extractive themselves, which is a sad legacy to an era full of big proclamations. It is interesting to see how this crowd, who was meant to be rejecting the institution, is slowly becoming the institution themselves and adopting some of its worse traits, such as disposability.

I spoke to Sarah Stubbs recently, who founded the space with her ex partner Brett Jones, and stayed for 20 years. I was surprised to hea rthat she was opposed to the institutionalisation of Westspace and that she asked Brett to kill it when she stepped down. This strike me as ironic, since it was them who invested their own funds for adecade to reach a point where they could secured funding to hirestaff. It was interesting to hear their grants serviced projectsrather than overall administration, which carries a differentconnotation to organisational funding, where the focus becomes theoperation itself. I find poetry in this idea that the people whomanufactured this model, guided by ideals of an experimental space,did so in opposition to its inevitable destiny: institutionalisation.It also kinda stings that 10 years of their own money allowed forthis very thing they didn’t want to happen. I guess you only findout what’s on the other side once you are there, and thedestination may be at complete odds, with the reasons why youundertook the journey in the first place.

When I asked Sarah to tell me about the first 20 years of Westspace, we spoke for exactly 20min and 51 seconds. I found out that Westspace was originally above a cafe, and moved away from their location after the premises burned down. This fire took place during a show by GregPryor but I was unable to find information on this show after our chat (so if anyone knows, please let me know). The brevity of this encounter made me realise that the history of Westspace is now familiar to many spaces, who have undergone similar process of transformation, relocation and institutionalisation. It’s almost like they are interchangeable. This old bracket of ARIs no longer represent an alternative space, as they now operate as micro institution themselves without the resources of larger organisations.This means they are struggling to service the ‘ecology’, by failing to offer a space for true experimentation—since they are tied to the responsibilities of multiyear funding—or a bigger platform with wider reach, as they lack the means. It is interesting to note that in this landscape, Westspace is now taking a step back towards a more playful orientation with Joanna Kitto, Sebastian HenryJones, Ronen Jafari, Benjamin Baker, Leila Doneo Baptist, and Zamara Robison—hosting cake parades and shit. Perhaps Westspace is leading another wave, which is a bit annoying if you have been trying to turn into Westspace, and now they’re like “that’s not a vibeanymore, we are back to messy and grassroots.” It makes me realise that the history of the gallery is here and now, for organisational memory is short and rightly so. Sarah asked me what were my plans for Westspace in the future, and I said “oh, I’m not longer at Westspace, they just asked me to give this speech.” But it forced me to think what I wish for Westspace and the answer is free rent. Soif you’re listening Collingwood Yards...

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