The apparently transparent letters refer to the installations own materiality - the scaffold structure that "holds up" the protective scrim that in turns acts as the artworks' own support.

It also gestures toward the new Mordant Wing of the MCA if this new annexed architectural intervention "holds up" so too does the imposing late art-deco structure of its original site. The illusion of transparency the letters contain remind the public of the content of this cocoon-like structure - the MCA, with the charter to present and collect innovative and ground-breaking exhibitions - and its task to "hold up" and value cultural production on a world stage.

Each stage was designed to create a sense of poetic whimsy - IT / IT HOLDS / IT HOLDS UP / HOLDS UP / UP that ebbs and flows of the 5 stages of installation and demobilisation.

The letters, words and meanings shift and morph depending on the vantage point. The single design vantage point ("the sweet spot") is the point from which the perspective and angles of the building create a typographic cohesion, architectural conciseness. The dynamic interplay between viewer and work as they seek this "sweet spot" is akin to a dance in which the viewer is optically and physically absorbed in this negotiation.

IT HOLDS UP refers to a sense of longevity, durability and timelessness. It is also a statement of optimism - the inverse of Yeats' ominous poetic verse - "…things fall apart, the centre cannot hold." In this time of instant gratification, rapid technological change and economic instability, notions of perpetuity, permanence and duration are perhaps more important than ever, even if they are only held up temporarily.

 - Commissioned by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Download exhibition text here (A3 PDF)