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NO BIG COAL (detail - 9 shapes in engineering felt with showroom wall - both being 25 times the size of the 9 meter--box shapes and the meter-board)

NO BIG COAL opened Wednesday 2 May 6-8pm at Factory 49,49 Shepherd St Marrickville NSW and will remain open until Saturday 12 May (open Thursdays - Saturdays 1-6pm).

The smaller wall in Factory 49 showroom is about 25 times the size of the meter-board, so the shapes are also enlarged 25 times, to retain the proportional relationship of shapes to board. They are in engineering felt that is the same depth as the triwall cardboard used in the larger drawing, and used because felt is more dense and compact than cardboard (reflecting the smaller shapes of the felt cut-outs) and because it is a sensual material in contrast with the abstraction of the geometric shapes into which it is cut.

At the beginning of the opening night, the cardboard and felt shapes were stacked with their walls as an invitation to the audience to use them to imagine or make other spatial arrangements. Audience manipulation of the shapes is encouraged to emphasise the work's acknowledgement of the actual space in which it is located, and to exploit the potential that artwork has to act as a model for a revaluation of the physical environment generally.