BADEN PAILTHORPE

Martin Browne Contemporary is delighted to present Spatial Operations an exhibition by acclaimed video artist Baden Pailthorpe. In 2013 Baden Pailthorpe was invited to be the inaugural Artist In Residence at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Instead of being sent to document and interpret a war zone, Pailthorpe was embedded within the institution itself, where he turned his attention to the artefacts that make up its unique collection. Spatial Operations is the result of this residency.

One object among the AWM’s collection stood out: the helmet donated by Special Operations soldier Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG, the Commonwealth’s most highly decorated and high profile war hero. For Spatial Operations Baden Pailthorpe has transformed each book on the Chief of Army’s Reading List into a helmet modelled off that of Ben Roberts-Smith. Comprising 201 individual sculptures, Spatial Operations is both literally and metaphorically a library of literary armour. Spatial Operations addresses the power of objects, ANZAC mythology, knowledge and the commemorative operations of official narratives.

Baden Pailthorpe is an Australian contemporary artist. His work broadly engages with the politics and cultures of technologies. His recent works have focused on the re-appropriation and manipulation of military technologies, including simulators, cinema and video games. Baden Pailthorpe has participated in over fifty solo and group exhibitions, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, ARTSPACE, Sydney, NIMk, Amsterdam, la Gaîté Lyrique, Paris and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Baden Pailthorpe’s work has been acquired by important public collections including Newcastle Art Gallery, Australian Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra, UQ Art Museum, Artbank, The Art Gallery of South Australia,The Australian War Memorial, The Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk), Amsterdam and The National Library of Australia, Canberra.