Detail from the collection of more than two hundred objects in waiting

An invitation was distributed to a small number of artists, inviting them to take part in Objects in Waiting. The artists were invited to exhibit not an artwork, but an element of an artwork yet to be realised. An object that they had bought or found with the intention of using in an artwork, a source of inspiration or a starting point for a work that was never made. The initial group of artists were encouraged to invite others to take part, with the intention that the content of the exhibition would be determined by the contributing artists. An abundant and diverse collection of exhibits developed as the invitation was circulated through local, national and international networks - attracting contributions by 221artists.

The resulting exhibition saw art students and emerging artists' contributions presented alongside those of nationally and internationally renowned artists, in a non-hierarchical, alphabetised framework. The objects were displayed anonymously, liberating the contributor from their possession; however the exhibition guide could be consulted to reunite artist with exhibit, with accompanying texts included at each artists' discretion.

Some of the exhibits were off-cuts that never made it into an exhibition, remnants of projects deemed to have 'failed', or ideas that no longer fitted into the way the artist chose to brand him/herself. Trends in contemporary art practice were reflected in the unopened oil paints and easels exhibited by art students, while artists known for their conceptual rigour revealed unexpected romanticism or juvenility.

Objects in Waiting offered the exhibiting artists the welcome opportunity to unburden themselves from something that may have taunted them from the corner of a studio for years, and presented the visitors with a previously unseen insight into the constant processes of inquiry, evaluation and censorship that determine artistic practice.  


Objects in Waiting took place at End Gallery, Sheffield 19-26 Oct 2006, curator by Tom Newell, Penny Whitehead and Daniel Simpkins

Related links:
GIFT - the progression of Objects In Waiting