Our first project, House of
Pleasure, was developed over four months and staged on one night in an East
Melbourne house in March 2008.
Above:
Cecily
Hearn and Alex Hamilton-Smith in climax
That night, a sensual
extravaganza of exploration took place. Each artist engaged with the concept of
pleasure in their own physical and psychological creative space. The rooms of
the house hid a multitude of mixed media installations, while a shimmering
wasteland in the garden explored the essence of pleasure in an animalistic live
art performance. The night was mythic, never to be repeated, an appeal to the
rawest part of the senses.
Clockwise
from top: photography by Theresa
Harrison, Cecily Hearn performs in the kitchen, poster design by Oliver Hunter
"Spill
Collective began as a small group of students who met to discuss art, usually at
eachother’s houses, and always over food and drink. As the meetings became
more regular, and the goal of a show developed, the group became an organised
artists’ collective with long-term ambitions. In many ways this follows the
tradition of artists’ circles and salons such as Victoria’s Heide group or
the Bloomsburys in Britain, where different individuals come together in shared
creative philosophy."
- Oliver Hunter
House
of Pleasure
set the pattern for Spill's later work, with its strong emphasis on
collaboration, do-it-yourself and neo-psychedelic aesthetic, intense and
personal experimentation with the body, and the invasion of the real
world by fantasy.
Contributing
Artists: Adelaide Reif, Alexander Hamilton-Smith, Theresa Harrison, Travis
Englefield, Hannah French, Anna McCarthy, Ursula Spiers, Cecily Hearn, Oliver Hunter, Chloe
Boreham, Allison Wiltshire.
