Nick Modrzewski + Nabilah Nordin + Katie Paine

'Your alarm goes off. You step into a suit or a pencil dress. You button up the various parts. You wash your face. You eat your muesli. It is part of an 8-week diet curated by your personal trainer. You run for the train. You step on the train. You check your phone. You step off the train. You are seven minutes late. You are jogging. It starts to rain. You remove your foldable umbrella from your bag. You always knew it would come in handy at a time like this. You arrive at work. You swipe yourself in. You greet your coworkers. Your coworkers are amicable. You find your desk. You sit down. You turn on your computer. You type your password. Your password is incorrect. You retype your password. Your password is correct. You open Outlook Express. You have twelve new emails. 'Do you want a tea?' asks a coworker named Jones. 'Yes please, Jones,' you say. You are glad you co-work with coworkers like Jones. Coworkers like Jones keep you grounded in the present. Coworkers like Jones stop you thinking too much about the shape of your face, which looks irregular from certain angles. Coworkers like Jones remind you to straighten your back and readjust the position of your elbows on the desk. With the help of coworkers like Jones you are going to move forwards and upwards.

It is good to work with co-workers like Jones.'

Taking over both galleries at BLINDSIDE, Nordin, Modrzewski and Paine present a collaborative exhibition about the effect of work on the body. What is gained and what is lost by entering a 'professional' space? What can be found within its timetables and its social codes? Exploring the office in its virtual and physical capacities, this exhibition celebrates and critiques the world of productivity and careful personal grooming.

Nick Modrzewski holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. He mingles painting, sculpture, performance and text to construct immersive environments that explore power hierarchies. Both independently and with his collaborator, Nabilah Nordin, he has exhibited at a range of spaces, including Pony Royal and ArtConnect Headquarters (Berlin); MILS Gallery; Spring 1883 (Sydney); The Institute of Contemporary Art and Changi Village 64+4 Hawker Centre (Singapore); TCB, the Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Fort Delta, and c3 Contemporary Art Space (Melbourne). His work is held in public and private collections. In 2016 he was awarded the New Colombo Plan Scholarship to study painting atLASALLE, Singapore.

Nabilah Nordin holds a Master of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University. Nordin assembles sculptures from various found and discarded materials using locally sourced scrap, furniture, foam, metal and wood, which she then covers and binds with excessive amounts of glue, plaster and cement. Last year with Nick Modrzewski, she presented Chicken Shop at Singapore’s Changi Village 64 + 4 Hawker Centre. Since completing post-graduate studies in 2015, Nordin has held solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne at Chapter House Lane, c3 Contemporary Art Space, Incinerator Gallery, CAVES off site, Fort Delta, Kew Court House and most recently was invited by theInstitute of Contemporary Arts to participate in an affiliate project of the Singapore Biennale.

Katie Paine is an artist whose practice involves fiction, criticism and curating alongside installation, collage, video and performance. Paine interrogates accepted notions of historiography and the archive through the creation of complex fictions. Paine often uses science fiction as an apparatus through which to explore the way that events are documented and integrated into our collective understanding of history. Paine has written for Un Projects, Next Wave Festival, Bus Projects, Art Kollectiv, Nicholas Projects, Art Almanac and Art and Australia. She has exhibited at George Paton Gallery, Rubicon ARI, Paradise Hills, c3 Contemporary Art Space and Channels Video Art Festival with upcoming exhibitions at Blindside ARIand Latrobe Art Institute. Katie is the co-founder of *dumb brun(ette), a discursive online platform dedicated to generating discussion around artistic research.

IMAGE | [MARK ALL AS READ] | Courtesy Nick Modrzewski.