The Centre of Attention

The Centre of Attention is Pierre Coinde and Gary O'Dwyer. Its experimental approach stems from an ongoing enquiry into the phenomenon of art production, presentation, consumption and heritage-ization. Their work has been widely exhibited in the UK and internationally including recent exhibitions at the Plymouth Arts Centre, Kunsthaus Graz, Gescheidle gallery in Chicago, Schauspielhaus Zurich and the Limerick City Gallery of Art.

"…In any case we don’t consider ourselves artist-curators. We consider the Centre of Attention’s work to be participatory curating. We are very much involved in the choice, commissioning, presentation of the work and drawing attention to the performative aspects of all these processes...

An example would be, in Paris, January 2005: ‘found exhibition’ presented the real unmediated space of the artist’s studio, where we, as curators, limit ourselves to defining it as the exhibition, drawing people through the terrain of art and visual culture to the site as un-fabricated, as an endeavour and as a site of contestation... A process very much opposed to the curator’s fabrications of facsimile exhibitions.

Framing possibilities and celebrating individualism and freedom from orthodoxy are challenges that keep us inspired, entertained, interested and alert... We want to re-evaluate the past, discover new trends and give oxygen to the significant but over-looked for whatever reason…

We create the exhibition and let it un-spool as it will, creating its own audience."

- extracts from artist newsletter, November 2004

The Centre of Attention welcomes submissions from artists

To submit work, send a small number of non-returnable images/dvd/website address or other medium about your work/project, together with your contact details, to:

Pierre/Gary, the Centre of Attention, 67 Clapton Common, London E5 9AA.