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Code of Conduct looks at safety and fun

A new exhibit in the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum’s Gallery No. 2 offers a look at concepts of fun, and how they occasionally involve considerations for safety. Nathalie Quagliotto’s Code of Conduct is on display at the EAGM’s Gallery No.
Code of Conduct
Nathalie Quagliotto stands with the see-saw that is in her exhibit Code of Conduct at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum.

A new exhibit in the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum’s Gallery No. 2 offers a look at concepts of fun, and how they occasionally involve considerations for safety. 

Nathalie Quagliotto’s Code of Conduct is on display at the EAGM’s Gallery No. 2, and she was at the EAGM on Sept. 14 for an artist’s talk and a reception on her work.

She has dedicated many hours to working on sculptures of playground equipment. Included in her exhibit are a four-person see-saw, connected gumball machines and a neon sign that says Gallery.

“I like to make objects that kind of instigate … the viewer in a gallery context to act in a daring way, or make you anxious, but you want to have fun at the same time,” said Quagliotto.

She says she is more interested in the space around objects than the objects themselves.

The see-saws are made for people to use. They also rotate, which allows people to bump into each other.

It has a mature but mischievous element to it, she said.

The gumball machines are unique. When a viewer inserts a coin in one machine, the other machine at the other side of the room spits out a gumball.

While they gave her problems early during the night of the reception, they were working fine after her talk, to the delight of the audience.

“The point is you’re interacting in the space between the objects, and anyone who comes in your way … and how we define money and the value of a gumball.”

People she talked to said it would cost too much money to create the connected machines, or it wouldn’t work out, but she found one person who thought it was feasible and was proven right.

The Gallery sign is part of her work with neon. She wants people to think about the objects placed in the room and how they relate to a gallery setting.

Not included in this particular showing of Code of Conduct is the first piece she created – a pair of facing swings that allow people to swing in sync, or even collide.

“A lot of people have fun, but I also get a lot of comments that my work is very dangerous, actually,” said Quagliotto.

Safety yellow is used in a lot of her works because it carries a meaning of caution, awareness and attention. And she uses it to signify push and pull situations, as well as problematic arrangements.

“I’m really interested in interaction and how you act with other people in a gallery. It really gives you sculptures to get the point across.”

Curator/director Amber Andersen told the audience at the reception that they were encouraged to get on the four-person see-saw, but to do so at their own risk.

Code of Conduct will remain at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum until Sept. 9.