Entry 4: Getting closer to Opening Week!

In the lead up to opening week, PPE staff had the task of arranging and organising all the public programs components of the Biennale - this included forums, artists' talks, Guided Tours, etc. Seeing as Guided Tours are a component of my Internship, i'll touch on those in a few of my later entries. But in preparation for the forums and artists talks, the interns had to acquire a range of materials and supplies for the forums, artists talks and even things for performative artworks. I was sent by Nisa and Dougal on a shopping excursion to find a number of things for both the office and forums to take place during opening week. I think this task was probably one of the most exciting and strangest i've ever been asked to complete, but it was a great experience, especially trying to, as i mentioned previously, buy to budgeted amounts. I found it difficult to source the most commonplace things, like decent tablecloths, etc. But it was an adventure nonetheless. Amidst this, we were arranging forum plans and checklists, artist pick-ups and trying to juggle a number of different tasks. During our shifts in the office throughout the week, we also got to sit in on inter-departmental meetings - with the curatorial team to finalise the cockatoo island map, and marketing as well. With regards to the map, and all of the Biennale visual identity, it was interesting to see and external party working with Johnathan Barnbrook's designs for the biennale. Nisa and I had to take the kids' day map (which will again be addressed in a later entry) to the design firm who created all the free materials, and seeing their cohesion to the theme which was designed by another firm was interesting. I think that setting up and preparing for the events in opening week was a great insight into how things run in arts organisations and how strict budgeting can be.