“Principally, what we’re doing here is drawing an analogy between art and law. This extends beyond the legal implications of art practice, which are manifest in copyright laws and so forth. Our target is instead the unspoken legal structures that underpin how we view works of art. The key element in this picture is what you might call the ‘standard contract’ that is invoked whenever we walk into a gallery and scrutinise the works around us. According to this implicit agreement, the artist is expected to render unto the viewer a work which is true to what English critics, like Herbert Read, term a ‘passive sensibility’. This passive sensibility is the unique and personal vision of the artist as it inspires his or her material practice. Such is the substance on which the viewer can exercise his or her judgment in determining whether the work is of any merit.”
[excerpt from curator Kevin Murray’s introduction in the exhibition catalogue, 1998]
The exhibiting artists were Sandra Bridie, Stephen Bush, Barbara Campbell, Greg Creek, Lana H. Foil, Peter Hill, Robert Nelson, and Kate Reeves.