A Temporary Arrangement
2017
Supermarket shelving gondola, various found shop racks (found in abandoned levels of the building), Coles trolley, found Spotlight shopping basket, found shop discount sticker, found newspaper (Sunday Times "Checkout" 1996), replicated vinyl banner and nylon rope.
A Temporary Arrangement is a site-responsive installation that responds to the former Fossey’s building at 52 Adelaide Street. Branded under the Coles and Myer group, Fossey’s was a family discount clothing store and cafeteria that operated for 30 years before closing down on the 29th July 1995. Occurring twenty-two years later to the day, A Temporary Arrangement responds to Fossey’s termination.
Liebetrau references Fossey’s closing down sale archived in Fremantle State Library’s archival image collection, attempting to reimagine the aftermath. The arrangement of found, discarded and disused shop fittings from the abandoned storage rooms in the upper levels of the building, pay homage to a bygone era while gesturing towards the transience of commercial business.
A Temporary Arrangement attempts to bid a final farewell to the visual and physical residue that remains (namely the existing supermarket floor) of the building’s original occupants (Coles, Fossey’s) and its latter tenants (Spotlight, MANY Projects) anticipating its pending demolition in the near future.
Photo: Tim Palman
Acknowledgements: Grace Connors, Madison Blakeley, Carla Adams, Brent Harrison and Kate Hulett.