Justine Topfer

Curator Justine Topfer (San Francisco, CA) of Out Of The Box Projects is an Australian-born curator who works internationally. Justine’s project name for 5×5 is Betwixt & Between, referring to the artists breathing new life into the ordinary, reinvigorating the fabric of the urban environment.

Reflecting upon words of the late cultural anthropologist Victor Turner, “betwixt and between” was a phrase that he used to denote a liminal state; a condition of being on the threshold in between two different existential planes. In a literal sense, the public realm often feels and functions like that of a grey zone or liminal space; one which we pass through oblivious, as we rush toward the next thing. In doing so we lose… a lot. We lose the richness of the moment and our connection to it. Betwixt and Between urges us to re-engage with our urban metropolis. With this in mind, Curator Justine Topfer, asked the selected international artists to consider and expose the hidden assumptions and shared meanings embedded in the everyday experience of the built world. The result is five public interventions which breathe new life into the ordinary, reinvigorating the fabric of the urban environment. No longer is the liminal zone of public life so easily dismissed.

Artists in Betwixt & Between:

Monica Canilao
Jefferson Pinder
Rebar
Reko Rennie
Clare Rojas

Justine Topfer (Out Of The Box Projects) is an international curator and writer based in San Francisco with a particular interest in public art. For six years she has been working collaboratively in Australia and internationally with a broad spectrum of contemporary artists, art organizations, institutes of higher education. She has experience working closely with government bodies, the corporate sector and a diverse array of external stakeholders to realize innovative exhibitions.

For the past three years, she has been working with the San Francisco Arts Commission on large scale public art projects such as Bill Fontanaʼs ʻSpiraling Echoesʼ in San Francisco City Hall. Earlier this year, she co-curated an international Sister Cities Biennial 2011, a collaborative exhibition between the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and CarriageWorks, Sydney.

In September 2011, she co-curated the City of Sydney’s Laneway Art Project, commissioning internationally renowned artists to enliven Sydneyʼs laneways and public spaces through temporary public art.