Monash Memo - 20 June 2001

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Showing best practice

A new Faculty Gallery exhibition questions the popular management concept of 'best practice'.

Curator Samantha Comte said the exhibition Best Practice! questioned the current trend of categorising companies, industries and even individuals in line with notions of 'best practice'.

"The term 'best practice' has come to embody efficiency, cost effectiveness and productivity, but who has determined these standards? How does it incorporate the intangibles of experience, knowledge and enjoyment?" she said.

"Contemporary art explores ideas and challenges structures - Best Practice! looks at how art fits within an environment that demands a 'best practice' standard, and what the broader social, political and cultural implications of that practice are."

The four artists in the exhibition - Penelope Aitken, Narinda Cook, Lee Paterson and Andrea Tu - all use unusual materials or methods such as plasticine, paper and quilt-making, Ms Comte said.

"Their methods challenge the notion that a 'best practice' outcome is more important than the process or journey itself."

The exhibition will run until 14 July. For further information, contact extn 32882.

Caption: Ms Penelope Aitken with her quilt.