Still from rushes, Justin Balmain, 2019

…they could watch themselves. No one who ever came to know himself with the detachment of an observer, is ever the same again.
Edmund Carpenter, Oh, What a Blow That Phantom Gave Me!

Following a research and development period partnered with the Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem), Justin Balmain utilised Enough Room for Space as an opportunity to nurture and expand upon production undertaken in Marseille, France. Interacting directly with a maleific object that remains in archival limbo in the Mucem collection, Balmain worked with the museum staff towards addressing ideas of the value of objects within cultural and capital contexts: access, commodity, archival and conservation practice, along with the complex issues this particular object raises: superstition, optics, art history, the occult, class and hierarchy within museological contexts

Enough Room for Space allowed for an opportunity to collate and consider filmed and gathered content from the Mucem in Marseille, continue researching for the project, and expand upon the themes and ideas raised through conversations with artists and curators in Brussels.

Biography
Justin Balmain is a Melbourne, Australia based artist whom draws from visual art, video essay and documentary disciplines to create hybrid multimedia works. Utilising interdisciplinary collaboration with other artists and specialists, including industrial designers, ethnographers, curators, activists and pop-musicians, along with studio experimentation, his focus is on moving-image, with projects often expanding to include photography, sculpture and his own writing.