Pallet Show is a curatorial project consisting of a number of wooden pallets, which function as a platform or plinth for displaying sculptures or other curated works.

The pallets are themselves artworks, exploring the line between minimalist sculpture and functional objects. Sculptures that also have the capacity to perform a function, and an experiment in how art objects might be (re)purposed to take on the role of support structures or hosts for other works and ideas within an exhibition context.

Pallet Show is informed by the mass transit of artworks in the art market and global economy, and the logistics of their movement from, to, and between, sites of storage and display. Pallets are signifiers of trade that wear the markings of the workings of these interconnected systems.

Pallet Show blurs the distinction between the movement and storage of works at The Manchester Contemporary and their means of display and aesthetic within the fair. The exhibition appears provisional, in transit, and under construction. The project is inspired by the forms and legacy of minimalist sculpture, including the furniture sculptures of Donald Judd, ‘simulated readymades’ of Fischli and Weiss, and Seth Siegelaub’s curatorial projects.

SPAL

Handmade in 18mm birch plywood, the show pallets (SPAL) each follow the standard Euro-pallet (EPAL) dimensions, providing an exhibition platform measuring 120 x 80cm, with no height limitation for stable free-standing works.

A single pallet was initially exhibited by Daniel Pryde-Jarman and Meter Room at The Manchester Contemporary 2022.