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Black Death: Species Extinction in WA
After 25 years of living in Victoria, Gregory Pryors rediscovery of and new found appreciation for the Australian landscape came about due to his relocating to Perth. Subsequent to this profound experience whereby he felt he was viewing the Australian landscape for both the first and last time, Pryor set out to create a body of work which entailed around 200 detailed drawings made from the Western Australian Museums archives. Through detailed examinations of individual flowers and specimens, Pryor was able to metaphorically travel across a huge amount of Australia and locate specific relationships between these flowers and the lands ancient human inhabitants.
Wetland (as in Disneyland)
In his 2004 gallery installation Wetland, Michael Harkin used the familiar imagery of rainwater tanks and the gentle notes and timbres of water whooshing and gurgling to highlight to audiences the consequences of turning on the tap or flushing a toilet within the area covered by the local water authority. Harkin has based this project on some of the important issues surrounding water commoditifaction and consumtion as well as being developed within a framework based on the ideas of theorist Jean Baudrillard.
Sweet Revenge: An Interview with Ken Yonetani
Ken Yonetani is an artist born and raised in Japan, and now practising in Sydney. Much of his recent work explores the intersections between consumption, desire, and human impact on our environs. He talks here with Julia Yonetani, who, apart from being Kens partner, is a lecturer, translator and writer on art, history, and things Japanese. This interview was conducted in Japanese and translated into English by Julia.
Stepping Lightly: The Art of Melissa Hirch
Byron Bay-based fibre artist Melissa Hirsch is the first artist to achieve climate neutrality through her involvement with Climate Friendly, a goverment-accredited Australian company which allows businesses and individuals to calculate the climate impact of their energy use. As a result she plans to promote her climate neutral art to corporate clients seeking a more eco-friendly image. Environmental sustainability was the impetus in Hirschs choice of career and has been the guiding force in the trajectory of her development as an artist; to produce art in nature, with nature, about nature.
Artists' Footprints (Sustain ability labelling and artworks! What's that?)
Smith offers some suggestions for those interested in the ecological (and social) sustainability of an art work and introduces the notion of EarthLabel as a way of making artworks ecologically and socially accountable - and maybe even more marketable. For more information visit: www.myfootprint.org
Framing The Colour of Infestation: the work of Liz Woods
Liz Wood is a landscape installation artist whose work over the years has included covering rocks with wallpaper and embellishing tree trunks with roses. In July 2005 Woods was selected to be a part of Farming with Mary, a collaborative project which took place along the Mary River in four agricultural communities near Gympie in Queensland. In the case of Woods large-scale works in the landscape, their ephemeral existence has the advantage of avoiding a harmful environmental impact, whilst the visual impact is clearly assertive.
Bowerbirds and the Art of Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton has approached some of the ideas surrounding sexual and asexual reproduction amongst organisms from a different perspective to those of biologists in his ongoing artistic studies. Hamilton began his work on bowerbirds when he was an Artist-in-Residence at Griffith University in 1976 during a visit to OReillys national park south of Brisbane where he filmed and videotaped Satin Bowerbirds as they worked upon their bowers. He has drawn many parallels between the creative processes of Bowerbirds and artists and over the years the ongoing extinction of these birds has come to be a symbolic representation and reminder of the harsh ramifications of human activity on the natural world. Hamilton is based in Adelaide in South Australia.
Remediation as art with Gavin Malone
For a decade the art practice of Gavin Malone has been concerned with ecological rehabilitation and cultural interpretation. A former grazing property and thus a degraded ecosystem, the 185 ha property belonging to fellow artist Greg Johns overlooking the plains of the River Murray, has been transformed into what Malone suggests is not just a sculpture park with a Landcare project but actually reconceptualises art as ecology.
From the River to the Source: Lloyd Godman's Ecological Explorations
Lloyd Goldman's twin careers of serious and successful organic gardener and practising artist of great creative energy converge in new and constantly surprising ways to make art about the ecological concerns that underly his gardening. Over almost three decades his art has widened out from relatively traditional landscape photography to include elements of performance, audience participation art and multimedia installation to explore the tensions between electronic consumer society and the ecosystem.
A Torn Parchment: The Murray Darling Palimpsest
Since European settlement the Murray Darling district has been a major site for irrigation and has been established as an important agricultural centre. In 1956 a valuable collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth century art was bequeathed to the city and a new gallery was built to display it. Over the years the Mildura Sculpture Prize has progressed to become a non-competitive event and in 1973 for the first time, environment was the theme. With the launch of Mildura Palimpsest, Mildura once again emerged as a central location for experimental art that tackled ecological issues.
TeATR'ePROUVeTe: Social Ecology in French Villages
Jean Bojko is the founder of TeATRePROUVeTe, a project created in response to a desire for a socially inclusive cultural event to be held in the Shire of Nievre in regional France in 2000. Bojko came up with the idea of marrying the 32 smallest villages of the shire with thirty-two artists. The aim was to get the villagers to see their own potential and to build a network with others. The event involved mock burials which took place in the local cemeteries as well as numerous events focused on environmental viability and sustainability as a way to symbolically reinforce the transition of these individuals from craftsmen to members of common life.
EcoTV: A South Australian Experiment
As part of the 2005 Adelaide Film Festival, the inaugural EcoTVC competition for a 30-second television commercial was held to create greater public awareness of key environmental issues. The winner was Peter Miller, a 22-year-old superannuation administrator and writer whose entry showed people hopping around dressed ridiculously as endangered native animals. The commercial ended with the slogan Youll appreciate the real thing...once theyre gone , together with a final shot of a Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby as an example of the real thing that could become extinct.
Drawing on the Earth: Bronwyn Wright's 'Running Dog'
Photographer Bronwyn Wright has been visiting the local swamp lands northeast of Darwin with her dogs for about fifteen years. Her latest artwork at The Swamp draws on her knowledge of this piece of land and on her Spatial Sciences (GIS and Remote Sensing) studies at Charles Darwin University. It is a geoglyph, an earth drawing of a dog that is ecological because it treads lightly on the earth by using only human footprints to make marks that are visible from space.
Drought and Art: 10% and Falling
On 2 July 2005 Goulburn Regional Art Gallery held a community forum to discuss the water crisis in the region. The all-important forum only happened because of art, or more specifically because Goulburn Regional Art Gallery had organised the exhibition Water Works of 16 regional artists works about water sustainability and survival. Gallery director Jennifer Lamb tells the hair-raising story of a town learning to do without water and the role of artists in coming to terms with this.
John Dahlsen: Plastic Arts
John Dalsens work, utilising found plastic beach rubbish, is seen as environmental art. Art debates aside, he has collected mountains of rubbish and transformed it into artworks that really do captivate people. Recognition of his collecting has been made by the Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World campaigns by naming Dahlsen as their official artist. Through the material he finds Dahlsen depicts various landscapes and the multitude of objects create a dialogue about our use, and abuse, of the environment.
Performance art and Plastic Bags in the Pacific
The scourge of non-recyclable waste devastating the precious land of the Pacific Islands has become a new subject matter for some of the local performers. A play put on in front of the newly built Parliament House on the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu marked the islands transition to becoming the worlds first plastic shopping bag free country. Campbell looks at some of the ecological and economic crisis in the South Pacific Islands in the year that was declared The Year of Action Against Waste and the methods which are employed to assist with the educating of such issues.
The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize Under Scrutiny
Osborne examines and questions the validity of the South Australian Museums Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize in terms of its proposed intentions which lie in the educating of issues concerning Australias natural heritage and ecology. With a prize pool of $85,000 in total the event certainly offers incentive to artists and attracts many of the countries most prolific artists but in turn fails to provide any intrinsic value in terms of art or natural history. As Osborne concludes neither sales, nor attendance figures are sufficient to justify the museum devoting its space, resources and prestige to this ill-conceived event.
Ecology Network
Free soil http://www.free-soil.org is an international collaboration of artists, activist, researchers and gardeners who take a participatory role in the transformation of our environment. Founded in 2005 by Amy Franceschini (USA) Stijn Schiffeleers (Belgium), Nis Romer (Denmark) and Joni Taylor (Australia), it aims to foster discourse, develop projects and give support for art practices that reflect and often change the urban and natural landscape by working on issues such as sustainability, environmental art and greening cities.
Finsbury Green Printing - The Story of the First Carbon Neutral Printer in Australia
Finsbury is the only printing company in Australia to successfully establish an environmental printing brand, and over the years their environmental credentials have become so strong that they can legitimately call everything they do green. They are also the only commercial printing company in Australia to volunteer for the Federal Goverments Greenhouse Challenge Plus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article looks at some of the developing methods and strategies Finsbury Green Printing are dedicated to year after year in an attempt to become as environmentally sustainable as possible.
Red Shoe Delivery Service
Melbourne International Arts Festival George Adams Gallery, the Arts Centre and various locations around Melbourne 7 - 22 October 2005
White Noise
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Melbourne 17 August - 23 October 2005 Curated by Mike Stubbs
Space Between Words: A Collection of Subjective Narratives
Queensland Centre for Photography 17 September 16 October 2005
South Australian School of Art International Drawing Conference: Drawing is Everything
South Australian School of Art International Drawing Conference Drawing is Everything Adelaide 4 September - 9 October 2005 Ruth Hadlow: Patternbook South Australian School of Art Gallery Dialecticaline Prospect Gallery Drawing is a Verb Adelaide Central Gallery2
Trudi Brinckman: White Plastic Cup
Trudi Brinckman: White Plastic Cup Kelly's Garden Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart 24 - August - 30 September 2005
Adam Cullen: Maintaining the Rage
Adam Cullen: Maintaining the Rage Kaliman Gallery, Sydney 1 - 24 September 2005
Flux2: New Art from Western Australia
Flux2: New Art from Western Australia Brendan Van Hek, Ben Sullivan, Bennett Miller, Helen Smith, Pilar Mata Dupont and Tarryn Gill Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth 18 September - November 2005
National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition 2005
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 15 July - 9 October 2005
Brook Andrew: Hope & Peace
Stills Gallery, Sydney, 3 August - 3 September 2005 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 5 July - 7 August 2005 Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, 23 November - 18 December 2005
Qin Ga: 'Miniature Long March'
The Long March A Walking Visual Display is an international collaboration involving over 250 Chinese and international artists taking place along 20 sites of the historical Long March. Each site was chosen for its symbolic import; the Long March was tatooed onto Qin Ga's back transforming his body into both an artwork and a Long March object.
Here Come the Jets
Current trends in image reproduction, addressed through the introduction of giclee technology and industry. Neylon deals with issues of prints authenticity and some of the controversial debates surfacing within Australias art community.
Philanthropy, Sponsorship, or Dinner?
On July 29 2005 the Prime Minister, John Howard, was guest of honour at the annual Australian Business Foundation for the Arts (AbaF) Awards Dinner. Joanna Mendelssohn reports on the event.
Biennials of the World: Myths, Facts and Questions
In recent years, in the rarefied world of high art, in the places where international curators meet and work, amongst critics, commentators, artists, sponsors and collectors there has been no subject more widely discussed than that of the international recurrent exhibition. While Stephanie Britton recognises that the more closely it is examined the larger and more complex the subject becomes she has set out to tackle some of the essential ideas and questions surrounding these exhibitions. Includes two double fold out charts exclusive to Artlink: 1) a map of the world showing all the current biennales and triennials plus a new analysis of the 112 most frequently invited artists; 2) a star chart titled Artlink's Intergalactic Guide to the Curators of International Biennials and Triennials which lists the most frequently employed curators on these events and which events they have worked on.
An Inauspicious Occasion
In May 2005 Brisbane lost a landmark. Wendy Mills water sculpture On this auspicious occasion, commissioned in November 1998 as part of a major refurbishment of Brisbanes Queen Street Mall and a broader attempt to achieve a more culturally sophisticated city, came down in the dead of the night.
Public Interrogations
Architecturally-trained artist Richard Goodwin regards built and urban spaces as his performative stage. He has sought out parks, passageways, plazas, under and overpasses and other connective, forgotten and in-between spaces to insert an often absurdist mark of his presence.
Give Wings to the Arts
This article outlines a radical new model for arts funding in Australia which will seek to adequately address many of the economic and creative necessities of young and established artists. Hall clearly sets out the proposal for the model, pointing out the four wings which would come into place to assist various sectors of the creative industries including Visual Arts, Literature, Crafts and Composition and Choreography and would replace both existing Fellowships and New Works Grants.
New Museum Creates Cafe Society in Shenzhen
At the end of January 2005 in the He Xingning Art Museum in Shenzhen, a conference was held to coincide with the opening of the first dedicated Contemporary Art Museum in China named OCTA Contemporary Art Centre. The conference was essentially looking at the major issues confronting contemporary art in China as it goes through yet another dramatic evolution.
Sculpture by the Sea
Artists and the public converge on Cottesloe Beach, Perth for the WA incarnation of the famous Bondi Beach event, 17 - 28 March 2005
Barney and Tibby Ellaga
New paintings from SE Arnhem Land at Raft Artspace, Darwin, 1- 23 April, 2005
The Dreaming Festival
The Dreaming Festival, director Rhoda Roberts, Bush Galleries, Woodford, Queensland, 10 13 June 2005
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story
Pantjiti Mary McLean: A Big Story, Paintings and drawings 1992 - 2005 Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide 7 May 7 August 2005
The Larrakia Legacy of Billiamook
Larrakia people bore the brunt of colonial expansion in the Northern Territory when Darwin was settled by beraguds (white people) in 1869. Gary Lee writes of Billiamook, one of the first Larrakia to interact with the settlers and the first Aboriginal artist to have his work exhibited and recognised as art.
Under the Skin
The Aboriginal community of Balgo, situated on the cusp of the Tanami and Great Sandy Desert is a melting pot for contemporary Aboriginal art and culture. This article examines a group of white women artists and their various bodies of work which grew from their time spent at Balgo.
Just Really Out There
Steve Fox's job involves regular 1400km round trips from Uluru to some of the most remote communities in Australia. He reports on a typical four-day excursion in the Maruku troopcarrier.
Looking Forward Looking Back: in the East Kimberly
Marrying visual art, dance and inspirational rhetoric has been one of the hallmarks of the Jirrawun Artists Co-operation operating out of Kununarra. These traditional people have been at the forefront of contemporary political debates and Indigenous art practice. Cath Bowdler follows the story of Jirrawun Artists Co-operation from its inception in 1998 to the present day. A non-government funded body, Pro bono partnerships with the corporate and private sector.
Kuninjku Modernism
Kuninjku Modernism pays respect to the wellspring of the Indigenous art movement and the many artists of Western Arnhem Land, furthermore exploring the several countries or nations of this large civic nation.
Looking Elsewhere: Asia at the Top End
The top end has a distinctly Asian flavour not only because of its cultural heritage prior to 1880s but also because of the significant East Timorese connection. This article looks at the Northern Territorys strong and visionary commitment to cultural exchange with Indonesia and the increasing Asian character of Darwin's rapidly changing population.
Sitting Down with Indigenous Artists
Erica Izett explores the cultural convergence between Australias indigenous and non-indigenous people over the past few decades and the rewarding implications it is having on Australias artistic and cultural practice and awareness.
Bush Techies and Secret Data Business
Caroline Farmers position at 24HR Art, the Northern Territorys Centre for Contemporary Art required an involvement with projects specifically aimed to help indigenous artists acquire new media skills. What she found in the Territory however required her to think in an entirely new way. Farmer discusses some of her experiences with her new found traditionally and technologically aligned environment.
Art at the Frontier: Franck Gohier
Frank Gohier has distinguished himself as a resident Darwin artist whose work as a painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher reflects a different perspective of the far northern - one based on lived experience. Addresses the impact of the indigenous community on his Anglo perspective art.
From Fregon to Srinigar and Back
Kaltjiti Arts is a community owned arts centre in Fregon. A cross-cultural project between two groups of community artists based in South Australia's remote and traditional Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands and in Srinigar, the turbulent capital of Kashmir is based on the combining of these two isolated and very different cultures via their arts and traditions.
Neverland vs. Reality: How to Sustain an Art Practice in the Territory
Historically, people in the Territory have viewed southeners with suspicion, often characterising them as missionaries or carpetbaggers. Some emerging artists here are beginning to question these attitudes and are starting to take advantage of the financial and critical lifelines that the south has to offer. Bronwyn Wright and Tobias Richardson are two who have engaged energetically with southerners and achieved high levels of recognition.
Making the Gospel Their Own
Eastern Arrernte Catholics at Ltentye Apurte, the former Santa Teresa Catholic mission east of Alice Springs, are making the local church and liturgy a ground for telling their recent history and reflecting their ancient yet evolving traditions. A mural project was initiated by a local non-aboriginal woman Cait Wait in 2002 with the help of eight neophyte artists.
Women's Business by Remote
In the past two decades the face of Australian art practice has been changed immeasurably by a renewed focus on the culture of Indigenous people and the efflorence of Aboriginal art. This article looks at the work of three non-Indigenous artists who worked in places regarded as remote and developed art practices through engagement with Aboriginal people.
22nd Telstra NATSI Art Award
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) 13 August - 23 October 2005
Intimate Transactions 3:2005
QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne 25 - 30 April 2005
Ghost River Paintings
Jo Darbyshire Span Galleries, Melbourne 1 - 19 March 2005 Gallery East, North Fremantle 13 May - 5 June 2005
Pitch Your Own Tent
Curated by Max Delany Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne 23 June - 27 August 2005
The Art of Fiona Hall
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane 19 March - 5 June 2005 Julie Ewington, Fiona Hall, Piper Press, 2005, RRP $88.
The 14th Annual Linden Postcard Show
Linden St Kilda Centre for Contempory Arts 5 February - 19 March 2005
Seeking Transcendence
Curator: John Stringer 10 February - 5 May 2005 Perth International Arts Festival
Proof: The Act Of Seeing With One's Own Eyes
Curator: Mike Stubbs Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne 9 December 2004 - 13 February 2005
Giant Steps and Transcriptions
Experimental Art Foundation 25 February - 2 April 2005 Greenaway Art Gallery 22 February - 1 March 2005 Adelaide Film Festival
Not Far From Here
Davenport Regional Gallery 28 January - 6 Marcg 2005 Bett Gallery, Hobart 9 March - 23 March 2005
3 Into 1: Hermie Cornelisse, Amanda Davies and Mish Meijers
CAST Gallery, Hobart 5 February - 6 March 2005
Fremantle Print Award 30 Years Later and Still Standing
One of the many pleasures of running an annual award for excellence in printmedia is the thrill of unpacking the entries and encountering a work that takes your breath away. That thrill can evaporate when the judging panel dismisses the favoured work, or simply die away amongst the endless piles of entries waiting to be processed before you.
Degenerates and Perverts
Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art by Eileen Chanin and Steven Miller, with an introduction by Judith Pugh Miegunyah Press, 2005, RRP $69.95 Reviewed by Paula Furby
The Sounds of Silence
Through traditional method, an explicit residue of manual labour, and a constructed subject, Ricky Swallows wooden work suggests a past tense, which leads the viewer backwards through the material history of the work. The Defining aspects of Swallows approach are distinctly framed in the western tradition of the artisan and the language of figuration.
The Art of Outsourcing
While our romantic inheritance imagines artists working in isolation, this is changing. Increasingly, successful artists are working with teams of technicians who contribute precious amounts of skill, time and experience to the final work. Harvey looks at the relationships between artists, apprentices and their creations within the realm of tactile, three-dimensional art and some of the apparent concerns associated.
It's Not You, It's Me - I Just Don't, You Know, Think We're Compatible
"It should go without saying that our responses to the handmade, the mass-produced and techno gadgetry are principally structured within and by fantasy worlds . Cook explores peoples relationships to objects in a world that is perpetually developing and enhancing itself materially, or so it seems.
I Came to Japan Because of the Chopstick
Timms' account of a personal journey through Japan and South Korea and the traditional history of fine pottery crafts that accounts for a large degree of Eastern culture. He here explores the distinctions and connections between Eastern and Western material culture as exemplified through the life and role of the chopstick.