Mike Parr: Close the Concentration Camps

Adam Geczy___I want to start with the title of the first of this series of very political performances, Malevich. I remember when I first spoke to you about the nailing of the arm to the wall idea. I said that I found the concept superior to your pain works, as it was an exercise in empathy since it was a ritualisation of confinement and restraint. But for a work with such direct, but still subtle, political push, don’t you think the title made the exercise a bit rarified, precious even? After all, the performance that followed, Close the Concentration Camps was pretty unambiguous.

More from this Issue

Borderpanic: open channel on refuge

Borderpanic was a conference and tactical media lab hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, a seminar hosted by Metroscreen and an exhibition at the Performance Space. It was a coming together of artists, activists, cultural theorists and people of social conscience examining a world of burning borders. Many of the artworks exhibited at the Performance Space reflected in positive mode the documentation, connectivity and networking between people around the planet. Some of the artists included in these shows were Julian Burnside, Ghassan Hage, Mickey Quick, Geert Lovink, Stephen Best and Peter Lyssiotis.

Ann Finegan

A4 Refugee Project: Artists in Solidarity

The A4 Refugee Project began in July as a response to Austcare's call for participants in Refugee Week 2002. Letters, flyers and e-mails were sent to contemporary artists throughout Australia with the request to submit a work as a gesture of support for refugees. The works addressed all sorts of issues surrounding the topic of refugees: alienation, lip sewing, consumerism, wire fencing, loneliness, nationalism...and punctuating these were abstract works that allowed some breathing space. The works were donated to the James Hardie Art Archive at the State Library of Queensland and will provide a permanent document of the artistic response from the community to this issue.

Jane Gallagher

Fallout: Quick Response to 9/11

Fallout was a quick response exhibition that only lasted for one week. The show examined the impact on art of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, globalisation and the refugee crisis. The thirty-seven artists who participated, each at different stages in their careers, contributed their work purely on political conviction. Many of the works in the show were quite raw, and captured this desire to re-express the shock of the violence towards the western world, but also the violent and brutal way the western world sought revenge. Sanja Pahoki and Rowan Douglas were amongst those to exhibit.

Mary Lou Pavlovic

The Promised Land

Linda Jaivin tells an imaginative story of Moses' plight to the Promised Land, imparting an additional reading to this historical tale, one very much aligned with contemporary society and the struggles of refugees seeking asylum in Australia. The story depicts the promised land as 'a liberal democracy which respects human rights and international conventions as set out by the United Nations' with the story leading the refugees to the ultimate reality of this supposed liberated new land.

Linda Jaivin

Fiona Lee: Hard Copies

Fiona Lee Hard Copies FOYeR Installation Space, Salamanca Place Hobart 14 - 29 November 2002

Sean Kelly

The Coalition of the Unwilling

Stephanie Britton

The Pathos of Boat People

On 10th April 1999, a large boat carrying 60 passengers and crew who had travelled all the way from China seeking asylum arrived on the shores of the small town of Scotts Head on the mid North coast of NSW. Shayne Higson created a series of poetic images in response to this desperate attempt for freedom. These poignant photographs present the remnants of these asylum seekers, the striped plastic bags and rusting hulk which were abandoned and replaced by suits, ties and good shoes, items worn by the refugees in an attempt to fit in with the mainland surroundings.

Shayne Higson

Artrave

Artlink

Cerebellum

Cerebellum Performance Space Sydney 1 - 30 November 2002

Tracey Clement

Pat Hoffie: Compassion and Anger

The element of denial ingrained in Australian society provides the basis for much of Pat Hoffie's work. The popularly constructed myths, histories and relationships that reinforce Australian society involve a certain amount of self-delusion, and Hoffie uses her work to amplify this fact. This article explores some of the political and humanitarian issues at the core of Hoffie's artistic practice, with specific reference to the 'children overboard' incident and Australia's role in the 'war against terror'.

Timothy Morrell

Woomera: An Artist's Response

Juan Davila

Disorientation: Afghan War Rug, No Easy Answers

Lendon takes up the idea of cross-cultural interpretation and exchange as exemplified through the symbolism imbued in a traditional 'Afghan war rug', an item which was part of the exhibition 'The Rugs of War' held in June 2003. Through deconstructing the seemingly violent and barbaric visual imagery, Lendon is posing some important questions regarding the role of traditional artefacts and the valuing of such hand made craft once it has reached its destination in the west.

Nigel Lendon

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