Right now I am unravelling: notes on the 2008 Next Wave Festival
A lively coverage of the exciting 2008 Next Wave Festival directed by Jeff Khan. Next Wave began 24 years ago and in 2008 presented the work of around 400 artist over 61 projects.
More from this Issue
Firing across the gaps
In May 2008 Wagga Wagga Art Gallery's new Director Cath Bowdler curated Crossfire, an exhibition of resonating artworks from the Gallery's two major collections, the National Art Glass Collection and the Margaret Carnegie Print Collection, as a way of introducing herself to both the space and the place. Bowdler was initially inspired by the glass work Salt on Mina Mina by Dorothy Napangardi.
Hello Tokyo! Process is all
Diorama of the City: Between Site & Space 13 September - 13 October 2008 Tokyo Wonder Site Artists: Alex Gawronski, Gail Priest, Tim Silver, Hiraku Suzuki, exonemo, Paramodel
Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston
Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston Curator: Mary Knights South Australian School of Art Gallery (SASA) 30 September - 24 October 2008
Video loops and VIP dinners: 2008 Beijing and Hong Kong Art Fairs
Artlink Executive Editor Stephanie Britton 'did' two major art fairs in our region, the first ever in Hong Kong - ART HK08 and the fifth Beijing one - CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition). She found them both fascinating and especially enjoyed the Mapping Asia and Alternative Energy sections of CIGE and the symposium organised by Asia Art Archive at HK08.
Curating Chinese themes: cheap labour, migration and capital, Shanghai Biennale and Guangzhou Triennial
In September 2008 Dylan Rainforth went to both the 7th Shanghai Biennale (Translocalmotion) and the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial (Farewell to Post-Colonialism). While he found mixed messages in Shanghai which was curated by artistic director Zhang Qing assisted by Julian Heynen and Henk Slager, it was Guangzhou curated by Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj and Johnson Chang that hit the sweet spot with 'witty, people-powered ways forward.'
Neo Goth: black in black
Neo Goth: Back in Black Curator: Alison Kubler UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane 25 July - 21 September 2008
Spatsville: Memoirs of a failed painter: Alasdair Macintyre
Splatsville: Memoirs of a Failed Painter: Alasdair Macintyre Ryan Renshaw, Brisbane 23 September - October 11 2008
Back from the brink: culture in Timor-Leste
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT)'s Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture Joanna Barrkman curated Husi Bei Ala Timor Sira Nia Liman /From the Hands of Our Ancestors which is on at MAGNT in Darwin from 21 November 2008 to 12 July 2009. The show celebrates the survival of Timor-Leste's cultural inheritance and asks whether traditional art forms and techniques have a role to play in the formation and assertion of Timor-Leste's national and cultural identity.
Curators, creators and catalysts
Marcus Westbury, former director of Noise, Next Wave, TINA (This Is Not Art) festivals, and writer and presenter of Not Quite Art on ABC TV, writes about the need for art to get away from reflecting too hard on gatekeepers and their requirements. He looks at the Biennale of Sydney at Cockatoo Island, the Next Wave's The Containers Village and the Melbourne Laneways projects as good examples of stepping outside the cube. He concludes that: 'Artists are best to invest their energy in finding their audiences and their communities.'
25th National and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA)
25th National and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) 15 August 26 October 2008
It's time: Emily Floyd
Its Time : Emily Floyd Australian Print Workshop Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne 23 August - 18 October 2008
Curating a psycho-geography Campbelltown Arts Centre and the genius of Lisa Havilah
Campbelltown Arts Centre's chief curator and director Lisa Havilah creates challenging and confronting exhibitions like For Matthew and Others (2006), News from Islands (2007) and Ai Weiwei: Under Construction (2008). She believes that: 'contemporary art centres that sit outside of the metropolitan centres provide the highest level of opportunity for the development and application of new forms of curatorial practice.'