In a Barbie World

Fictional Barbies (Mattel trademarked doll) are presented in the dark side of suburbia spinning a queer identity for Ken and Barbie.

Published September 1998

Artrave

Published September 1998

Censor and be Damned

Julie Robb is the executive director of the Arts Law Centre of Australia. The centre advises artists and those involved in exhibitions and publication of risky material of the cultural responsibilities to make efforts to find ways of exercising their privileges. Looks at the current practices.

Published September 1998

Crossing the Fine Line: The Case of Concetta Petrillo

Photography has inspired more hysteria and censorship than paintings .... examines the situation in Perth Western Australia with child pornography and the photographs of Concetta Petrillo.

Published September 1998

Garden of Earthly Delights: Erotica at Carrick Hill

Gone from Carrick Hill before it became a public collection are three Stanley Spencer erotic paintings and William Dobell's 'The Duchess Disrobes' (two versions). Smith examines the nature of the collection of works by Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Haywood.

Published September 1998

Ecologies of Place and Memory and Time and Tide

Ecologies of Place and Memory (Lauren Berkowitz, Rosemary Burke, Torquil Canning, Lola Greeno, Ruth Hadlow, Sieglinde Karl and Louise Weaver)
Time & Tide (Rowena Gough, Gay Hawkes, Lin Li, Pilar Rojas and Catherine Truman)
Both curated by Bridget Sullivan
Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart
May 22 - June 14 (Ecologies)
June 19 - July 12 (Time)

Published September 1998

Black Humour

Curated by Neville John O'Neill for the Canberra Contemporary Art Space.
Tandanya, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide
10 July - 16 August 1998

Published September 1998

Some Notes on Pornography, Contemporary Art and Social Politics

Explores the 'pornographic' in the public domain. Art isn't an excuse for pornography, because pornography simpy exists. Art has remained a realm within which a vast range of ideas can be explored and tested. There are no questions of ethics or morality in art. This starts to get more exciting as art gets closer to life.

Published September 1998

In the Middle of it All - A Personal Text

From the perspective of one who has worked on the SA Classification of Publications Board. Argues that censorship is becoming increasingly unmanageable due to two trends which are detailed in the article. Also argues that public debate (with the exception of child pornography) in the media has declined. In contrast there is rising debate about sacrilege.

Published September 1998

Visual Culture, Pornography and Censorship

Editorial: hypocrisy in our attitude to sex. It is both celebrated and maligned, and the censorship laws allow young people to view explicit violence while classifying sex for adults only, based on psuedo-scientific analysis of 'normal' or 'aberrant'. This history of public attitude from the Enlightenment on, libertinism a radical opposition to status quo, advertising and porn, and artists exercising self-censorship.

Published September 1998

The Spectre of Pedophilia and Dennis Del Favero's Parting Embrace

Dennis Del Favero's 'Parting Embrace' is a series of 10 Type C prints which attempt to investigate the subjectivity of sexual abuse in a way that not only engages with its inherent pornographic content but which refuses neat moral resolution.

Published September 1998

Dying Frightened: Gasps of Old Men in Suits

Explores the nature of censorship, how it is applied and the consequences of repression in artistic expression. Analyses the issues from a feminist perspective. "Censorship is about as effective as prohibition". Examines the censorship applied to the exhibition by Jasmine Hirst.

Published September 1998