Old Gods new lives: Exhibiting traditional Cook Islander art

In late 2008, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) established its first Pacific Arts department. From the opening of the controversial Musée du quai Branly in Paris in 2006, to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s creation of permanent new galleries for Oceanic art in 2007, there has been an international surge of interest in Pacific art, accompanied by hot debate surrounding exhibition protocols. Among the many works exhibited at these institutions are rare carvings of traditional gods from the Cook Islands: works that are still of great cultural significance to many Islanders today.
Jacqui Durrant asked artists, curators and cultural professionals in the largest of the Cook Islands, Rarotonga, their opinions as to how images of their ‘old gods’ might be best exhibited, to see what a Western art gallery might take on board.

Published June 2009

Collapsing the Bilateral: creating consciousness

The Long March Project founded by Lu Jie is an ongoing art project that began with a philosophical evaluation of the complex role and meaning of art and selfhood, in all its political, economic, cultural, and social guises.
It is critical that new opportunities are found for artistic reciprocity that exist beyond the presumed centres of art validation (ie. America and Europe). The Long March directs the gaze of Chinese cultural producers to re-assess how art can be a tool through which ideas of making – self, thought, object – can be critically empowered and conceived.

Published June 2009

Resuscitation through paper

On a residency at the Taipei Artists Village in Taiwan in 2007 Gregory Pryor researched a plant from which tongcao or pith paper was traditionally made. The complex collaborative journey to find the plant and the way its pith is removed forms a celebratory echo to his previous work Black Solander 2005 about endangered plants in Western Australia.

Published June 2009

Transforming East and West dialogues

Haema Sivanesan, Curator and Executive Director of SAVAC ( South Asian Visual Arts Centre) in Toronto Canada, analyses the current situation of Asian contemporary art by looking at work that is not only cross-cultural but concerned with bridging cultures and being a form of social action rather than simply engaging with commodity culture.

Published June 2009

The China Project

The China Project: Three Decades; William Yang; Zhang Xiaogang
GOMA, Brisbane
28 March – 28 June 2009

Published June 2009

The Secret Life of Plants

A Secret Life of Plants
Curator: Andrew Gaynor
Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts
4 April – 17 May 2009
Fremantle Arts Centre
30 May – 19 July 2009

Published June 2009

Anne Ferran

Anne Ferran: The Ground, The Air
Curator: Craig Judd
Wollongong City Art Gallery
21 March - 17 May 2009

Published June 2009

Ten Days on the Island festiva

Ten days on the island
24 March - 5 April 2009

Published June 2009

Exhibitions 2 watch: June - August 09

Published June 2009

The Enchanted Forest

The enchanted forest: new gothic storytellers
Curator: Jazmina Cininas
Geelong Gallery, 12 April - 9 June 2008; Bendigo Art Gallery, 19 July – 17 August 2008; Shepparton Art Gallery, 1 November – 14 December 2008; Latrobe Regional Gallery, 21 February – 19 April 2009; Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, 1 May – 7 June 2009; Dubbo Regional Gallery , 4 July – 13 September 2009; Tweed River Art Gallery, 1 October – 15 November 2009

Published June 2009

Mark Siebert: new work

Mark Siebert: Forever 27 is at the Experimental Art Foundation, 15 May – 13 June 2009.

Published June 2009

Nam Bang!

NAM BANG!
Curator: Boitran Huynh-Beattie
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
4 April - 21 June 2009

Published June 2009