An Unlandscape of words and painting: from Meenamatta to paradise

This article explores new territory opened up by a cross-cultural collaboration between Indigenous poet Jim Everett and visual artist Jonathan Kimberley.

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

Jelek in East Timor

*(jelek means ugly in Indonesian)
Artist Ruth Hadlow lives and works in East Timor. Her thoughts about it question notions of beauty and ugliness.

Published June 2009

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

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

Artroom5

Three artists – in the world: Anne Kay, Irmina Van Niele, Sera Waters
artroom5, Adelaide
4 – 21 March 2009

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

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

Exhibitions 2 watch: June - August 09

Published June 2009

New climate for an old world: Paul Carter's Nearamnew

Paul Carter's Nearamnew, a public art work which is embedded in the 7,500 square metres of paving at Federation Square, asks for multiple, inclusive and open-ended responses.

Published June 2009

Hired hands: the Filipino collaborations of David Griggs

Neil Fettling asks; 'Why does an Australian-based artist like David Griggs, living and working in the first world, have such strong connections with a third world community, and how do these linkages affect his work?' and answers this question through an analysis of Griggs' recent art as well as comparing it to the work of Pat Hoffie and Wim Delvoye.

Published June 2009

21 Ada St - the DVD

Published June 2009