How do artists survive when they are not able to sell work in galleries -- sales are at a record low and many galleries have folded-- or get commissions through State agencies -- because these are few and far between?
They may not have been characterised as 'artist run initiatives' but exhibition spaces run by artists have been around, in one form, or another for a long time.
The Thousand Handed Hydra has been an experiment of difference and opposition in practice. Hydra began in May 1993 as a one year pilot program of education, transition and introductin for migrant artists to the professional networks of Australian (Melbourne) art, culture and practice. Includes the work of artists Fernando Ronquillo, Anita Lorina and Rafael Rojas.
Exhibition review Jemmy
Mehmet Adil, Craige Andrae, Johnnie Dadie, Simryn Gill, Richard Grayson, Linda Marie Walker, Paul Hewson, Shaun Kirby, David O'Halloran, Bronia Iwanczak, Andrew Petrusevics, Bronwyn Platten, George Popperwell, Jyanni Steffensen, Steve Wigg
Curated by Alan Cruikshank
Ebenezer Studios Basement
February 18 - March 13 1994
"If you are real lucky you got CDEP or your are making it selling your art and then you got a good art centre too, maybe. If you are real lucky just when you turn up with a couple of week's art production, maybe yours, maybe the families, the centre's got cash, no one's a bastard, everyone's happy, the store has even got some decent food, even new bikes, toy guns, tape decks and a few tins of Log Cabin. Shit, life's good - sometimes anyway." A personal view of art making in indigenous communities.
The time is post-recession, the economic climate is uncertain, Australian designers and consumers inhabit the suburbs but are cut off from each other, and someone decided to do something about it in the City of Caulfield, Victoria.
Article written with collaborator Shiralee Saul. Discusses the planned Futurama which was slated to start in 1996 as a 4-5 day event in Melbourne Victoria - organised by Installation Publication a partnership of 2 artist administrators.
Artists are particularly vulnerable to economic downturn for two main reasons...the business cycle and the role of other jobs in a tight employment market.
Bark painters of Arnhem Land are experimenting with a new medium - canvas- and in so doing both increasing their output and responding to market forces.
Operating both as an industry training ground and as a space for creative experimentation, low budget film and video production must be thought of as an economic and a cultural investment.
During the 1990s a number of initiatives have been undertaken in Western Australia which aim to improve the lot of the State's artists. The article examines three particular initiatives.