Issues

Issue 38:1 | March 2018  | Considering the Animals
Considering the Animals
Issue 38:1 | March 2018

Articles

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Heading for trouble: Non‑human futures in recent art

Sometimes the truth is impossible to hear. At year’s end, dinner table conversation turns from climate change to mass extinctions, and people consult their pocket encyclopaedias for facts. Someone asks: “Exactly how many birds in Aotearoa have gone extinct?” Even Wikipedia claims an incomplete list. In Te Ara ecologist Richard Holdaway tells the numbers more clearly: 50% of vertebrate fauna gone in the 750 years since human arrival in New Zealand. Numbers overwhelm in Australia too. Here, humans have been living amidst other animal species for tens of thousands rather than hundreds of years, and the list of extinctions add to our dinner table litany.

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In the beginning there was the worm: Animal voices beyond the verbal

Four humanimals creep, crawl, sniff and moan their way through a seated audience, towards an empty performance area which awaits their presence. Snorting and snuffling is audible as the liminal creatures rub themselves against giggling audience members, rolling across laps and crawling under chairs. Their faces are painted with dark bands across the eyes—like a species of bird, bandit, or warrior. When they reach the performance area, they crouch in a circle, continuing their muffled cries as one of them stands.

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From god‑head to bin chook: Ibis in the Australian cultural imagination

From the early 1970s, driven by drought and degradation of interior wetlands, the Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) began migrating to the nation’s coastal cities, towns and inland centres from north Queensland through to Perth. Ibis have flourished in urban spaces, where there is a ready food supply guaranteed by our endemic over‑consumption. Their robust colonisation and presence has garnered the bird a reputation as unwelcome pests and interlopers, reflected in the quotidian idiom: dumpster diver, flying rat, tip turkey, pest of the sky, trash vulture, dump chook, bin chicken, bin chook.

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Madison Bycroft’s mollusc worlds

“I don’t know” sings the chorus in response as Madison Bycroft rallies off quip after quip the characteristics of a mollusc life-world while occupying a mollusc-like dress at the back of the mollusc-like stage. What this lecture-performance Soft Bodies (2017) addresses is a problem that faces much of the arts and humanities in the twenty-first century: a grappling with the ontological becomings and tentacular thinking, of those things that are and are not us. As science continues to illuminate the molecules and viruses that make up our bodies, we are plunged into a world where ideas about what distinguishes us as humans (and our understanding of what a human is) have become increasingly vague. As environmental philosopher Timothy Morton avows in solidarity, we are more non‑human than we are human. So what happens when boundaries that previously demarcated one thing from another disintegrate? And what do molluscs have to do with it?

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Entangled looking: The crisis of the animal

Theories are living and breathing reconfigurings of the world.
Karen Barad, from “On Touching—The Inhuman that Therefore I am.”

Contemporary animal theory confronts some of the most profound issues of our time—what it means to be human in the Anthropocene, anthropocentrism and the mass extinction of species, the rights of nonhuman animals and the future of ethical thinking. Artists, writers and filmmakers explore these and related issues in works that are experimental and challenging, testifying to this time of crisis. These include Michael Cook’s human–nature studies (Civilised, 2012; Invasion, 2017), Janet Laurence’s work on extinction (After Eden, 2012), Patricia Piccinini’s exploration of the posthuman (Evolution, 2009), Sue Coe’s bearing witness to slaughterhouses (Dead Meat, 1996; Porkopolis, 2001), J.M. Coetzee’s writings on animals and ethics (Elizabeth Costello, 2003, Disgrace, 1999) and Nicolas Philibert’s indictment of zoos in his documentary, (Nénette, 2010).

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Trevor “Turbo” Brown and company

Vivid and arresting paintings of Australian wildlife are the hallmark of an artist known mononymously as Turbo. Born Trevor Brown (1967–2017) in Mildura, he took up painting in his mid‑thirties after he had relocated to Melbourne. He rapidly gained critical and commercial attention for works using a quick and direct application of pure colour, bursting with raw energy, and featuring a varied cast of native fauna. So exclusive—obsessive, even—was his portrayal of animals that there arose a kind of origin story explaining his single‑mindedness: “Uncle Herb [P]atten, the man he loves as a father, once asked Brown why he only painted animals. He replied that when he was fifteen and living on the Mildura streets and the Murray River bank, the animals were his only friends.” Other explanations Turbo gave for his choice of subject matter included, “Animals are my friends. They come to me in my dreams” and “When I paint, I feel like I’m in the Dreamtime and can see all the animals that live there.”

Faites Vos Jeux: Aesthetics and Dis/Order in Kennett's Victoria
Explores the idea that basic qualitative aesthetic lifestyle values in Australia are by no means neutral but highly coloured by political judgements. The mood and style of the governance of Victoria can be read as an issue of taste and lifestyle as well as political ability/responsibility.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Tasteless
Editorial for the edition on Food Consumption and Pleasure. Summarises the treats which lie in store for the reader of the issue, linking the disparate approaches of the various writers .
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Pictures on Plates
Divided into subheadings 'The Parsley Garnish' 'La Nouvelle Cuisine' 'Transgressions' the author explores the role of food and decoration -- pictures on plates -- in Australian (and wider) cuisine from the 1950s through to the 1990s. Refers to Marinetti's The Futurist Cookbook of 1932. Examines photographs of food and the paradox of indulgence and self denial.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Mediterranean Paradise: artists and the kitchen: David Strachan and John Olsen
Examination of the work of David Strachan and John Olsen from the 1950s in Europe to Australia in the 1980s and the pleasures of painting and food. Linking of painting with the recipes and philosophies of Elizabeth David.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Breadline: Women and Food
Since the advent of 1970s feminism, the joining of women food and art has been about mixing a metaphoric concoction of consciousness raising, community and corporeality. Looks at women's art movement practice in South Australia
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Cookbooks
Examines the relationship between food, cookbooks and the art of illustration. Cooking however elaborate is always about the assuaging of hunger but.....Looks at Elizabeth David's 'Italian Food' published in 1954 and illustrated by Renato Guttoso. John Minton had illustrated David's earlier books.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Bush Tucker: Some Food for Thought
Bush tucker (food and medicinal purposes) for indigenous communities is looked at in terms of commercial opportunities with traditional knowledge finding application in contemporary contexts. Examines the role of aboriginal people in scientific research and subsequent commercial exploitation. Also looks at issues of Aboriginal intellectual property.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Honey: It's Meaning in Aboriginal Art
Across the far north of Australia, honey is enshrined at the centre of life's meaning as a nourishing and creative presence in a landscape derived from the Ancestral Beings themselves. Looks at the visual representations of honey for the Dhuwa and Yirritja people. Discusses the creation myths and their contemporary expressions in bark paintings and sculptures.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Nostalgia, Nation and Gobstuff
Linking of food and memory == elements of nostalgia for other times and places. Proust and James Joyce and the role of food in their writing and the centrality of place or locality in food. The 'authentic' and the 'other' have been amalgamated.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Greek as a Souvlaki
Musings on seeds, weeds and the author's mother's cooking. An exploration of Greek food, issues of multiculturalism and history. Touches on genetically modified food and colonisation.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Fast Food: Don't spoil your appetite
Art and its relation to the museum may be seen in terms of the analogy of food passing along the intestinal tract. Looks at exhibitions like EAT 1998. Food is one kind of culture that is always in demand. Why not give the public what it wants. Eating in art galleries may break down the barriers of art as an exclusive kind of experience,
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
An Gotta Mor: A Sculpture for the Irish Famine
In 1999 The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine at Hyde Park Barracks was unveiled. Designed by Hossein and Angelea Valamanesh, it commemorates the arrival in Australia of young women many of whom were orphaned by the great hunger. National competition within the constraints of the Francis Greenway building and historic precincts.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Force-Fed: Food in the Art of Destiny Deacon.
Discusses 'Home Video' made in 1987, 'Welcome to my Koori World' (1992) and 'I don't want to be a Bludger' (1999). Food in these videos is the bearer of sly innuendo, misguided intentions, complicated emotions. In these invented worlds food is either inedible, unnourishing or unavailable or a lurid torrent of junk food.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Homemade: The Rosalind Brodsky Cookery Show
Looks at the CD Rom by Suzanne Treister 'No other symptoms - Time Travelling with Rosalind Brodsky'. There are two cooking segments on the CD. The cooking demonstrations are imbued with historical and cultural pain and prejudice.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
My Millennium Dome: Domes Tripe and Teacups in the art of Donna Marcus
Donna Marcus series of Millennium Domes imagine the everyday aesthetic practices of living in houses and with objects in terms inflected by processess of memory, dream and the imagination. Reference to the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller organic materials and recycling.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Nariphon: How to eat a bowl of noodles
Examines the series of paintings Nariphon I-III by Phaptawan Suwannakudt which deal with issues of change and consumption, absorption of multicultural practices into dominant cultures -- Prostitution (girl fruit) and survival in Thailand. Her work blurs the distinctions between meditation and revolution (east and west) and between tradition and modernity.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Recipes: Writers and Artists Share their Favourites
Recipes put forward by the artists in this issue for all sorts of delectable and interesting dishes - some real and some not so real. Includes recipes of John Olsen, Daniel Thomas, Anders Ousback, Gay Bilson, Juliana Engberg, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Kajri Jain, Yao Souchou, Rosalind Brodsky, Anne Graham, Jennifer Isaacs, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Nikos, Brigitta Olubas, Freda Freiberg, Hetti Perkins and Destiny Deacon.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Art + Food = Lucio
Review of the book 'The art of food at Lucio's' by Lucio Galletto and Timothy Fisher, introduction by Leo Schofield. Foreword by Robert Hughes Craftsman House 1999 Sydney RRP $65.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Set Menus
Book Review Reel Meals, Set Meals: Food in Film and Theatre by Gaye Poole, Currency Press Sydney 1999 Links the consumption of food with the consumption of culture.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Designing the Hot Potato: Food, Design and Culture
Book Review Food: Design and culture Edited by Claire Catteral London; Lawrence King Publishing in association with Glasgow 1999 Festival Company
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Craft and Contemporary Social Ritual: Eating and Drinking
Book Review Craft and contemporary Social Ritual: Eating and Drinking Craft Victoria Melbourne 1999 $35 "Discussion about craft has moved apace and this publication proves it."
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Rosalie Gascoigne AM
Obituary for Rosalie Gascoigne AM Born Auckland 25 January 1917 Died Canberra 23 October 1999
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
John Davis
Obituary for John Davis Born 16 September 1936 Died 17 October 1999
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Wladyslaw Dutkiewicz
Obituary Wladyslaw Dutkiewicz Born Lwow Poland 21 February 1918 Died Adelaide 2 October 1999
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Antony Hamilton: Mythology of Landscape
Survey exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia 3 September  7 November 1999
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Twenty Five Years and Beyond: Papunya Tula Painting
Curated by Doreen Mellor and Vincent Megaw Flinders University Art Museum City Gallery, Adelaide 4 September - 17 October 1999 Flinders Art Museum Campus Gallery 6 September - 22 December 1999.
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Body of Language: Roseanne Bartley
Craft Victoria Melbourne 5  28 August 1999
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One Sculptural Furniture
Annette Cock, Yvette Dumergue, Kathy Fox Stairwell Gallery, The Public Office, Melbourne
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Messengers from the West
A video-art project by Mayza Hamdan, Joanne Saad and Marian Abboud Artistic Director: Vahid Vahed Artspace 30 Sept - 23 October
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
What John Berger Saw:
Robert Boynes, Susan Fereday, Elizabeth Gertsakis, Dean Golja, Paul Hoban, John Hughes, Tim Johnson, Peter Kennedy, Peter Lyssiotis, Polixeni Papapetrou, Gregory Pryer, Anne Zahalka, Constance Zikos, The exhibition features a collaborative work by John Berger and UK artist John Christie. Canberra School of Art Gallery 10 September - 6 November 1999 Australian Tour 2000-2001
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
Remembering Chinese: Gregory Kwok-Keung Leong
University Gallery, Launceston 5 - 27 August 1999 Craft Victoria 30 Sept - 30 Oct Burnie Regional Art Gallery 13 Dec - 1 Jan
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WARP
John Vella, Neil Haddon and Phillip Watkins Curated by David Hansen CAST Gallery, North Hobart 9 July - 1 August1999
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Robert Juniper
The Art Gallery of Western Australia 11 September - 21 November
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Brenda L. Croft, Destiny Deacon & Glen Hughes
Brenda L Croft:In My Father's House Destiny Deacon:Postcards from Mummy Glen Hughes:One Family: Perth Institute of Contemporary Art 12 August - 12 September 1999
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The Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Queensland Art Gallery 9 September - 26 January
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History and Memory in the art of Gordon Bennett
Brisbane City Gallery; July 29 - Sept 4, 1999 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham: Nov 20, 1999 - Jan 23 2000 Arnolfini Galleries, Bristol: Jan 29 - March 12, 2000 Henie Onstad Gallery, Oslo: April 9 - June 12, 2000
Good Taste: Food, Consumption & Pleasure
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