Sydney: The Big Shift
Issue 14:3 | September 1994
Editor: Joanna Mendelssohn.
Sydney is the home of the Australia Council, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Biennale of Sydney and influential art colleges, linked to universities. This edition looks into these at times incestuous relations, the city’s unique geography (from the beach to the Blue Mountains) and its diverse communities (from the ethnically diverse sub-cultures of Western Sydney to the influential Gay and Lesbian community that drives Sydney’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras).
In this issue
My Sydney
Editorial by guest editor Joanna Mendelssohn. What after all is different about Sydney? I have tried to give some idea of the debates which are not always expressed in writing - the incestuous nature of the mighty arts organisations; the way that words influence or corrupt understandings of art; and the limits on public debate because of fear of the consequences.
Frank Watters: Sydney art gallery owner
A Series of Close Connections
Really the only way to understand the apparently large Sydney art scene is to use diagrams and statistics, all of which were compiled by the author.
Breaking the Boundaries - 'Art-elites": Are They an Inevitability?
Not all public institutions are devoted to blockbusters and cultural elitism. Regrettably, contempt for the masses is not anachronistic.
Contemporary History in the Making - Casula Powerhouse
Reconciliation, redevelopment and community involvement have transformed a Sydney power station into a regional arts centre - Liverpool Power Station.
Fay Brauer
Response to the article by Jacques Delaruelle (article no 664) on the nature of art education - a debate which has raged in Sydney in recent years.
Gaytime in Sydney: Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Arts Festival
Once a very marginalised group, the gay and lesbian communities have now become a part of mainstream Sydney culture.
Here, There Be Dragons
Western Sydney can be seen as another city with another culture. This is not quite accurate, but it is the fasted growing region where the bulk of the younger population of the city live. And it has art.
In the Air, on the Ground (and Water too) - Public Art in Sydney
In the air, on the ground ( and water too). Sydney is undergoing an unprecedented interest in public art. Artists, curators, academics, contemporary art spaces, museums. commercial galleries, architects, urban designers, town planners, local government, arts councils and ministries - all are involved in varying degrees in making, discussing, supporting or promoting public art. Major fold out of William Yang's photographs.
Jacques Delaruelle
In recent years there has been a major debate in Sydney on the nature of art education. Both Jacques Delaruelle and Fay Brauer have been active participants. Plants grow in silence but we (in the art world) vegetate noisily. see also article by Fay Brauer (no 665).
Joan Kerr: Sydney Scholar
Joan Kerr rewrites Australian art history to gain a better understanding of the present. Her ambitious projects question who wrote what, how and about whom. Discussion of 'Heritage: The National Women's Art Book'. Photograph of Joan Kerr in the article.
Postcard from Sydney
Looks at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney NSW and the role it plays in supporting and marketing indigenous art.
Seizing Opportunity from Paradox in Western Sydney
Personal zeal combines with State and Federal funding to underpin major developments in Western Sydney.
Sydney from Afar
For 20 years Daniel Thomas lived and worked in Sydney. In the 2 decades since he has left he has remained a frequent visitor, but he still sees Sydney from afar.
Sydney in Focus: Reflections on Marketing in the Visual Arts
Since their inception, galleries and museums around the world have entertained the principles of marketing, but perhaps never so consciously as now. Of all Australian arts institutions, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has been most aware of the need to market its image.
The Lesser of Two Cities
Sydney thinks of itself as the centre of the country, the only part that matters, but in the lucrative art market, Sydney is subsidiary to the old moneyed city of the south -- Melbourne.
Tim Storrier: Sydney Artist
Interview with Tim Storrier.
Where Would Sydney be Without its Art Prizes?
The hype, the hysteria, the media and the money. Of all Sydney's art prizes it is the Archibald which arouses the greatest public interest...
Why Criticism?
The most incisive commentary on the visual arts in Sydney usually occurs in private conversations that are not repeated in print for fear of the NSW defamation laws. But there is a great deal published on the visual arts....
Youth Art and Mobile Galleries
Nowhere is the art of Sydney's youth more obvious than in the public sphere. Discussion with Linda Forrester a researcher of the creative culture of graffiti, street machining and skate boarding.
Absence of Evidence - Fremantle Art Centre
Exhibition review Absence of Evidence
Fremantle Arts Centre
Western Australia
15 May - 26 June 1994
Constructing Space - Plimsoll Gallery
Exhibition review Constructing space
Plimsoll Gallery
Tasmanian School of Art Hobart, Tasmania
13 March - 6 June
Contemporary Aboriginal Art - Flinders University Art Museum
Exhibition review Looking Towards the Future: Contemporary Aboriginal Art
Flinders University Art Museum
South Australia
13 May - 24 June 1994
Julie Blyfield
Exhibition review Memento celebration sentimentality
Contemporary jewellery by Julie Blyfield
Jam Factory Gallery
8 April - 29 May 1994
Jun Davila
Exhibition review Imperfect Drawings
Juan Davila
Greenaway Art Gallery
Adelaide South Australia
11 May - 1 June 1994
Kate Breakey
Exhibition review Laws of Physics/Principles of Mathematics
Kate Breakey
Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre
South Australia
8 April - 7 May 1994
Still Looking at the Billboard
Exhibition review Aroha Terrace, Forestville
June 1994
In the last issue of Artlink 9Vol 14 No 2 - the art of survival) we looked at an innovative art program being run in Adelaide. The 1994 bilboard project at Aroha Terrace Forestville continued until the end of the year, with different artists represented each month.
Sue Lorraine
Exhibition review em/body
recent work by Sue Lorraine
Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre
South Australia
13 May - 25 June 1994
Suzanne Treister
Exhibition review Q. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise? and other paintings
Suzanne Treister
Contemporary Art Centre
South Australia
29 March - 24 April 1994
Visualising Masculinities - Claremont School of Art
Exhibition review Visualising Masculinities
Claremont School of Art Perth
Western Australia
20 May - 15 June 1994
What's Worth Showing? - Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Exhibition review What's worth Showing?
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Launceston Tasmania