Phenomena
Issue 31:4 | December 2011
This issue examines how people, insects and colour are connected in strange ways through art. Science of the visible and invisible colour spectrum in humans, animals, fish and insects throws light on contemporary artistic works. Explores the world of insects as a new field of investigation and artists whose work depends on the language of colour.
In this issue
Chromophobes, Xenophones and Lots of Textas
Kirsten Farrell muses on colourphobia through her life, her Phd and her reading of the book Colourphobia (2000) by David Batchelor
The Digital attribution of Colour
Director of Sydney-based New Media Curation Deborah Turnbull explores the way colour choices in a digital environment involve ideological and philosophical dimensions as well as aesthetic ones.
Sara Hughes: Colour coded to quicken the heart
New Zealand-based Sara Hughes considers colour has been degraded throughout Western history. She uses coloured vinyl applied to architecture to "articulate social meaning".
Good enough to eat: Katherine Hattam's paintings
Crikey.com blogger and book designer W.H. Chong describes the paintings of Katherine Hattam that "zing and crackle with edible hues."
Speaking in Colour
Artist and curator Una Rey writes about the exhibition 'Speaking in colour' that she curated for the Newcastle Gallery from their collection in March-May 2011. Her experience of working with Indigenous artists in Central Australia coloured her choices and her interpretations of them.
Kate Shaw: Amping up the Magic Hour
In an interview format artist and academic Stephen Haley discusses the work of Kate Shaw the artist whose work features on the cover of the Phenomena issue of Artlink. Shaw talks about the way she uses colour, her techniques and goals from garnering attention to depicting an ambivalent relationship to the natural world.
Radical Ethology: Jussi Parikka's Insect Media
In his meditations on the recently published book Insect Media by Jussi Parikka, the New York-based staff writer for Rhizome at the New Museum Jacob Gaboury suggests that the dehumanisation of media technologies may be seen as engaging with the world in a form of non-human affect.
Bridging the brains of humans, bees and flies: Fiona Hall at the QBI
'Out of mind' the work by Fiona Hall at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland draws together scientific research with art research to demonstrate that both approach the world with wonder and intrigue. "Hall’s work ... is apt for neuroscientists are indebted to the neural architecture of animals. The brains of insects like fruit flies or honeybees are much smaller and simpler than ours, yet because similar molecular mechanisms underlie their operation, these creatures may very well hold the keys to unlocking the mysteries of autism, schizophrenia, depression and a range of other human disorders."
Caterpillar Country
Alice Springs-based writer Kieran Finnane describes the caterpillar dreaming in the Alice Springs area. She draws attention to changing attitudes over the years towards traditional custodians and the places they care for.
Flight of the Cicada: Susan Purdy's insect photograms
The inaugural Watermark Literary Fellow Carolyn Leach-Paholski describes the black and white photograms of Susan Purdy which were made in the course of a long wet winter.
Transplanting Life: the distributed media of embodied selves. The Body is a big place
Personality psychologist at Macquarie University Doris McIlwain does yoga and throws pots. She writes about new media installation 'The Body is a Big Place' the recent work of Peta Clancy and Helen Pynor which deals with the complexities of organ donation.
The Mystery of Shit: Wim Delvoye
Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is having a retrospective at Hobart's MONA. Stephanie Radok looks at the materials and concepts he uses in a broad context and asks whether his art is critical or spectacle.
The Hammer and the Screw: Thom Buchanan's drawings
South Australian artist Thom Buchanan's most recent drawing adventure was on stage with dancers from the ADT.
Sympathy for the Devil: the creatures of Julia Robinson
South Australian artist Julia Robinson's striking sculpture draws on the darkness in human culture that has often been represented by goats. Made from fibreglass and snugly covered in fabric they assume strange forms and positions that give them a "reverberating energy".
World Summit on Arts & Culture
Executive Director of NAVA Tamara Winikoff missed the voices of artists at the October 2011 World Summit on Arts & Culture in Melbourne.
We Are Here: the International Symposium for Artist Run Initiatives
This year marks the 41st anniversary of the development of ARIs in Australia, and as both a celebration of and an indication of how far national and international ARIs have come, a four-day symposium organised by NAVA and Firstdraft was held in Sydney in September 2011.
Memoir Series: Elnathan Mews
A further instalment in the memoirs of Australia's most revered art theorist Donald Brook. Yes, he is still alive.
Remembering Bernard Smith
Writer and academic Juliette Peers remembers Bernard Smith and queries the hagiography that sometimes surrounds him.
Tell Me Tell Me: Australian and Korean Art 1976 – 2011
Museum of Contemporary Art at the National Art School Gallery, Sydney 17 June - 24 August 2011
Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters
Tate Modern, London 25 May 2011 - 2 January 2012
Untitled - 12th Istanbul Biennial
Antrepo 3 & 5, Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi, Liman Ísletmeleri Sahas?, Tophane Curators: Adriano Pedrosa, Jens Hoffmann 17 September - 13 November 2011
Stadium
Tarryn Gill & Pilar Mata Dupont Curator: Leigh Robb Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 3 September - 30 October 2011
The Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration
Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait, GOMA Strait Home, State Library of Queensland Awakening: Stories from the Torres Strait, Queensland Museum Belong, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Mabo Oration 2011, Follow the Stars: Indigenous culture, knowledge and intellectual property rights 1 July - 23 October 2011
Ray Harris: Hold me Close and Let me Go
Australian Experimental Art Foundation Adelaide 30 September - 29 October 2011
Julie Gough: Rivers Run
Devonport Regional Gallery 3 September - 2 October 2011 Cairns Regional Gallery 5 February - 14 March 2010
Tom Freeman: 18th and 19th Century Prisoner art
The Museum of Natural Mystery, North Perth 22 - 23 July 2011
Reflections of the Soul - Chinese Contemporary Ink Wash Painting
Geelong Art Gallery 15 July - 9 September 2011
The Mad Square: modernity in German art 1910 - 37
Curator: Jacqueline Strecker Art Gallery of New South Wales 6 August - 6 November 2011 National Gallery of Victoria 25 November 2011 - 4 March 2012
Louise Haselton: Errand Workshop
Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia CACSA 22 July - 28 August 2011
The White Wedding Dress: 200 years of Wedding Fashions
Bendigo Art Gallery 1 August - 6 November 2011
