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Thirsty Work
This article tells the story of the Irish engineer CY O'Connor who was appointed to oversee the construction of the pipeline that would supply the Kalgoorlie goldfields with fresh water and whose suicide caused much controversy in the region. The O'Connor monuments throughout the south of Western Australia are now being joined by contemporary sculptures that tell the other side of the story and play on the anxieties buried below. Anne Neil and Adrian Jones have developed works such as Death by Water which acts as a thirsty allegory of CY's life and Water Carrier which encourages visitors to listen to the trickle of despair that is so ingrained in the history of Kalgoorlie.
Art and Landliteracy Forum
The Art and Landliteracy Forum (ALF) was established within the School of Contemporary Arts at Southern Cross University in 1996. It was convened as an ongoing forum for investigating ways in which contemporary arts practice can be pro-active in relation to environmental issues. The program evolved into a series of placemaking/placemarking projects that were focused on contributing to cultural sustainability.
Wasted
Metis is a remarkable fusion of art and science. The first of these biennial events, held in May 1999, was inspired by Rebecca Scott from the CSIRO and Canberra artist Jill Peck, and featured works which resulted from a range of collaborations between artists and scientists. Metis 2001 - Wasted focuses on environmental themes including detritus, recycling, toxic waste and land degradation.
Art and Landscape in Tasmania
Robyn Archer has moved from Adelaide to direct Tasmania's first international arts festival. 10 Days on the Island is a clever poem that steps around the customary wilderness branding of the state and links Tasmania into a productive global context.
Polemic: Why did they Cancel Sensation?
Brook discusses what he believes to be the two main problems with the cancellation of the Sensation exhibition at the National Gallery - to locate the issue and to restore some gravity, so that instead of the noise increasing with distance from the issue, it diminishes. The key figure discussed is the Director of the NGA, Dr Kennedy with the notion of Quality dominating the content of the article.
Beyond Language
Although often disguised as an innocent communication tool, language is defined, and, in turn, defines the parameters of all aspects of life, from the most personal and private to socio-political conditions and power structures. Giakoumi discusses this fact in relation to artist's experiences of living and working in countries where language barriers are apparent. Four works by artists Shigeaki Iwai, Xu Bing, Kim Young-Jin and Lee Mingwei are closely examined through this text.
The Arts of Diplomacy
Manton looks at the relationship between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the art world in Australia, one that seems to have been difficult, particularly since the 1970s when the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board gave way to a National Gallery and an Australian Council for the Arts. Furthermore this text examines the growing relations between Australian and Asian art communities during the second half of the 20th century.
Expanding Horizons: Art from Taiwan
This article looks at the recent history of cultural exchange between Australia and Taiwan and briefly examines the background of the shifts occuring within the Taiwanese art scene from an Australian context. Furthermore it examines some of the continuities and changes in the late 1990s with a particular emphasis on the works by artists Wu Tien-Chang and Wu Mali included in the Second and Third Asia-Pacific Triennial.
Korean Contemporary Art in the 1990s
Korean art in the nineties experienced an era of unprecedented freedom and a remarkable upsurge in visual expression. Ahn looks at the progression of Korean art and politics during the later years of the 20th century and at a few of the central art figures: Kim Myung-hye, Choi Jeong-hwa, Kim Jun, Kim Soo-ja, Han Myung-Ok, Choi Jae-eun, Kim Young-jin and Lee Bul.
Radicalising Tradition: Painting in Pakistan
The teaching of miniature painting has, since the 1980s when it became a part of the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, become a highly respected and important traditional genre. The role of miniature painting also came to represent many of the anxieties that entangled this postcolonial society in search of its own identity. Hashmi examines the importance of this artistic form with reference to the works of Nahid Fakhruddin, Shahzia Sikander, Imran Qureshi, Tanzeen Qayyum, Talha Rathore, Aisha Khalid and Nusra Latif.
Shifts and Transitions in Indonesian Art and Society
This article looks at the East Timor crisis and the attempted boycott of the APT 3 at the Queensland Art Gallery subsequent to Indonesian artists participating in the event. Marianto examines this in relation to the shifting powers in Indonesia at the time from the ruling of President Habibie to the fourth leader Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and presents a list of what could be considered seven strands of artistic concern within Indonesia: The critical group, alternative art, art for art's sake, conventional art, marginalised individuals, media-influenced art and feminist artists.
The Enigma of Japanese Contemporary Art
Japanese culture at the end of the twentieth century was at an intersection of past, present and future. Exhibitions including Against Nature at the Grey Art Gallery in New York (1989), Japanese Ways, Western Means at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane (1989), A cabinet of Signs at the Tate Gallery Liverpool (1991) and Zones of Love at the MCA Sydney (1991) showed for the first time the complex and urban basis of Japanese art in the 1980s, a time of considerable transition in Japanese art practice. Featured artists included Shigeo Toya, Kimio Tsuchiya, Yasamasa Morimura, Takashi Murakami, Emiko Kasahara, Masato Nakamura, Yukinori Yanagi, Katsushige Nakahashi and Tatsuo Miyajima.
Hook's Mountain - The Environment as Theatre
Tasmanian theatre company Zootango's touring production Hook's Mountain.
Art, Architecture & the Environment
Against 'Neofuturism': Women Artists in Technological Media
In matters of technology, as in matters of sex, it is easy to assume one's own preferences are universal and normal, and to regard other's tastes as somehow debased or improper.
Film & Video
Bigs R Us
Australians have a natural thirst for objects of grand scale, however ridiculous their theme or location or context. From big sandfly, big axe to big oyster and beyond, we are the big desert island that experiences big wets and big dries, little wonder someone made a Big Tap to remind us...we are big drinkers.
Taste Meets Kitsch
Easy Access Hardware
The Raw Material Curatorial Development Program was designed to provide training opportunities for curators without experience, but with plenty of potential. Based at Gertrude Street Victoria. Featured artwork by Marie Sierra-Hughes.
The Art of Survival
Reality-technicians: everyday sorcery in installation art in New Zealand
'There was a flash of light, a smell of laundry and the penetrating fumes of a powerful cleanser, then a neutral nothing-smell, not even the usual substituted forest glade or field of lavender or carnation, and all that remained of Tommy were two faded footprints on the floor.'
Blackfella Time
Conversation between Stephen Wigg and a friend about 'Blackfella Time' at the Adelaide University Union Gallery
Pioneering Gallerists: Kym Bonython
While Kym Bonython AC, DFC, AFC is not in the league of the iconic art dealers Joseph Duveen or Ambroise Vollard, he was as important to the Australian art scene in the 60s as Leo Castelli was to New York. Born in Adelaide in 1920, he chronicled his unusual life in autobiography Ladies Legs and Lemonade in 1979 which describes his various careers to that point. When Paul Greenaway talked to him for Artlink recently he began by asking him about his collecting activities in the early days, who he bought art from and whether he followed their lead.
Postcard from China: 900 years of kneeling - censored
In his work, Chinese artist Jin Feng maintains a continuing interest in 'problem people'. Concerned with socio-philosophical issues, he is testing the limits of tolerance. He is also interested in challenging public prejudices against the too easily condemned. Tamara Winikoff interviews Jin Feng about his sculptural piece 'We Want A Rest By Standing Up' depicting two infamous figures from China's history. This was the subject of much recent controversy and was censored by the authorities.
M/other love: the first relationship & the photography of Toni Wilkinson
Toni Wilkinson’s 'm/other' exhibition of photographs at Perth Galleries, North Fremantle earlier this year confronted the viewer with a series of atypical representations of the mother child relationship. She give a glimpse into the privacy, and reality, of a mother’s world by showing us mothers and their children at their most naked, physically and emotionally.
Transiting to a new self: Regendering
Ros Prosser and Vicki Crowley attend the 80th birthday of drag queen Rouge in Adelaide
The artworld and the paradox of sustainability
Robert Nelson proposes poetic solutions to overcoming our carbon plinth print
Mishka Henner and Jill Orr: Performing to the all-seeing eye
Jill Orr and Mishka Henner make new work for the Mildura Palimpsest Biennale #10.
