In the loop 13 Nov: quick picks

Jasmin Sheppard, Yolande Brown, Tara Gower, Deborah Brown

photo Greg Barrett

Jasmin Sheppard, Yolande Brown, Tara Gower, Deborah Brown

This week we offer just a few of the highlights from a host of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts activities across the country, ranging from Sydney, to Perth, to Darwin. Plus there are exhibitions from new and old collectives in Brisbane, performance takes to the streets in Erskineville and we get the lowdown on live art in the UK.

Dance Clan 3, Bangarra Dance Theatre

As part of the inaugural Corroboree festival, which sees Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts activities blossoming all around Sydney’s iconic harbour, Bangarra Dance Theatre is presenting Dance Clan 3. Artistic director Stephen Page has invited four of the company’s senior female dancers to choreograph works for the 14-strong troupe. Deborah Brown, Yolanda Brown, Tara Gower and Jasmin Sheppard draw on ancient storylines to create a diverse evening of dance at Bangarra’s home studio at Pier 4. Watch out for the review in RT119.
Dance Clan 3, Bangarra Dance Theatre, 20 Nov-1 Dec; http://www.bangarra.com.au/; Corroboree, various venues Sydney, 14-24 Nov; http://www.corroboreesydney.com.au/

Place Projections, born in darkness before dawn, artist impression by Nicole Foreshew

courtesy the artist

Place Projections, born in darkness before dawn, artist impression by Nicole Foreshew

born in darkness before dawn, Nicole Foreshew

Also as part of the Corroboree festival, the Australian Museum will host a large-scale projection by Nicole Foreshew, presented by the City of Sydney as part of their ongoing Eora Journey project. Born in darkness before dawn is a 20-metre video projection of Aboriginal women draped in a large bolt of cloth, dyed and decorated by Forshew. She writes, “The body is used to perform the absence of place and the cloth is used to explore the language of movement and illumination. Dyed cloth from bark and leaves, found in gutters, water drains and the bottom of trees infuse design elements referencing the growth and structure of plant organisms and remains” (artist statement, website).
City of Sydney, Place Projections: born in darkness before dawn, Nicole Foreshew, Australian Museum, 19 Nov-20 Jan; http://www.cityartsydney.com.au/cityart/projects/PlaceProjections.asp

Frances Djulibing, Yukuwa (Feather string yam vine), 2013. Banyan tree bark, cockatoo feathers, beeswax. Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased 2013. Image courtesy and © the artist

photo Alex Davies

Frances Djulibing, Yukuwa (Feather string yam vine), 2013. Banyan tree bark, cockatoo feathers, beeswax. Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased 2013. Image courtesy and © the artist

string theory: focus on contemporary Australian art, PICA

Another activity focused on Indigenous textiles is the MCA touring exhibition titled string theory, currently showing at Perth’s PICA. Curated by Glenn Barkley, the show brings together works from leading Indigenous artists with a focus on “fibre and art in a contemporary context” (website). It includes craft-based practices as well as sculpture, painting, photography and video works. Exhibiting artists and collectives include Tony Albert, Frances Djulibing Boolarng, Lipaki Marlaypa, Nangamai Aboriginal Art & Culture Studio, Noongar Doll Makers, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Tasmanian Shell Necklace Makers, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, and Yirrkala Printmakers.
string theory: Focus on contemporary Australian art, PICA, 16 Nov 2013 – 5 Jan 2014; http://www.pica.org.au/view/string+theory/1744/

Karen Casey, Dream Zone, 2012, Generative video installation, National New Media Art Award, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. 2012

photo Ben Wickes

Karen Casey, Dream Zone, 2012, Generative video installation, National New Media Art Award, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. 2012

Karen Casey, Dream Zone, FAC

RT reviewer Laetitia Wilson described Karen Casey’s Mediation Wall, exhibited as part of the 2012 John Curtin Gallery exhibition The World Is Everything That Is The Case, as a “mesmerising piece… a magnificent wash of colour and pattern” (RT110). WA viewers have a chance to see another of Casey’s works, Dream Zone (2012), at Fremantle Arts Centre. Part of her Global Mind Project, Dream Zone uses the artist’s brainwave data to create intricate pulsing patterns that we are told are “reminiscent of various forms of sacred art and intended to invite contemplation and draw the viewer into a deeply meditative state” (website). You’ll be able to read about this work in RT119.
Karen Casey: Dream Zone, Fremantle Arts Centre, 23 Nov 2013-19 Jan 2014; http://fac.org.au/

Lynette Hubbard, The Adventures of Namakili; Darren Edwards, I AM MAN

courtesy the artists

Lynette Hubbard, The Adventures of Namakili; Darren Edwards, I AM MAN

The Adventures of Namakili & I Am Man, Brown’s Mart & New Blak Territory

Last week we featured an article from one of our new Darwin-based writers, Nicola Fearn, reviewing the recent Brown’s Mart production, Forced Legacy—The Story of Alyngdabu, by Kathy and Alli Mills with Damien A Pree (read review here). Keeping up the output of new works by Indigenous theatre makers, Brown’s Mart is about to present a double bill. The Adventures of Namakili is created and performed by Lynette Hubbard, “explor[ing] the intricacies of life between two cultures” (website) using a mix of English, Creole and the Wambaya and Warrumungu languages. Accompanying this, I Am Man, created and directed by Ben Graetz, is the inaugural production of the group New Black Territory, presenting an all male cast in a physical theatre work around ideas of “identity, masculinity, sexuality, loneliness, death and love” (website).
Brown’s Mart & New Blak Territory, The Adventures Of Namakili & I Am Man, Brown’s Mart; 19-30 Nov; http://brownsmart.com.au/events/new-blak-territory-adventures-namakili-i-am-man

Other Projects, The Changing Standards of Dialogue: Conspicuous Contrasts (detail), 2013; Effigies (2012-2013) detail

The Changing Standards of Dialogue, Other Projects, Metro Arts

Other Projects is Marcel Daniels and Daniel Herberg who have been artists-in-residence at Metro Arts across 2013. The Changing Standards of Dialogue is an exhibition presenting results of their investigations into otherness and “the complexities, paradoxes and grey areas inherent in cross-cultural discourses” (website). The final installation will be an immersive environment incorporating sculptural and image-based works.
The Changing Standards of Dialogue, Other Projects, Metro Arts, Brisbane, 13-30 Nov, Artist talks 20 Nov; http://www.metroarts.com.au/

ANTI–MUSIC: 1979–1983, Pestorius Sweeney House

courtesy the artists

ANTI–MUSIC: 1979–1983, Pestorius Sweeney House

ANTI-MUSIC was founded in 1979 by John Nixon (better known as a painter) as a collective enterprise bringing together a range of experimental, post-punk, pop and rock music activities by artists based in Melbourne and Brisbane (where Nixon was director of the Institute of Modern Art 1980-81). ANTI-MUSIC presented the majority of its works on DIY cassettes, while also publishing a journal, Pneumatic Drill. Brisbane curator David Pestorius has been a guardian of much of the archive, producing a number of retrospectives on the group and the era. The archive is currently on display once again in Brisbane until December.
ANTI–MUSIC: 1979–1983, Pestorius Sweeney House, Brisbane; 30 Oct—13 Dec 2013; http://www.davidpestorius.com

Kenzie Larson, Friend Ship, Tiny Stadiums

courtesy the artist

Kenzie Larson, Friend Ship, Tiny Stadiums

Tiny Stadiums, PACT

Tiny Stadiums is now in its sixth iteration, the second curated by the collective Groundwork. Running in the theatre for the duration of the festival is a double bill comprising Kenzie Larson’s Friend Ship, a multimedia spectacular presenting Larsen’s “groundbreaking research” into how to make friends, and Nick Coyle’s Blue Wizard in which he plays an intergalactic gay wizard trying to find the right magic that will send him home. There’ll also be two live art Saturdays (16 & 23 Nov) in and around the village of Erskineville with performances, installations and interactive experiences by artists including Natalie Abbott, Ella Barclay, Hossein Ghaemi, Bennett Miller and Imogen Semmler. And no festival is complete without art chat in the form of Tiny Talks and Tiny Forums.
Tiny Stadiums, PACT Centre for Emerging Artists; 12-23 Nov; http://www.pact.net.au/2013/10/tiny-stadiums-2013

Throwing the Body into the Fight, A Portrait of Raimond Hoghe, a Live Art Development Agency publication

Live Art Development Agency, UK

Looking for Live Art goings on in the UK and Europe? Check out the Live Art Development Agency (LADA) and sign up to their newsletter. Established in 1999 by Lois Keidan and Catherine Ugwu in response to new forms of performance practice developing at the time, the main focus of the organisation has been on developing resources, publications and advocating for the sector via strategic partnerships and presentations. This year alone they’ve been involved in the production of 14 books and DVDs including the Live Art Almanac, a collection of “found” writing about performance; Performance Matters, a 40 DVD box set created in collaboration with the British Library documenting the Performing Idea and Trashing Performance events; Tim Etchells’ latest writing, While You Are With Us Here Tonight, reflecting on his solo work and collaborations with Forced Entertainment; and Throwing the Body into the Fight, a collection of texts on the work of Raimond Hoghe drawn together by Mary Kate Connolly.
http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/