in the loop – may 24
realtime news and advance word
HighRise: An Intimate Portrait of a Vertical Neighbourhood
photo Joanne Saad, design ragingyoghurt.org
HighRise: An Intimate Portrait of a Vertical Neighbourhood
an intimate portrait of a vertical neighbourhood
In the wake of the MCA’s The Begin-Again in Hurstville (see RT103), comes the HighRise project in Auburn. Like The Begin-Again, HighRise is a large-scale public sound and video installation work that has been developed over several months through the collaboration of community residents and artists. The artists include award-winning photographer Joanne Saad, visual artist and producer Khaled Sabsabi (RT98, 2010 Helen Lempriere Travelling Arts Scholarship recipient) and producer Lina Kastoumis (previously at Urban Theatre Projects); the residents are from the Auburn Central high rise complex. The result is a work that includes nearly 100 individual videos, which will be projected in an open-air setting in the courtyard and on the buildings of Auburn Central. HighRise begins on Thursday May 26 and runs over three nights, with two 30-minute screenings per night. HighRise: An Intimate Portrait of a Vertical Neighbourhood, Auburn, May 26-28; find them on facebook
Within and Without
photo Datu Arellano
Within and Without
anino again
If you saw The Folding Wife (RT79), then you will already know the alchemy that happens when Deborah Pollard, Paschal Daantos Berry, Valerie Berry and Manila-based multi-media artists Anino Shadowplay Collective collaborate. This time they are working on a project called Within and Without, which is billed as “a contemporary performance and event that explores the city of Manila, through representation of its landscape, history and culture” (press release). Blurring the lines between theatre and visual arts, this project will take over both the gallery and performance spaces of Blacktown Arts Centre. Bookings essential. Deborah Pollard, Valerie Berry, Paschal Daantos Berry and Anino Shadowplay Collective, Within and Without, Blacktown Arts Centre, June 22-July 2, www.artscentre.blacktown.nsw.gov.au
tiny revolutions & deviations from the norm
In another exciting collaboration, Perth-based pvi collective (RT44, RT95, RT99) are working with Vitalstatistix in Port Adelaide at the Waterside Workers Hall for three weeks. On May 27, they host tiny revolutions, a show-and-tell where they discuss “the role intervention plays in their practice and their latest body of work as well as subtle (and not so subtle) strategies for mis-behaviour in public spaces and their philosophy of instigating tiny revolutions through art” (website). Then in mid-June, they present transumer: deviate from the norm, which was commissioned for the 17th Biennale of Sydney in 2010, and has been made in the ‘awaiting development’ landscape of Port Adelaide with a team of local artists. The show is billed as “darkly playful site-based intervention, inviting audiences to undertake tiny acts of resistance against their built environment” (website). pvi collective at vitalstatistix, tiny revolutions, May 27; transumer: deviate from the norm, June 10-12, Port Adelaide; www.vitalstatistixtheatrecompany.blogspot.com
Thukral and Tagra, Dominus Aerius elegance – 6, 2008, acrylic and oil on canvas
image courtesy the artists and Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney
Thukral and Tagra, Dominus Aerius elegance – 6, 2008, acrylic and oil on canvas
cosmo-popular cultures
La Trobe University Museum of Art (LUMA) is showcasing selected works by leading artists from Australia, India and the Philippines in the exhibition Vernacular Cultures and Contemporary Art. The exhibition features “contemporary artists whose work incorporates expressions of indigenous and/or locally specific popular cultures” and examines such themes as “surf culture, karaoke, religious iconography, street advertising and popular architecture” (press release). The artists include Raqs Media Collective (RT43), Thukral and Tagra, Fiona Foley (RT94, RT94), Scott Redford (RT55), Sangeeta Sandrasegar (RT77), Maria Cruz, Mark Salvatus, TV Moore (RT57), Hoang Tran Nguyen, and Ken Botnick and Diana Guerrero-Maciá. The exhibition program also features a public lecture by the renowned Indian artist Pushpamala N (RT65) on June 9 and a performance by the Australian art rock band The Histrionics on June 10. Vernacular Cultures and Contemporary Art from Australia, India and the Philippines, curator Ryan Johnston, LUMA La Trobe University Museum of Art, May 5-June 15, www.latrobe.edu.au/luma
Carl Warner and Ross Gibson
protection (2011, detail)
c-type photographs and blackboard paint
image courtesy of the artists and UQ Art Museum, source material courtesy of Fryer Library, the University of Queensland
Carl Warner and Ross Gibson
protection (2011, detail)
c-type photographs and blackboard paint
art and refuge
The University of Queensland Art Museum is hosting three related exhibitions from June 11 to August 7. The first is Waiting for Asylum: Figures From an Archive. Working with the Fryer library archive of refugee ephemera, collaborating artists Ross Gibson (RT54, RT91), and Carl Warner interpret the precarious position of the asylum seeker past and present. The second is Collaborative Witness: Artists Responding to the Plight of the Refugee, in which artists “challenge one-dimensional portrayals and become not only witnesses, but also collaborators on the complex story of those seeking asylum” (press release). The show includes works by Benjamin Armstrong, Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, Jon Cattapan, Tim Johnson and Karma Phuntsok, Rosemary Laing (RT58, RT85, David Ray, Judy Watson (RT69) , and Guan Wei (RT81). The third show is John Young: Safety Zone, which responds to the hidden history of the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, when a group of 21 foreigners saved the lives of 300,000 Chinese by sheltering them in the city’s international ‘safety zone.’ Caroline Wake, author of our Archive Highlight Art & Asylum: Politics, Ethics, Aesthetics, will be reviewing the shows in RealTime 104. Waiting for Asylum: Figures From an Archive, curators Prue Ahrens and Michele Helmrich, project researcher Gillian Whitlock; Collaborative Witness: Artists Responding to the Plight of the Refugee, curators Prue Ahrens and Michele Helmrich, John Young: Safety Zone, University of Queensland Art Museum, June 11-Aug 7; www.artmuseum.uq.edu.au
Joe Lawlor from Desperate Optimists on the set of Tiong Bahru in Singapore 2010
photo courtesy of the artists
Joe Lawlor from Desperate Optimists on the set of Tiong Bahru in Singapore 2010
desperate optimists: community on screen
The Dublin-born, UK-based performers and filmmakers Desperate Optimists are visiting Australia to screen Tiong Bahru, the unique outcome of their engagement with a Singaporean community. Made by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy and co-produced by Singapore-based Dan Prichard, it’s part of an innovative series titled Civic Life. It screened at Rotterdam and Dublin film festivals earlier this year, at the Festival of Ideas in Bristol and IndieLisboa in May. There’s an interview with the makers in Sight and Sound. The Civic Life blog includes a trailer for Tiong Bahru, photographs and another interview. The wide screen cinematography, seamless continuity and the cumulative evocation of social life around a small district are seductive, focusing on small pleasures and low-key dramas. Community members perform with ease and conviction. Desperate Optimists’ extensive Australian program includes screenings, talks and workshops at ACMI, Footscray Community Arts Centre; Metro Screen, AFTRS, Performance Space and ICE, and as part of the Sydney Film Festival at the Art Gallery of NSW. See the websites of the above organisations for dates
Penelopa
the patience of penelope
The award-winning writer-director Ben Ferris’s art film Penelopa is finally being released, screening at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney. Penelopa is the first Australian-Croatian co-production and is adapted from Homer’s tale of Penelope, depicting her psychological struggle as she waits 20 years for her husband to return from the Trojan War. The film “draws on the long-take filmmaking style of art film directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky (The Mirror), Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai) and Bela Tarr (The Man from London)” (press release). Penelopa, Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, June 15, Art Gallery of NSW, June 25; www.penelopa.com.au
RealTime issue #102 April-May 2011 pg. web
