Give this blog a read everybody http://tomeslate.blogspot.com/
. I love it!

Thank You...

To Amanda Williams and the Class of 2009. Seasons Greetings....
Thank you for the memories, we made an invaluable archive, (having written to Amanda) it seems we are free to use the blog. If any one is interested in keeping in touch through the blog about exhibitions etc, that would be cool. Stay safe and happy for the interim, remembering always, it is but a dream. Here above, is a reminder of what next year may at some stage become.

Collaborative arts

sorry so late.
I went researching collaboration art and found a great website from the blog http://collabarts.org/?cat=7 From our review i was really interest in Christo and Jeanne- Claude which have been apart of the kaldor art projects. I love this pairs work as i find collaboration art really powerful, bringing together ideas from two artists to create something of significance. Collaborations are more interactive and tend to been more powerful on an audience with the combining of resources as seen by Christo and Jeanne- Claude.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Trees, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park,
Riehen, Switzerland 1997-98
Photo: Wolfgang Volz, ©Christo 1998

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Umbrellas, Japan - USA, 1984-91
Photo: Wolfgang Volz ©1991 Christo

Art and Globalism: Alfredo jaar

Alfredo's Instillation 'Geography=war 1991' Jaar projects photos taken of a small village in Nigeria. the images depict children who play with barrels of toxic waste left around their village in the waste dumps by italian tankers. in this instillation Jaar explores the affect of global waste on the environment and people. and attempts to give a face to the impersonal global forces that create these horrible conditions. 

Adrian Piper :Art and Identity

Adrian Piper is an american artist who's work comments on race related issues. particularly the distinction of race in America. Piper believes that racial distinctions are learnt and that the discrimination of race is no longer a visual distinction but a distinction made by learnt biases. in her work 'Cornered 1988' Piper Lectures her audience about the differences between black and white people, talking from the stance of her african american heritage but having the appearance of a white female. 

Art + Institutions

Primavera '09 hosts a multitude of interdisciplinary works, one of the most provocative works being that of Christopher LG Hill - Clique. The installation work features a collection of centrally facing chairs derived from the MCA storeroom, the works of other artists and various other sources. Sitting amidst the chairs are precisely ordered piles "junk". Also present within the installation is Hill's recent thesis Never work, all art is problematic.

Challenging the object value systems and consumer driven society we perpetuate, Hill also questions the level of interaction the gallery space and it's staff have upon a work (significant in this case, the work having utilized a number of the chairs). In a larger sense, Hill questions the nature and structuring of the art institution globally; to what extent is art of any use if it is not universally accepted? In which case, why make art?

Broken Homes: Andrew MacKenzie

In his article about Callum Morton's 2007 Biennale work, Valhalla, Andrew MacKenzie warns against reading the work as either a comment on contemporary war or in literal reference to the artist's biographical story. He argues that the broken home of Valhalla is "border country" , between public and private, the real and the constructed. MacKenzie notes that the scale of the work is important in allowing an audience to engage spatially, and for Morton to deal with the concepts of interiority and exteriority more directly. Mackenzie describes the work as "theme park size", a surprisingly evocative description that suggests a space which people can inhabit but are somewhat removed from reality. Mackenzie describes the effect as unsettling and alienating. Interestingly, despite writing a pointed and interesting piece, MacKenzie acknowledges that he has not actually experienced the work first hand.

Art & Politics: Raquel Ormella

I reviewed Raquel Ormella's Artspace exhibition for our assignment but thought I would talk about some of her other works currently on show at the MCA as part of Making It New: Focus on Australian Contemporary Art. I'm worried this will become a slogan comprises 9 fabric banners, each hand appliqued with text on both sides. On one side of each banner the text describes people of strong political convictions, while on the other Ormella expresses her insecurities about her own activism, wondering "Is it enough?". The stitching that shows through from the other side quite cleverly expresses the idea of a thought that plays on the back of the mind coming to the surface; something that one can't quite shake. Ormella is examining the role that political beliefs play in shaping personal identity. The hand sewn works reference protest banners, their craftmanship particularly bringing to mind the protests of the suffragette movement.

Raquel Ormella
I’m worried this will become a slogan 1999–2009
double-sided banners, sewn wool and felt
9 banners, sizes various

Art and Politics

Satire always brings out interesting caricatures!

This work has combined 'American Gothic' by Grant Wood, and caricatures of Rudd and Julia Gillard, with a kangaroo in the background so people know it's in Australia if they're not aware who our prim minister is.

The roles in 'American Gothic' are the traditional roles of men and women. The pitchfork in the mans hand representing hard labour, the floral print and flowers behind the woman's shoulder suggest fragility and domesticity.

This satire can therefor be read as Rudd and the labour party being hard on Australians, and Gillard in the role of the old made or spinster speaks for itself. The kangaroo which has replaced the flowers can be taken two ways, as a pest for farmers or the Australian national emblem representing Australia.

Art & Its Institutions: PIE

spat+loogie (Kat Barron and Lara Thoms) are a Sydney(ish)-based duo who's performance work, PIE, is showing as part of Primavera 2009 at the MCA. In the work, members of the public are invited to sit down with an artist or curator over a piece of pie and enter into a dialogue about art . A "menu" of conversation pieces is provided which topics such as the Shaun Gladwell-referencing "Is skateboarding art if you slow it down?". At the end of the conversation the participant may then share the pie with the art professional or throw it in their face.

The work examines the dynamic between those working within the art world and the public. The curators and artists are put in a position in which they must explain themselves to a wider audience or risk a humiliating pie in the face. The onus is on them to prove themselves to the audience.

A friend of mine recently participated in the work as an artist and was disappointed that the member of the public asked to participate did not engage in the work at all. She didn't want to eat the pie or throw it, was worried about missing a bus, did not want to hear about the work or discuss art in general, and in the end the artist just asked her what her star sign was. He said she was not judgmental or dismissive, just not interested.

Art & Audience

Late last year I was part of a group show at Firstdraft Gallery called Obliteration. The premise of the show was

to explore the physical and emotional continuum created through loss of self. The works exhibited are situated between self and non-self, dissolving boundaries between artist, audience and curator.

The work I showed was called Collective Heights and at the opening was simply a line drawn on the wall marking my height with my name written next to it and a sharpie hanging on a piece of string. The audience then added themselves to the chart completing the work. The intention was to explore the show's premise of obliteration of the self by creating a work in which the audience's participation completes the work as a whole, but also completely overwhelms the mark-making gesture of the artist.

Collective Heights 2008 (installation view)

Collective Heights 2008

Photographs courtesy Beatrix Curren

Art and Architecture

Selfridges is a shopping centre in Birmingham designed by Future Systems. The building as a whole looks pretty ugly, however when you're up close the aluminium discs are amazing to look at! The buildings structure has an organic flow, flaring out at the top and base of the building whilst being drawn in at the middle. The reflective capabilities of the domes gives the building a sense of life and colour.

Hey amanda,

Do we have to include photographs of the show in the review?