Art Almanac November 2016 $6.00
On the Origin of Art Ronnie van Hout B.C. Institute
Art Almanac
November 2016
Features Our cover explores the relationship between sex and a desire to create. Anne Marie (Iguana) 2012 by photographer Ryan McGinley was selected by Geoffrey Miller, a professor of psychology come curator for ‘On the Origin of Art’. Here we see that art sometimes provokes pleasure-responses to signal its value, speaking of which – this month Art Almanac debuts a new look. ANTI Contemporary Art Festival, Finland; Nick Cave, Carriageworks, Sydney; Kuandu Biennale, Taipei; Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs, Manila; Nth’s new ARI, Melbourne; Unfixed, Unlimited Festival, United Kingdom 18 Ronnie van Hout, Station Gallery, Melbourne – Chloe Mandryk On the Origin of Art, MONA, Hobart – Fernando do Campo 26 Habitual Ritual, ANCA, Canberra – Chelsea Hopper 28 Jordan Marani, Ararat Regional, Victoria – Claire Capel-Stanley Success, Fremantle – Melissa Pesa 34 Ariel Hassan, GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide – Melissa Pesa 36 B.C. Institute, AGNSW, Sydney – Lucy Stranger 38 Select exhibition previews – Art Almanac team 42
Art & Industry Artist Opportunities and Awards 56 Studio Spaces 60 Materials 61 Services 62 Submissions and Proposals 65 Consultants and Valuers 65 Member Organisations 68 Training 68 Publications 69
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HEARD·SYD presented by Nick Cave ‘HEARD·SYD’ will shake it up with Sydneysiders for three live performances this month. American artist Nick Cave brings together 60 musicians and dancers inside 30 life-sized horse sound-suits created from streams of coloured raffia. With a burst of spectacular equestrian activity the ‘horses’ partake in a riotous, ritualistic commotion to the sound of live music and percussion. Free public performances at Pitt Street Mall, Sydney on Thursday 10 November, 5pm, and Carriageworks, Eveleigh on Saturday 12 November, 10am and 12pm. Nick Cave, HEARD·NY, Grand Central Station, New York, March 25-31, 2013 Presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts for Transit Photograph: Travis Magee Courtesy the artist
Artists and curators from the AsiaPacific are ‘Slaying Monsters’ in Taipei Australian artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran and curator Glenn Barkley have joined their counterparts from Taiwan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei for the 2016 Kuandu Biennale. Responding to the theme of ‘Slaying Monsters’, Nithiyendran presents a larger-than-life band of sculptures depicting human-animal forms with monstrous and ghostly features of which the artist says, are “a little bit violent”. On show until 11 December, 2016.
Archipelago of Ramesh, 2016, clay, found materials, acrylic paint installation view, 2016 Kuandu Biennale: Slaying Monsters, Kuandu Courtesy the artist and Asialink Arts, Melbourne
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On the Origin of Art Fernando do Campo Objects typologically dating back 800,000 years sit alongside masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance period; access to these objects must be navigated via one of four newly commissioned, room-sized immersive artworks, one of them by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. There are many paths to choose from when you enter the evolutionary and philosophical narratives that make up ‘On the Origin of Art’, the Museum of Old and New Art’s (MONA) newest exhibition. ‘Origins’ (as it’s already being referred to by Tasmanians), is considered the museum’s greatest feat to date. It is also regarded as the philanthropic founder David Walsh’s baby since opening the doors in 2011. Walsh has said this exhibition, more than any other at MONA, is a chance to explore ideas of longstanding significance to him. Curatorially, it promises to be a curious, nuanced and sensational discursive experience. There are four new curators at the project’s helm – or at least that’s the hat these scientists are currently wearing. MONA has invited four world-renown thinkers to ponder on the relationships between human biology and urge, need and want to make, see and feel – art. As Walsh says: “… I’m setting up a framework for asking interesting questions like ‘Why do we make art?’ and I’m asking these questions of people who aren’t usually engaged in an art setting (evolutionary biologists, social scientists, neurologists)…” Steven Pinker, Brian Boyd, Geoffrey Miller and Mark Changizi have each been given the opportunity to imagine the many ways that objects can enter into dialogue with each other to construct a scientific and conceptual argument. Working in collaboration with 26
the institution’s research curators, they set up their conversation through artworks and artefacts from MONA’s own collection, institutional loans and commissioned works by Australian and international artists. The net was cast widely, 58 objects on loan from other institutions, many having an Australian debut. Each scientist is charged with presenting an exhibition within an exhibition; collectively, albeit distinctly, the narratives ask a central question: is art adaptive? How art has helped our species to think, learn, trade, procreate – and how has art passed down through generations and evolved? This is a blockbuster like no other. MONA has spent 10 weeks on the install alone, just constructing the maze-like structure that will give this exhibition its floor plan. Head designer, Adrian Spinks, is once again leading what is a triumph of exhibition making. Only once this space is complete, could the loaned objects from London’s
B.C. Institute
Bodies in Time Lucy Stranger
She was a body paintbrush in Yves Klein’s performance piece Anthropométries (1960), she dressed in drag and sang show songs with Mike Parr, and she inspired the recent name change of Sydney-based performance collective Brown Council to the Barbara Cleveland Institute (B.C. Institute) which comprises Diana Smith, Frances Barrett, Kate Blackmore and Kelly Doley. Barbara Cleveland was an enigma of Australian performance art history and is now ‘remembered’ by its most major players in the same way with a growing archive of storytelling and performances that borrow fact and spin a fiction about her life and persona. If you are left jogging your memory to recall Cleveland, this is B.C. Institute’s raison d’être. The group first encountered Barbara 38
Cleveland and her work from the 1970s in an archive box at the Sydney College of the Arts in 2011. Immediately intrigued, they have since researched and reworked the memory of the artist as an ongoing project that addresses the gap in art history. Earlier this year the four performers engaged with ‘the making of history’ as part of the 20th Biennale of Sydney, collaborating with artists including Parr, and Richard Bell. Now, in a fourth instalment, Cleveland’s work will be summoned in ‘Bodies in Time’, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). Commissioned to create a work in response to AGNSW’s archives and collections, the significance of this moment was not lost to B.C. Institute, “for us placing Barbara Cleveland in the Gallery was the most ideal context, because what it does is situate the fictive nature of Barbara Cleveland within the performance of a museum”, says Kelly Doley, speaking on behalf of the group. They undertook a residency in the archive section of the gallery, learning how collections are archived, hung and told to the viewer. “Having rooms as decades they tell a very linear story of art history. We as a group are playing around with these tropes of representation”, explained Doley.
By engaging with the construction and display of collections in museums, ‘Bodies in Time’ aims to challenge the perception of archives and collections as objective spaces – completely absent of human bias. Delving into the gallery archives B.C. Institute unearthed a surprise, “we found in there a simple instructional text piece by Barbara Cleveland. It was mixed up in Pat Larter’s box. That was our kind of starting point – okay she is actually in this archive, but she is buried and let’s try and re-enact this instructional work to some degree”, states Doley. Working with contemporary dancer Angela Goh, ‘Bodies in Time’ is a recorded performance of Cleveland’s text to dance the history of performance art. “It is an instructional piece, a publication and a kind of score for the body, so we are going to insert that into the ‘1970s’ room in the AGNSW. It will be very much displayed as fiction as we are re-enacting it”, explained Doley. Filmed and projected amongst the current collection, the work aims to disrupt the established art historical narrative, as Doley notes, “it is a poetic gesture to try and question what you are seeing and why.”
Rebuilding the memory of Barbara Cleveland has been a collaborative experience, and figures such as renown performance artist Parr and art historian Ann Marsh have created their own unique memories to add to Cleveland’s story. Whether true or fictitious, the shared memory of Cleveland overcomes the idea of an objective history or absolute truths. ‘Bodies in Time’ plays with fact and the role of archives and collections in creating it, as Doley sums up, “it is all fiction, those responses show what you can do if you have people from that time period, actually adopting the story. If a whole community of people say something and do something it is true.” From an archived box to a commissioned work within the AGNSW collection, Barbara Cleveland’s performance lives on. Art Gallery of New South Wales 26 November, 2016 to 2 April, 2017 Sydney This is Barbara Cleveland, 2013, HD video, 16’’ 43’ Photograph: Courtesy the artists
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Nude: art from the Tate collection Art Gallery of New South Wales 5 November, 2016 to 5 February, 2017 Sydney The depiction of the nude figure is a traditional theme in Western art. From the 19th century to the present, expressions of beauty, desire, seduction, strength, morality and scandal have been evoked through the visual presentation of nudity across various art forms and styles. ‘Nude: art from the Tate collection’, unveils over 100 sculptures, paintings, photographs and prints traversing major art movements including Romanticism, Cubism, Expressionism, Realism, Surrealism and Feminist art by artists J.M.W. Turner, Sir Hamo Thornycroft, Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Louise Bourgeois, Barkley Hendricks, Rineke Dijkstra, John Currin, Sarah Lucas and Ron Mueck. Presented as part of the Sydney International Art Series 2016-2017.
Ella Barclay I had To Do It
UTS Gallery Until 25 November, 2016 Sydney Ella Barclay considers the nature of one’s encounters with technology; our connectivity, dependence and the demise of altruistic technoutopianism, as well as the parallel disconnect of the physicality of computer systems. “In making these messy sculptures, I’m scratching at what sparks the drive we have as humans to design the tools that we make,” notes Barclay. “In this rests a kind of Promethean paradox – our enduring attempts to make autonomous things and an inevitable disgust or shock at how these things turn out.” The viewer will make their way along a fixed trajectory, dropping in and out of small rooms within the gallery space, encountering video installation, electronics, drawing and text, looped sound and billowing mist.
Mystic Heuristics III, That Which Cannot Not Be, 2016, acrylic, neon, glass, enamel, copper, ink on cotton rag Courtesy the artist and UTS Gallery, Sydney
Rineke Dijkstra, Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994, 1994, photograph, colour, on paper, 117 x 94.5cm Tate: Purchased 1998. © Rineke Dijkstra, image © Tate, London 2016 Courtesy the artist and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
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Monumentalism
Pattern +
Kudos Gallery 8 to 19 November, 2016 Sydney
Town Hall Gallery Until 18 December, 2016 Melbourne
‘Monumentalism’ refers to the physical and intellectual impact of Modernism and Fascism in Eastern Europe during the post-war era. Born to migrants from the former Yugoslavia, Anthony Bautovich’s interest in politics and design intersect in curating seven international and Australian artists echoing the emotional, social and artistic impact of the single party state. The show is an opportunity provided by the Kudos Gallery Early Career Curator Award. With the advent of the Balkan Wars in the early 90s, these Soviet era landmarks have either been destroyed or dismantled for materials. Together, across photography, video, performance and mixed media they enshrine Bautovich’s premise that “politics created the monuments and politics has destroyed them.”
Jan Kempenaers, Podgaric, ´ from the 2006-2009, ‘Spomenik’ series Courtesy the artist
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Australian and international artists explore symmetry, repetition and geometry in patterning with a collection of art and design-based works. Incorporating textiles, painting, photography, sculpture and installation, artists Daniel Edwards, Tim Gresham, Kristin McIver, David Sequeria, Mark Booth, Veronica Aldous and Alasdair McLuckie present a collection of works that entice the viewer to seek out patterns in their own environment. At the entrance to Hawthorn Arts Centre, Polyrhythm, a large window installation by Melbourne-based artist Britt Salt is on display throughout the exhibition and 2017. Salt’s art practice has evolved with concerns around spatial experimentation, and geometric arrangements where line, form and space are intertwined through drawing, sculpture and installation.
Britt Salt, Polyrhythm, 2016, vinyl, 345 x 448cm Courtesy the artist and Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne
Art & Industry As we near celebrating 45 years of publishing Art Almanac continues to serve and be shaped by people who engage with art everyday. Our practice supports the sustainability of our arts community in all its forms. We have experience as artists, in critical writing, working in galleries and festivals, design, teaching, digital media and the curatorial field. Art Almanac is more than a magazine.
Artist Opportunities & Awards We have selected a few galleries and funding bodies calling for submissions for Art Awards, Artist Engagements, Grants, Public Art, Residency Programs, Exhibition Proposals and more. Enjoy and good luck! Joynton Avenue Creative Centre is a multi-disciplinary arts centre opening early to mid-2017 at Green Square, Sydney, as part of the growing community and Cultural Precinct. What were once the Esme Cahill nurses’ quarters at South Sydney Hospital is transforming into a three-level creative centre, designed by architect Peter Stutchbury. It will be home to an artist-run gallery, studios, classrooms, jewellery making benches, creative spaces and meeting rooms suitable for various community events and projects – a place to connect, collaborate and express new ideas.
Courtesy Peter Stutchbury and the City of Sydney
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The City of Sydney is calling for Head Tenant applications proposing a strategic vision for the venue that supports the local arts industry and engages the community, and creative sector. Applications close 21 November, 2016. cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2016 Rights On Show Entries close 18 November, 2016 Artist entries are invited by the Darwin Community Legal Service for the Annual Human Rights Art Award and Exhibition to celebrate International Human Rights Day. Open to beginner, emerging and established artists, the theme is ‘Happiness: people, passion, purpose, place’. dcls.org.au Contemporary Art Awards Entries close 29 November, 2016 An online art award for emerging artists in all mediums including painting, works on paper, new media, photography, ceramics, sculpture, illustration, installation and more. A finalist will be selected from each state or territory. contemporaryartawards.com
Sydney
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Utopia Art Sydney
2 Danks Street, Waterloo 2017. T (02) 9699-2900. E art@utopiaartsydney.com.au W www.utopiaartsydney.com.au Director: Christopher Hodges. H Tues-Sat 10.00 to 5.00. To Nov 19 itsallright by Glenn Barkley. Utopia Art Sydney is proud to present Glenn Barkley’s first solo exhibition. Exhibiting Barkley’s largest ceramic pots yet and striking new collages; the artist draws upon classical and oriental forms and decoration throughout his practice, creating dramatic and joyful statements.
Annandale Galleries
110 Trafalgar Street, Annandale 2038. T (02) 9552-1699. E info@annandalegalleries.com.au W www.annandalegalleries.com.au Directors: Bill Gregory and Anne Gregory (members of ACGA). H Tues-Sat 11.00 to 5.00. To Nov 26 People I Saw But Never Met by Zadok Ben-David. A world premiere installation of new steel and aluminium sculptures.
Zadok Ben-David, People I Saw But Never Met, partial installation in artist’s studio, London Courtesy the artist and Annadale Galleries, Sydney
Articulate project space
Glenn Barkley, The Wedding Song of Sun and Rain, 2016, earthenware, 34 x 36 x 38cm Courtesy the artist and Utopia Art Sydney
Inner West Marrickville Balmain AirSpace Projects
10 Junction Street, Marrickville 2204. T 0438-020-661. E sally@airspaceprojects.com W www.airspaceprojects.com Directors: Sally Clarke and Brenda Factor. H Thurs-Fri 11.00 to 6.00, Sat 11.00 to 5.00 first three weeks each month. Nov 4 to 19 Gallery 1: Con-struct Redux by Glenn Locklee. Gallery 2: This Is Where We Meet by Ellen Dahl. The Cranny: Jacqui Mills: video work. Deep Space: Herba morbus by Catherine Polcz.
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497 Parramatta Road (opposite Cass Bros), Leichhardt 2040. W articulate497.blogspot.com.au articulateupstairs.blogspot.com.au. H Fri-Sun 11.00 to 5.00 (or as listed). Oct 29 to Nov 13 (opening Fri Oct 28, 6-8pm) Homeland Security curated by Narmada Smith. Nov 19 to Dec 5 (opening Fri Nov 18, 6-8pm) Stable – Kath Fries, Fiona Kemp, Danica Knezevic and Nuha Saad, curated by Fiona Kemp. ArticulateUpstairs: Whizzing Tinge by Amanda Airs.
Artsite Gallery
165 Salisbury Road, Camperdown 2050. T (02) 8095-9678. E enquiries@artsite.com.au W www.artsite.com.au H Wed-Sun 11.00 to 5.00 during exhibitions, or by appt. Oct 29 to Nov 20 The Still Life Exhibition – Graham Marchant, Nikki Suebwongpat and Paul Knight. Nov 26 to Dec 18 Collector’s Choice 2016 – group exhibition.
Balmain Art & Craft Show Father John Therry School
2 Eaton Street, Balmain 2041. W www.balmainartandcraftshow.com.au Nov 11, 12 and 13 art gallery showcasing contemporary artists, gift market and kids carnival. See ad page 72.
6.30-8pm) G1 and G2: Terra by Christine Gibbs (see ad page 117). G4: Jane Sawyer. G5 and G6: Mundus Imaginalis by Irene Wellm (see ad page 117). Peter Mac Project Space: Midnight Dreamer by Robyn Dansie.
Brunswick Northcote Alphington Open Studio Weekend
(Melway 31 C8-31, C12) E alphingtonstudios@gmail.com W www.alphingtonstudios.com Sat 26 and Sun 27 Nov, 11am to 6pm. Artists include Sue Dean, Louise Einfield, Bridget Foley, Avis Gardner, Sue Lyons, Beatrice Magalotti, Cetta Pilati, Wendy Roche, Andrew Sutton and Anne Warren. See ad page 66.
Arts Project Australia
Irene Wellm, The Great Odyssey, 2016, gouache on paper, 104 x 52cm Courtesy the artist and Tacit Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Victorian Artists’ Society
430 Albert Street, East Melbourne 3002. T (03) 9662-1484. E admin@victorianartistssociety.com.au W victorianartistssociety.com.au/exhibitions H Mon-Fri 10.00 to 4.00, Sat-Sun 1.00 to 4.00.
24 High Street, Northcote 3070. T (03) 9482-4484 F 9482-1852. E info@artsproject.org.au W www.artsproject.org.au H Mon-Fri 9.00 to 5.00, Sat 10.00 to 5.00. For artwork enquiries please contact the gallery. To Nov 26 i heart rock (rock is the total work of art) – featuring a selection of artists from the Arts Project Australia studio alongside external contemporary artists, i heart rock (rock is the total work of art) is a playful exploration of fandom, nostalgia and homage through art devoted to and about rock music. Artists include Colleen Ahern, Peter Ben, Jon Campbell, Dionne Canzano, Boris Cipusev, Alan Constable, Steve Cox, Patrick Francis, Minna Gilligan, Bronwyn Hack, Julian Martin, Nell, Cam Noble, Jodie Noble, Polixeni Papapetrou, Anthony Romagnano, Cathy Staughton, The Kingpins, The Sisters Hayes (with Dionne Canzano), Amani Tia, Kim Salmon and Jenny Watson. Curated by Emma Busowsky Cox, Curator, Castlemaine Art Museum. Supported by the Limb Family Foundation.
Yarra Sculpture Gallery Contemporary Sculptors Association
117 Vere Street, Abbotsford 3067. T (03) 94196177. E yarrasculpturegallery@gmail.com W www.yarrasculpturegallery.com.au Facebook: Yarra Sculpture Gallery: Current Projects. H Thurs-Sun 11.00 to 4.00. Nov 3 to 13 Faces Of Alice by Margarita Krivitsky (see ad page 144). Nov 19 to Dec 4 Fresh 16: Photography Studies College Graduate Exhibition (see ad page 121).
Dionne Canzano, Not titled, 2013, acrylic on paper, 28 x 39cm © Courtesy the artist and Arts Project Australia, Melbourne
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