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FOUND OBJECTS - as well as a last word on the etching process. In the ‘deadly serious light-hearted’ humane spirit of Marcel Duchamp (& perhaps also Kurt Schwitter’s MERZ) the following is a series of some of the found objects that one has come across in the discourse of everyday life as well as other observations which have been included on the ‘chance’ realization that the exhibition is to be coincidentally held 100 years and - in the same month - since the first performance of the Dadaists at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. The production and random acquisition of found objects fuels the free market capitalist economy which is akin to a cargo cult. It should also be mentioned that much of the subject matter chosen for the etchings are ‘found objects’ which have been discovered in the Australian bush and elsewhere. One should not have to entertain the notion that a found object need always be a human made thing although in many of the images this is what is presented. It should also be noted that the etchings also involve an element of chance in their creation in the manner that a high level of randomness is allowed to have an opportunity to be included in the production of the final image. With this in mind one feels the best advice ever given about etching was over twenty five years ago by a wizened printmaker who had a café art shop in Bangalow (now in Brunswick Heads although he may be gone now…) who said he would just leave the etching plate in the acid bath and go off and have a beer before bothering to check on it. Thus involving a very human element in his artwork rather than following a strict technocrat procedure fraught in turning one into a mere ‘human machine’. One would hope that spontaneity, chance, instinct and human emotion still remain as basic motivations and ‘skills’ for art - alongside analytical thought, rather than ‘submerged’ by it. Furthermore one considers the greatest skill in etching is actually patience. The found object of this orange typewriter which was used to type up the original exhibition list.
Brunswick Heads bus shelter mural found object.
Found Annandale domestic space with leadlight.
Wheels of fate. A video clip of moving wheels.
SURRY HILLS MARKETS which along with any market provides one -while ‘market researching’ - with many excellent opportunities to come across ‘found objects’. What one likes one discovers. The market is held monthly on the first Saturday.
A bedpan in lieu of Duchamp’s urinal. Surry Hills market shirts and finally a Surry Hills market bra
Surry Hills markets retro kitchenware. Along with a dress and a now rather antique film projector.
ROZELLE MARKETS Domestic objects such as a 50s juice squeezer fully operated by hand; an antique Chinese juice squeezer; bakelite teapot; plate; a vinyl records backyard totem; retro salt shakers and lastly Gumby. Retro tables,film camera & old payphone.
Surry Hills markets. Surry Hills ‘robot’ and a red rocket in Surry Hills.
gypsy fortune teller tent
market researchers old flash cube & slide
old
photo album
retro tables
busking band
FOUND OBJECT PARTICULARS
FOUND OBJECT RAMBA
Zig Zag bbq & joyride cup. Reverse Garbage. Shop window robots. Gold party microphone. Chair at Dave Warner concert. Django Bar. Marrickville. Various Home brew beer labels by foremost contemporary artist ‘Ica’. Mishka with talking toy bear. Toast Jesus . Leichhardt footpath. Wooden sculptures. Glebe. Dante with scarf. The Forum Leichhardt. Passiona. Bottle.
BIELEFELD SATURDAY MARKET which is in north-west Germany points one to the human universality of markets as one could feel as if at the Surry Hills market but simply on a much larger scale. Apparently, it is simply a matter of contributing a baked cake to have a stall at this market.
Ernie who in Bielefeld is famed for riding around on his bicycle totally naked. Surely a Dadaist performing artist extraordinaire.
A circus van and beside this photo a Bielefeld flea market. There was a community of people who lived in these circus vans used for housing on a former carpark. It should be noted that Bielefeld is the sister city of Esteli in Nicaragua. It is also quite an artistic place. On another note one came across a memorial to holocaust victims outside the main station. A nation in conscious reconciliation with its dark past.
Wonderland on Alice Bookshop & Jack Kerouac business cards I accidently came across a bookshop on Alice St between Enmore and Newtown on a rainy Saturday afternoon and discovered that the proprieter - who also worked as a part time truckdriver – was a big fan of Jack Kerouac. He had the writings of Jack Keroauc on his business cards.
FOUND CULTURAL SPACE
One can consider different cultural spaces to be ‘found’ as the images on this page differ in terms of prevailing subcultures of different sorts mainly though of artistic, cultural, political and literary themes. A library can also be a valuable cultural space. Yet consider the following two websites:
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/peace_conflict/about/history.shtml Gertrude & Alice café bookstore. Bondi.
The Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies. Sydney University. A place also remarkable for its many protest posters.
Verge Gallery found ZIN cards & paraphernalia where ‘found film’ about oil was seen There Will Be Blood (2007) put on by the ‘Earlwood Farm’ http://earlwoodfarm.com/. Verge Gallery. Sydney Uni: http://verge-gallery.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholson_Museum Apostrophes’ café card
Sappho Bookshop Monthly Poetry Night. Found poetry CD. Found book at Sapphos.
Nicholson Museum which displays antiquities from such ancient societies as Egypt & Greece. A hidden cultural tool of Sydney University.
Suburban lion
A cultural icon as graffiti
Nicholson Museum Twitter profile and objects in the museum.
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Posters & EH tin plate.
Twittering Bird cage art by Angel Place concert hall.
Posters & EH tin plate ad.
Wreath for refugees. Sunday June 16. 2013. Cenotaph. Sydney. (For World Refugee Day).
FOUND OBJECTS OFTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY & ANTIQUITIES Left: A laptop handy for stage coaches. Top: Central America map (Rozelle markets) ; Middle: Australian map without Canberra (Gdansk): bottom: Middle Eastern donkey feeding bag.
FOUND OBJECTS OF THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY Social media #PeaceforParis symbol after tragic terrorist attacks against many innocents. Friday Nov 13. 2015.
See through garbage bins which belie a growing lack of security transparency of the governments that introduce them. Followed By UTS Mechatronics drawing machine. The last image is a screenshot of a Reuters tweet showing abandoned lifejackets used by desperate refugees on Lesbos.