The Adelaide Review October 2012

THE ADELAIDE

review ISSUE 392 october 2012

THE ADELAIDE REVIEW

www.ADELAIDEreview.com.au

>

DAM DREAMS John Spoehr on how the Olympic Dam dream turned into a nightmare

08

SOUNDSTREAM FESTIVAL Adelaide’s acclaimed new music festival returns with an impressive program of contemporary classical talent

28

FRED WILLIAMS AGSA presents a landmark retrospective of one of Australia's greatest artists

THE TRUTH ABOUT FIDELIO Beethoven’s only opera will be staged in Adelaide for the first time in 23 years

30

24 November 2012 • McLaren Vale

2

GORGEOUS MUSIC • GORGEOUS WINE • GORGEOUS FOOD

Missy Higgins Dan Sultan Gossling + lots more wine from

d’Arenberg Wirra Wirra + lots more food by

d’Arrys Verandah FINO + lots more

Tickets On Sale NOW WWW.GORGEOUSFESTIVAL.COM.AU OR CALL 1300 762 545

3

4

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

THE ADELAIDE

review

facebook.com/TheAdelaideReview

twitter.com/AdelaideReview

issue 392

Editor David Knight davidknight@adelaidereview.com.au Art Director Sabas Renteria sabas@adelaidereview.com.au Graphic Design Michelle Kox michellekox@adelaidereview.com.au Suzanne Karagiannis suzanne@adelaidereview.com.au

Graveyard, by Julie Fletcher

Production & Distribution Karen Cini karen@adelaidereview.com.au

06

National Sales and Marketing Manager Tamrah Petruzzelli tamrah@adelaidereview.com.au

The SA Museum Director Professor Suzanne Miller writes about why the ANZANG Nature Photography Competition and Exhibition is such a unique and inspiring event.

Advertising Executives Helen Corkran Tiffany Venning Franca Martino Michelle Pavelic advertising@adelaidereview.com.au

ANZANG

Photographer Jonathan van der Knaap Jane Howard Andrew Hunter Stephanie Johnston Tony Lewis Jane Llewellyn Kris Lloyd Patrick McCoughey John McGrath Scott McLennan Suzanne Miller John Neylon Steph Overton Louise Pascale Nigel Randall

David Ridge Avni Sali Christopher Sanders David Sornig Mike Smith John Spoehr Shirley Stott Despoja Graham Strahle Sam Wells Sian Williams Paul Willis Jock Zonfrillo

47

22

Managing Director Manuel Ortigosa General Manager Publishing & Editorial Luke Stegemann luke@adelaidereview.com.au

RUBY RED FLAMINGO

Tynte Street’s The Manse is no longer. In its place is Ruby Red Flamingo, a must visit new eatery.

01 COVER Fred Williams The studio 1977 Oil on canvas Private collection © Estate of Fred Williams

QUEEN LIZ PRECINCT

GPO Box 651, Adelaide SA 5001 P: (08) 7129 1060 F: (08) 8410 2822 adelaidereview.com.au

Disclaimer Opinions published in this paper are not necessarily those of the editor nor the publisher. All material subject to copyright.

Circulation CAB Audited average monthly circulation: 28,840 (Oct 11 – March 12) 0815-5992 Print Post.

Approved PPNo. 531610/007

We discover what makes the Queen and Elizabeth Street precinct of the inner west suburb Croydon so damn hip with its collection of vintage shops and gourmet cafes.

FEATURES

5

VISUAL ARTS

38

SCIENCE

14

BOOKS

45

FASHION

24

FOOD, WINE & COFFEE

47

PERFORMING ARTS

27

FORM

57

MARIA FRӦMAN JANET HILL PAULA JOSLING

AUCTION Unique opportunity to acquire works by major Australian Artists.

Viewing: Saturday October 27th 10am – 5pm Sunday October 28th 10am – 12 noon Auction: Sunday October 28th from 1pm

This publication is printed on 100% Australian made Norstar, containing 20% recycled fibre. All wood fibre used in this paper originates from sustainably managed forest resources or waste resources.

OPENING SUNDAY 7th OCTOBER 11:30am Guest speaker: Michael Smyth Host Drive 891 ABC Adelaide EXHIBITIONS CONCLUDE TUES 30th OCTOBER

Maria Fröman: Born in Sweden (1962) she developed a keen interest in world culture, living as a child on all continents. Her figurative realist form is painstakingly built up, renaissance style, with many thin layers of paint to produce almost iridescent effects., harmonious atmosphere and space.

We have been favoured by a number of clients to offer works from their collections in addition selections from our stock rooms.

The catalogue may be viewed on our website from Saturday October 20th.

Open: Tues - Fri 10am - 5pm Sat & Sun 2pm - 5pm

Register your interest & enquiries

Janet Hill, Sweep (detail)

www.greenhillgalleriesadelaide.com.au Email: greenhill@internode.on.net Phone: (08) 8267 2887 (08) 8267 2933 Fax: (08) 8239 0148

140 Barton Tce West, North Adelaide 5006

Please note: The cover image is a modified version of the original work and is used with the kind permission of the estate of Fred Williams.

Janet Hill & Paula Josling with this joint exhibition focuses on figurative drawing and explores the imaginative directions taken. For Hill this leads through dance whilst Josling’s fascination is with the Jester / harlequin..

140 Barton Tce West, North Adelaide SA 5006 P 08 8267 2933 / F 08 8239 0148 / greenhill@internode.on.net / www.greenhillgalleriesadelaide.com.au

Paula Josling, The First Lovers Entwined (detail)

Publisher The Adelaide Review Pty Ltd, Level 8, Franklin House 33 Franklin St Adelaide SA 5000

Maria Fröman, Window and Feather (detail)

Contributors Nina Bertok David Bradley John Bridgland Danny Brookes William Charles Carl Crossin Derek Crozier Annabelle Curtis Alexander Downer Robert Dunstan Stephen Forbes Charles Gent Nigel Hopkins

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

5

feature

OFF TOPIC Grant Burge

Off Topic and on the record, as we let South Australian identities talk about whatever they want... except their day job. This month Barossa Valley winemaker Grant Burge talks about his hobby and passion: the farm.

David Knight

“

My father obviously was in the wine business,” Burge begins. “We had a little company called Wilsford Winery at Lyndoch, so there was no question that my wine side is from my father’s (Burge) side. Not many people realise that my mother, her name was Nancy Arthur and she came from Booleroo Centre, and the Arthurs have just as long a history in South Australia, in fact slightly longer, than the Burges. They settled near Riverton. In the 1870s

they moved to Booleroo Centre and there’s quite a number of Arthurs there with big land holdings.

So they were mixed farmers and graziers.

“As a young lad I always wanted to be a winemaker but I was always keen on the land, both viticulture and broadacre. When I first started out with my father and mother back in the 70s we bought some land with the idea of planting a small vineyard. My mother said, ‘you can’t leave all that other land to go to waste. We’ve got to buy some sheep’. I started off with 70 or 80 sheep and ever since that time, ever since 1971 or something, I’ve had a flock of sheep. Everything I do, I take fairly passionately. I love the agriculture side of things. Over the years we’ve always done a bit of cropping and have now built up to a flock of 5000 sheep. A few years ago I had another property with 8000 sheep and 300 head of cattle but the wine industry turned and I needed a bit of cash for the winery, so I sold a bit of land.”

It was reported that once upon a time Burge was thinking of quitting the wine business to concentrate on farming.

“That’s not quite true. Yes, I was going to buy a big farm up at Burra. I was about to sign up and then I really had a think... at the time there was a little bit of turmoil. Mildara had bought us out at Krondorf [Wines] and our family business, my father and uncle wanted to retire. There were three ways to go: hang in there with Mildara, buy out the family business or go and do something totally different, which was buy a farm. But then Helen [Burge, his wife] and I decided to get out of Mildara, as it was at the time, it became Mildara Blass. I decided to get out of

Grant Burge

that and start Grant Burge Wines [in 1988]. When that decision was made this farm was substantial, it wasn’t going to just be a hobby on weekends.

In fact I would have had to have a manager and everything. We thought, ‘what are we, winemakers or graziers?’ We thought we’d better stick to our profession, which was winemaking.

“We let all that go and concentrated on Grant Burge Wines, the wine business. But as every block of land around here has come up for sale – luckily in 100, 150 acre or sometimes 300 acre parcels – around us I’ve bought them and built this into quite a big farm here on my back door.”

Burge takes two weeks annual leave for the shearing season (October), a community and family event, which involves his wife, Helen, who cooks for the shearers, wool classers and wool pressers, as well as Burge’s farmers.

“Socially I found it incredibly rewarding

because I was dealing with a farming community which was totally different to the wine industry.

So it was just another group of people that I got to know. Helen cooked for them, which they loved and they used to spread the word about Helen.

Of course all the other graziers would complain because Helen used to spoil the shearers rotten.

She set the bar too high. We all became friends and we all have a great time.”

Grant Burge, the internationally renowned winemaker, is as content at home on his Barossa farm as he is travelling the world.

“I’m a bit of a diverse character in the sense that I’m just as comfortable on the motorbike in my jeans as I am in a suit.”

grantburgewines.com.au

6

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FEATURES | society | opinion | business | science | letters

Capturing nature’s wonder The ANZANG (Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea) Nature Photography Competition at the South Australian Museum offers one of the most exceptional platforms available for photographers to extend themselves beyond their wildest imaginings.

Mike Hollman, Milford Sound

Suzanne Miller

N

ow in its ninth year, the competition invites adult and child photographers to best capture the spirit of this bioregion, with the intention of encouraging conservation. The awe-inspiring finalist photographs of animals, plants, birds and landscapes will be on display at the South Australian Museum in October and November.

Often visitors to the gallery are not aware that the images stem from hours of research, travels through freezing or tropical locations and enormous amounts of patience and skill.

Of the 1364 photographs submitted this year, judges have narrowed down their list to 99 images from 69 photographers. Entries came from eight different countries. While South Australia can be proud to host an exhibition of international significance, we at the Museum are continually exploring means to expand the prize and develop its scope, to ensure it continues to maintain worldwide credibility and encourage excellence in photography.

The first ever ANZANG was developed in 2004

by Perth surgeon Dr Stuart Miller. A few hundred entries were submitted at the West Australian Museum. The prize came to the South Australian

EmpowEring poor communitiEs wednesday 17 october 5:30 pm for a 6:00 pm start

Allan scott Auditorium, UniSA City West campus, Hawke Building, 50-55 North Terrace

Join the Hon Robyn Layton AO QC, Asia Development Bank Consultant on Poverty Reduction, to discuss the challenges in reducing global poverty as well as highlighting good practice examples. rsVp for this free event now www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au Ph 8302 0215

Marking Anti-Poverty Week

Museum in 2009, when we saw a significant spike in submissions to more than 1000 a year.

Photographers have the excellent opportunity to have their works shown in South Australia.

The gallery then tours to West Australian and Tasmanian venues, offering national exposure.

The Museum is actively seeking to grow ANZANG and is intensifying marketing efforts to ensure nature photographers the world over are aware of this unique competition. We are working on new partnerships that will further boost the global presence of ANZANG, inviting even more entries and therefore stunning images for the exhibition.

We also have had to keep up with the development of photographic techniques. Since digital photography overtook film in our entry pool, the Museum decided in 2010 to take online submissions only. Film photographers can still enter, but they need to submit their work via the internet. The efficient entry system has opened the doors for far more entries, cementing the reputation of ANZANG as a truly international competition. The online process is also more affordable as photographers no longer need to print images or send us CDs. The South Australian Museum still keeps the price of entry low to allow as many photographers to enter as possible. Despite the strong numbers of entries, we want to encourage more photographers to enter. The standard of the exhibition can only benefit from increased competition.

There are also discussions about entry requirements. As it stands ANZANG accepts digital and film photographs that are produced with methods that can be applied in a traditional

darkroom situation, from a single exposure.

This excludes the Interpretive category, when photographers are invited to manipulate their images in any way they like to create the best possible effects. With rapidly-advancing technology however, the ANZANG competition must decide whether to accept entries created using features such as in-camera HDR (high dynamic range). HDR works by layering images together: a breach of ANZANG’s single exposure rule. We would have to alter requirements to allow photographers to work with this feature.

In addition, the quality of mobile phone cameras is now astonishingly high. We need to look at whether the popularity of applications such as Instagram may, in the future, be a catalyst for an offshoot nature photography competition for phone cameras only.

At present, the ANZANG competition includes 10 different categories – Animal Behaviour, Animal Portrait, Botanical, Black and White, Underwater, Wilderness, Threatened Species, Our Impact, Junior and Interpretive – as well as a special Portfolio Prize for a collection of six photographs or more. We are looking at whether it may be worth expanding these categories to cover the bioregion more fully. One possibility may be to include an urban category, which would stray slightly from the traditional scenes of beaches or forests, and look at nature in urban settings.

The exciting possibilities for this competition are endless and we are open to new ideas to showcase the best of nature photography.

ANZANG is yet another opportunity that the Museum offers to link children with science. With some of our entrants as young as 11 years old, ANZANG shows young people what is possible and motivates them to participate. As part of Biodiversity Month, the coming school holiday program has aimed to embrace social media and encourage young visitors to submit their photographs of nature, which will be shown at the South Australian Museum. We want to see children relish in the discovery of their environment and take pride in their efforts to capture the essence of biodiversity.

The 2012 ANZANG Photography Prize is sure to be a popular event that celebrates the beauty and wonder of this incredibly diverse region.

Professor Suzanne Miller is the Director of the South Australia Museum ANZANG Nature Photography Exhibition SA Museum Friday, October 5 to Sunday, November 25 samuseum.sa.gov.au The 2013 competition opens in January

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

7

FEATURE

An Asia Capable Workforce In early September ANZ CEO Mike Smith presented the Asialink Taskforce for an Asia Capable Workforce, setting out recommendations for how Australia should build workforce capacities to take full advantage of our opportunities in the Asian Century.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith

T

he starting point for this report is the extraordinary rise of Asia over the past decade, particularly China, but also other major economies in Asia such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam. And of course, Japan and Korea have been major trading partners with Australia for decades.

For resource-rich, export oriented countries such as Australia, Asia’s rise has been a complete gamechanger. Fundamentally, our growth is now being driven by the urbanisation and industrialisation of Asia. We’re riding a super-cycle in resources, and increasingly in agriculture and services. Despite short-term volatility, a massive opportunity exists for Australia – but it doesn’t follow that successfully seizing this prize will happen of its own accord.

In fact, how much of the opportunity we grasp really depends on the extent to which

we are prepared to address a series of critical issues that are hindering our performance and holding back our growth potential. We are already seeing some of the competitive challenges we face play out in the resources sector. Another critical area we have to address is how we increase individual and organisational capabilities to maximise our participation in the Asian century and to compete more effectively for that opportunity in a globalised world.

Based on a survey of almost 400 Australian businesses, the Taskforce has identified a number of critical individual and organisational competencies that are under-developed in Australia, and that are fast becoming an impediment to fully realising the Asia opportunity. The individual skills we urgently need more of include: sophisticated knowledge of Asian markets/environments; experience operating in Asia; and the ability to adapt behaviour to Asian cultural contexts. Individuals also need to build long-

term trusted Asian relationships; have a capacity to deal effectively with governments in Asia; and some basic levels of language proficiency.

Equally, if Australian businesses want to successfully work with, and in, Asia, then new organisational capabilities will be needed.

These capabilities include: leadership which is committed to an Asia-focused strategy; customised Asian talent management; and tailored offerings and value propositions based on genuine Asian customer insights.

We also need to adapt organisational design to give greater emphasis to local in-country autonomy; and develop supportive processes to share Asian learnings.

Based on the six individual and five organisational capabilities that have been identified, the Asialink Taskforce has set out a strategy to develop an Asia capable workforce – a strategy primarily business led in collaboration with the government and educational sectors.

The strategy has four key elements: First, business is going to have to take a lead and cooperate to advocate the case for developing an Asia capable workforce. For their part, governments need to ensure policy development takes into account the need to accelerate our engagement with Asia and to up-skill the workforce.

Secondly, business also needs to accelerate the development of Asia-focused strategies. Businesses need to learn how to institutionalise their successes including processes to share Asia knowledge and capability between functions and geographies.

Thirdly, we all need to invest in developing Asia capability broadly throughout the Australian workforce. We all have a responsibility here,

whether through business investing in building employee skills and experiences; through government support for education, training and professional development bodies that provide programs to build Asia capabilities; or through mobilising our existing Asian talent pools.

Finally, we have to more effectively educate Australia’s future workforce for the Asian Century.

This will involve business working with the education sector to provide students with Asiafocussed experiences; through the development of Asia relevant content in our universities and TAFEs; and through government funding to support this.

We are making progress. But given the size and immediacy of the opportunity, and the global competition we are facing – to be frank, we have to make faster progress.

We believe that one practical way that business, government and education providers can work on this challenge is to explore how a new lean, agile national Centre for Asia Capability might be funded, developed and operated to help drive advocacy, skills development, research and network building.

Let me say that the Taskforce also believes the government’s Australia in the Asian Century white paper (Ken Henry) provides a critical opportunity to bring the opportunity and challenge of Asia onto the national agenda and to accelerate and broaden our policy response.

This task of realising the Asian Century is the job of many – the media, politicians, business leaders, the education sector and community leaders – and I urge you to support the Taskforce’s recommendations, and to play an active role in the public conversation we need to have about how Australia fully realises the Asian opportunity.

Mike Smith OBE is Chief Executive Officer, ANZ This is an excerpt from Mike Smith’s address at the launch of the Asialink Taskforce national strategy. The strategy was developed with the assistance of the Boston Consulting Group and Asialink. For more information visit asialink.unimelb.edu.au/taskforce

8

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FEATURE

Olympic Dam dreams and nightmares The Olympic Dam expansion dream turned into a nightmare. The prospect of a four kilometre long and one kilometre deep open pit mine captured the imagination. It was going to take years to remove the overburden hiding the precious minerals in what was to become the largest mine in the world.

John Spoehr Hopes were high that the BHP Billiton Board would give the Olympic Dam expansion the green light. Those hopes were dashed. The disappointment was palpable across the state. Premier Jay Weatherill was quick to acknowledge the sombre mood, putting BHP Billiton on notice that community and industry concerns about the costs of not proceeding would need to be taken into account in future negotiations.

The stakes were high. The $20 billion project would have generated more than 10,000 jobs in the early phases of development, providing a significant boost to the state’s ailing construction sector and creating opportunities for well-positioned engineering, manufacturing and service companies.

Mining royalties would have risen significantly once the mine was operational.

So what went wrong? Quite a few things really but the first thing to say is that it was a more precarious project than most people appreciated.

The benefits of the expansion were talked up so much that the prospect of it not proceeding seemed unimaginable – such was the allure of its transformational economic potential for South Australia. While BHP Billiton didn’t make any promises about it proceeding it also didn’t hose down expectations. It wasn’t alone. Collective boosterism raised hopes to giddy heights.

Was the project scuttled by the carbon tax or the mining tax? Did the South Australian and Australian Governments do enough to secure it? A resounding ‘no’ to both questions. Announcing a sharp fall in profitability, BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers made it clear that it was “subdued

commodity prices and higher capital costs... that had led to the decision”. The Leader of the Opposition in South Australia, Isobel Redmond declared that the mining and carbon taxes were the cause. The State and National Governments had blundered she claimed, resulting in a disaster equivalent to the collapse of the State Bank. Tony Abbott agreed. BHP Billiton Senior Executive, Andrew Mackenzie said otherwise. He was full of praise for the South Australian Government.

They “have been fully supportive of Olympic Dam” and have “created an environment that is highly conducive to business development and the Olympic Dam expansion project”, he said.

BHP Billiton’s decision on the expansion of Olympic Dam has its roots in the Global Financial Crisis, which has placed downward pressure on unsustainably high commodity prices. All of this is a reminder that mining booms invariably falter in the face of global economic crises. The millions of tonnes of minerals that lay deep underground at Olympic Dam are not going to go away, however. BHP Billiton knows this and they will wait for the right time to exploit the rich deposits that are available to them.

With declining (but still very high) commodity prices, the costs of removing billions of tonnes of overburden at Olympic Dam become less attractive to the profit hungry mining giant. Finding solutions to getting the minerals out more efficiently is now the priority. The expansion plan won’t go ahead as planned but it will go ahead in some form. Rising commodity prices in a post GFC environment where India and China resume strong growth might breathe new life into expansion of Olympic Dam, but relying on that is not likely to ensure that the

$

expansion proceeds in any substantial way. In the meantime Olympic Dam will continue to be one of South Australia’s major mines, employing over 2500 people. One question I can’t help asking myself is why didn’t BHP Billiton have a ‘Plan B’ in place for expansion of the mine, one that didn’t rely so much on high commodity prices to drive profitability?

Like many others they probably underestimated that enduring tendency within capitalist economies for sharply rising prices to fall. Commodity prices may have fallen but mining companies still enjoy exceptional profitability levels and the prospect of relatively high prices for years to come.

Will the BHP Billiton decision lead to terminal decline in the South Australian economy as the South Australian Opposition Leader claimed?

Unlike Western Australia and Queensland, South Australia is not a mining state. It has experienced an exploration boom but not a mining boom. Most of its jobs are in the manufacturing and service sectors. Mining employment represents a little over one percent of total employment. The sector is a major generator of exports, rising and then falling on the back of fluctuating commodity prices.

South Australia is not dependent on mining and is therefore less vulnerable during difficult times like these to the destabilising impact of a sharp decline in demand for minerals.

While the GFC continues to make life difficult for sections of the Australian and South Australian economy, unemployment remains low by international and historical standards. The next few years are looking tougher though. A few hundred jobs have been lost at BHP Billiton as a consequence of its decision and South Australian job growth will be significantly slower in the absence of the

Olympic Dam mine expansion. This is not the end of the story, however. It is not a question of if the expansion will proceed, but rather when and in what form. All of this will be determined by commodity prices, the ongoing impact of the GFC and technological considerations about how to mine more efficiently at Olympic Dam. The sliver lining in the dark cloud that was BHP Billiton’s decision to defer expansion, is that the South Australian community now has an opportunity to get a better deal from the project. We might also be able to avoid some of the negative consequences of a rapidly expanding mining sector including damaging inflationary impacts and crowding out of other economic activity in the non-mining sector.

The industry participation provisions included in the Olympic Dam Indenture legislation are far from world’s best practice. They have no teeth, merely requiring BHP Billiton to report on local industry participation rather than mandating targets and putting in place policies and processes that seek to maximise local employment and industry content.

Norway is the benchmark for tackling this. It has put in place local content targets underpinned by a strategy to substantially increase workforce and industrial capability to deliver goods and services to the mining sector. Joint ventures to strengthen the mining supply chain have been supported along with industry clusters to help foster beneficial collaborations and innovation.

The South Australian Government has an opportunity to revisit how it can maximise the benefits of mining for more South Australians. I suggest it look closely at the Norwegian model and to the more substantial commitments that BHP Billiton have made to local supplier capacity and capability development in countries like Chile.

So it not a question of if but when the expansion of Olympic Dam will take place. BIS Shrapnel Chief Economist, Dr Frank Gelber, expects work to begin around the middle of the decade and has factored it into his latest economic forecasts. He is probably right. This is a window of opportunity to renegotiate the terms of our engagement with the project, to ensure that the benefits are maximised and negative impacts avoided.

Associate Professor John Spoehr is the Executive Director of the Australian Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre at the University of Adelaide

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

ANZANG Nature Photography 2012

Atkins Technicolour proudly supports ANZANG Nature Photography 2012 as Production Partner

OPINION

Exhibition 5 October – 25 November South Australian Museum

Media Partners

Promotional Partner

Image: Lance Peters, Hold me tight Nikon D3S, Sigma 300–800mm f/5.6 EX zoom lens at 800mm, 1/1600, f11, ISO 3200; tripod SouthAustralianMuseum

South Australian Museum North Terrace, Adelaide Information 08 8207 7500 www.samuseum.sa.gov.au

9

SAMuseum

9

10

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FEATURE

Missing voices Sam Wells

A

s we continue to grapple with Copenhagen’s stark failure to produce a new protocol for reducing global carbon emissions, the scientific and technical debates continue to intensify. Carbon trading versus tax, nuclear energy versus renewable, five percent emissions reduction versus 60 percent (or 90 percent). It begins to feel as if the future of humankind will depend solely on how those debates unfold. In some respects that may be so, but it seems to me that there are some voices missing – ours.

“

Certainly, the voices of scientists must be heard in the conversation about our future, but so too must the voices of poets and elders, tradespeople and artists, factory workers and professionals, teachers and students, parents and children."

Let me hasten to say that I have the utmost respect for the scientists and technical experts leading these debates. Many of them are brilliant, and I am not any sort of technical expert. The missing voices that I am talking about add another layer – they provide the essential context for all the technical ‘either/ or’ arguments. If we are silent in the face of the (increasingly torrid) debates about future energy sources, carbon management, investment policy, etc., we run a real risk of convincing ourselves that the key to our collective future lies simply in the outcome of those debates – and that would be a selffulfilling prophecy. We risk surrendering to the scientists and experts the responsibility for shaping our future.

The truth is that it’s not all about energy sources and emissions policy. It’s not even all about ‘climate change’. It’s about ‘sustainability’, in the broadest and deepest sense of that much used and abused word.

It’s about interdependence and the web of relationships that we have with the natural world and with each other (and even with ourselves). And it’s about our capacity to nurture and be nurtured by the complex systems – natural, social, economic and cultural – in which our own lives are embedded.

Alongside the question, “How should we generate our electricity and manage emissions?” there is another more fundamental question – “What should our future look like?”

Champion of global sustainability, Donella Meadows, described it as recapturing the child’s ability to articulate “what we really want”, rather than “what we’ll settle for”. Meadows pointed out that environmentalists have focused so exclusively on mere survival that they have failed to build a vision that promises anything more

than survival. If all the debate about energy and carbon emissions is just about surviving, why are we wasting our time? If the best we can promise future generations is the chance to stay alive – and that’s all – we are condemned by our own lack of vision.

What we need, in addition to the debate about emissions and energy, is a conversation about what sort of world we want. Behind a simple question about how best to generate our electricity, for example, lies the much bigger question about what sort of world that electricity will feed. If we don’t all engage with that question, and we just leave it to the scientists to slug it out, we effectively leave to them the task of imagining the future.

That would be foolhardy... and unfair on the scientists – they have a special contribution to make to humanity, but it doesn’t include telling us how to live our lives.

Certainly, the voices of scientists must be heard in the conversation about our future, but so too must the voices of poets and elders, tradespeople and artists, factory workers and professionals, teachers and students, parents and children.

It’s time we finally learnt one of the great lessons of modern times. If we break big things into small parts, and get immersed in understanding and controlling the parts, then we lose our sense of the relationship between the parts –the very quality that makes the whole whole. We optimise the part, at the expense of the whole. We introduce cane toads to control cane beetles and then wonder why the cane toads have become an unexpected ecological menace.

So it is with envisioning our future. The issues of carbon management, energy generation and emissions reduction, are all technical debates worth having, but we mustn’t allow this focus on the parts to lead us down the path, yet again, of neglecting the whole – neglecting the important conversation about what we want our future to look like.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that we idle away the months and years in ‘conversation’, while the natural, social and

spiritual fabric of the planet comes unravelled.

Of course we must get on with the job of addressing the many challenges to global sustainability. But the pursuit of technical solutions to technical problems must take place in the context of exploring together our shared vision of a sustainable future.

In fact, I would go further. Unless we get serious about that conversation, and unless we start practising how to articulate and share our heart-felt vision (without being embarrassed by all the values and ‘feeling’ words that inevitably underpin it) then the transformation required, even for mere survival, will escape us.

History (and especially the history of science) tells us that transformational shifts in the way we think and act are not precipitated by dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Dissatisfaction is certainly a prerequisite for change, but the shift only comes when we encounter something better than the status quo – we make the big shifts towards a beckoning future, not away from a flawed present.

Let’s not allow the fragmented technical debates to over-run our vision of a sustainable future. It’s time for all of us to start talking about what sort of world we really want, for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, and then engaging with (and resourcing) the scientists and experts who can help deliver it.

Dr Sam Wells is a Rhodes Scholar and Senior Lecturer in the Adelaide MBA, The University of Adelaide

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

11

OPINION

MODERN TIMES Abusing faith in politics Andrew Hunter

T

he influence of religion on politics is not new. An argument could be made that in a modern, secular society, the two should be separate. Yet if politics is a contest of values, our leaders should not hide from the customs, experiences and beliefs to which they set their moral compass.

In recent years, the Christian principles of two men were brought to the public’s attention when the grand prize of public life was within reach.

The first was Kevin Rudd, who wrote fondly of values he understood to be ‘Christian Socialist’ in an essay entitled ‘Faith in Politics’. The article appeared in The Monthly of October 2006, several months before Rudd assumed leadership of the ALP. Rudd identified Dietrich Bonhoeffer as his role model and consciously defined a system of Christian values that he wished to bring to the position of Prime Minister.

The second was an essay written about the current Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, and appears in the current edition of the Quarterly Essay. The piece was illuminated by an extensive off-the-record interview between the author, David Marr, and Abbott. Marr described Abbott as a man of deep faith, but struggled to identify a time where Abbott put his values before power and politics.

It is not detrimental to Australian democracy that our politicians have a system of values informed by their faith. Nor should it be a problem that our current Prime Minister is not religious. The problem is that values are too often forgotten when it is politically expedient to do so (to be remembered again, as the political context demands). If an elected representative cultivates a public persona built on values informed by his or her Christian faith, it stands to reason that their words and actions should consistently reflect the core teachings of the scriptures, and not simply materialise when the Marriage Act, Abortion or Euthanasia are debated.

Whilst the definition of marriage is rarely discussed in the gospels, great swathes of the New Testament are devoted to the need to ease the suffering of the spiritually or materially poor and the marginalised. Indeed, Jesus Christ was for centuries following his death understood to be a champion of the suffering, oppressed or

DO YOU SUFFER FROM: •

FEARS & PHOBIAS

eg., fear of public speaking, crowds, social situations,

•

ANXIETY & STRESS

•

DEPRESSION

•

PANIC ATTACKS

•

RELATIONSHIP ISSUES

•

ANGER & GUILT

•

GRIEF & TRAUMA

• LACK OF MOTIVATION

“

If an elected representative cultivates a public persona built on values informed by his or her Christian faith, it stands to reason that their words and actions should consistently reflect the core teachings of the scriptures, and not simply materialise when the Marriage Act, Abortion or Euthanasia are debated."

deprived (be it spiritually or financially).

Jesus instructed his disciples that, on the Day of Judgement, ‘whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me’. The notion of reciprocity (also known as the ‘Golden Rule’) can be found in practically all religious or ethical traditions, but in the Bible it is most evident in regular instructions to prioritise the wellbeing of the destitute or marginalised.

These teachings and commands are collectively referred to as the preferential option for the poor. It is the focus of countless passages in the scriptures. ‘Poor’ does not refer to material depravation alone, but has numerous meanings and applications in the gospels to describe the range of situations common to the sub-dominant class. The book of the Proverbs (17:5) states: ‘A man who sneers at the poor insults his maker’, whilst the first chapter of Isaiah exhorts one to ‘pursue justice and champion the oppressed; give the orphan his rights, plead the widow’s cause’.

The preferential option for the poor is also part of Catholic Canon Law, which states: ‘The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote the precept of the law, to assist the poor.’ It is easy for a politician of faith to embrace this obligation in thought – but what good is that if in practice they advocate strongly on behalf of an economic

My passion is healing with integrity in a caring, sensitive way. I use special, EXPE highly successful techniques INSTA RIENCE that can rapidly remove emotional N & SIG T RELIEF N stress and old habits. It’s short POSIT IFICANT, IVE G term, powerful therapy that can AINS! resolve your problems and dramatically improve your emotional, physical and spiritual well-being!

• • • • •

WEIGHT CONTROL QUIT SMOKING SELF ESTEEM CONFIDENCE DEEP RELAXATION

Need help? Be empowered to reach your full potential with professional, personal and natural therapy!

Lindy Poirier Psychotherapist

Dip. Adv. Psych., A.M.A.I.P.C., B.A.

Ph: 8278 4090 | Mob: 0422 070 942

Web: lindypoirier.ntpages.com.au

rationalist system that entrenches inequality?

In a country where benefits disproportionately flow to the upper echelons of society, poverty can become entrenched. Income inequality has become exacerbated to the point that it threatens the very fabric of our society. What Christian virtue can be found in a system that embeds inequality? What can be said of elected representatives determined to maintain unemployment benefits at a derisory level? Systematic inequality with an inadequate safety net takes away hope; this is an anathema to the scriptural teachings that one is ‘saved in hope’ (Romans 8:24).

Addressing systematic inequality is urgently needed but any hint of wealth redistribution is derided by politicians supposedly driven by Christian values. How do attacks on wealth redistribution score against an understanding of Luke 3:10-11, where John the Baptist responded to the question ‘what shall we do then’, by saying: ‘Whoever has two coats should share with the person who has none.

And whoever has food should do likewise.’?

Many figures in the Enlightenment criticised religion because it was seen to be derived from a specific set of social or historical circumstances. The values found in the scriptures remain important to today’s society, but it is difficult to identify serious rhetorical or political commitment to systematic change that will lead to the liberation of the poor and oppressed – ideas that so consistently run through the scriptures. Values still have a role to play in political discourse and they should be discussed and debated, whatever their source.

It is time to end the abuse of faith in politics.

Major Australiana Auction, Sunday 14th October, 1pm

Australian Colonial and Victorian Furniture, Lead light and Obet d’art including an 1850’s Huon Pine Chest, 1840’s Cedar Bookcase, Set of Four Full Lead light Panels and Fan Lights by F. Troy, Rare Blackwood Chest, Huon Pine Commode, Pine and Gum Trunk, Rare Specimen Timber Curtain Rods and Rings, Cedar Apothecary Cabinet and much more.

Inspection: Saturday 6th 9-12, Tuesday 9th to Friday 12th 9-5 and Saturday 13th 9-12.

Catalogue online from Tuesday 9th October

*BID ONLINE LIVE WITH WEBCAST* FULL CATALOGUES AT WWW.SCAMMELLAUCTIONS.COM.AU

7 Chapel Street, Norwood SA 5067 Ph: 08 8362 0404 Fax: 08 8363 6899

12

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

feature

The Thinkers float There is still potential for a future government/private sector/university collaboration without involvement from the Premier’s department.

Stephanie Johnston

T Gabe Kelly

he Thinkers in Residence program reminds us why Adelaide has an international reputation for policy innovation and creativity. “It is a bold idea,” said cultural revitalisation guru Charles Landry, an early participant in the program.

One of Landry’s propositions for the revitalisation of Adelaide was the appointment of an ‘urban animateur’, whose sole role would be to add value to existing initiatives by identifying opportunities to connect people, organisations and events, and to build Adelaide’s potential as a connected and strategic city. “This would be in contrast to the many roles recently established which control, regulate or adjudicate activities,” he suggested.

It could be argued that the Thinkers program ended up creating such a persona in the form of Gabe Kelly, in the role of program director. It is hard to think of a more effective and dynamic animateur, and yet the recent withdrawal of state government support for her program seems to indicate that the controllers, regulators and adjudicators may have won the day.

Or have they?

In a passionate address to Regional Development Australia’s recent state conference, Kelly sketched out a vision for the continuation of the initiative. She described the challenges facing democratic systems of governance, echoing Churchill’s famous dictum that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Democracy requires people to agree with each other, and this usually results in an unsatisfactory compromise to the weakest solution. Sharper, faster ways of collaborating are required to attain the radical shifts in policy necessary for nations, states and regions to successfully tackle a rapidly changing world.

“The Thinkers in Residence methodology provides us with just such a systems change model,” Kelly argued. “It introduces rapid innovation in policy, procedures and structure, and is applicable to both government and the private sector.”

Since its inception in 2003, the program has delivered numerous accelerated policy advances in health, water, sustainability, planning and innovation. It has leveraged more than $200 million of local and federal investment into new programs and infrastructure, while costing less than $6 million

over 10 years to run it. It has also built private sector investment from nothing at all to 60 percent.

A key instigator of the 2011 Göran Roos residency was peak industry association the Australian Industry Group, who partnered with the (then) Department for Trade and Economic Development, the City of Marion and the three universities to focus on the future of the state’s manufacturing sector. Roos was invited to work with 10 South Australian businesses to deliver an intensive business model innovation program. This assisted participants to recast their businesses for survival and prosperity in a high dollar, high cost and high wage environment.

According to AIG director Stephen Myatt, it would have been difficult to achieve this without the Thinkers in Residence framework. “It was a timely vehicle that enabled us to bring that proposition to government,” he told The Adelaide Review. “The pilot program was an unqualified success, with clear outcomes and benefits that we will continue to build on.”

For participant Alister Haigh, the program highlighted that innovation is not just about product but also about service. “We recognised Haigh’s growth will be driven by continuing to delight our loyal customers with outstanding service, new treats and a reliable selection of unique seasonal gifts,” he said. “These are the areas where innovation will bear fruit.”

The Adelaide Review asked Gabe Kelly how the Premier’s proposal to ‘float’ the program might work. “There is no doubt that we have a strong product,” she responded. “We have developed a world leading methodology that could evolve in a number of ways… The Belgian government recently flew someone over to take a look at the model, because they can see it offers a proven systems change mechanism, at a time when the biggest drag on progress is the inertia of systems.”

The Belgians are investigating a structure that would sit outside government, and Kelly believes that a two to three year transition plan could achieve the same here. “What is important is that the thinker is closely positioned to the power group of the issue that needs to be addressed,” she says.

“The methodology must involve serious leaders who can instigate and invest in change.”

At the end of the day the Thinkers program can be viewed as part of a proud tradition of progressive policy making, that dates back to the settlement of South Australia, and whose ultimate success will be realised in the trajectories of the ideas it has generated.

So Charles Landry’s and Blast Media’s work on cultural capital will inform the recently announced 2013 music residency, and this will in turn bolster the government’s vibrant city agenda. Similarly Fraser Mustard laid the groundwork for the highly successful Carla Rinaldi residency, which subsequently seeded the Premier’s ‘Every Chance for Every Child’ early childhood platform. “These trajectories confirm the undeniable value of engaging with people who see our region with different eyes,” the animateur concludes.

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

13

OPINION

LETTER FROM CYPRUS Alexander Downer

A

bout 20 percent of Cyprus’ population is Muslim, so I’ve watched with particular interest the recent violent reaction by some Muslims to an amateur film, made in America, which mocks Islam.

Frankly, I’ve been shocked by the violence of the reaction. To kill the American Ambassador to Libya because some screwball in America made an offensive film is a terrible thing. The mass demonstrations in various predominantly Muslim cities, including protests outside the American embassies, are alarming. Even in Sydney there were violent and ugly protests.

So what can we make of all this? Well, I had a look at the trailer of the film on YouTube and can see why pious Muslims would think it is offensive. It is.

But what the demonstrators are doing and demanding is astonishing. For a start, the United States is a country of 350 million people. It’s hardly surprising that those 350 million include a few people with extreme points of view and that the extreme points of view get published. But what has the film got to do with the US government?

It wasn’t authorised by Barack Obama or funded

by the federal government. It was just an ordinary expression of an offensive opinion.

The demonstrators are saying two things: first, such films “shouldn’t be allowed”. Well, that’s all very well in some parts of the world but the West allows freedom of speech and expression. This is a demand that the West changes the whole basis of society. That’s not going to happen.

But secondly, they apparently think it’s acceptable to riot, hurl rocks, beat people with polls and even kill diplomats if someone in that country does or says anything offensive. Imagine if every time some preacher got up in a mosque in Egypt and yelled out the old cry “death to America” and Americans went and burnt down the Egyptian embassy in Washington? Imagine if every time someone said something offensive anywhere in the world those who were offended took to the streets and set buildings on fire. The world would be in flames, permanently.

Some Westerners have tried to justify these actions by complaining the West has been hostile to Islam. That, of course, is nonsense.

In Syria, Muslims are fighting Muslims. So too in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Indonesia it was the killing of Muslims by terrorists, which turned the public against the Indonesian equivalent of Al Qaeda, Jemmah Islamiah. Those Westerners who always blame the West for every atrocity committed against Westerners sell out their culture and civilisation.

A few years ago a similar controversy erupted when a Danish newspaper published cartoons, which were offensive to most Muslims. They

Connect

with the power of the universe

You can harness virtually unlimited powers and attract people and events into your life, speed your body’s natural healing processes, create harmony around you. And much more.

These powers are universal. All you have to do is learn how.

For nearly 100 years, The Rosicrucian Order has made available its successful system of personal, home based study that gives you access to the fullest potential of being.

In simple weekly lessons our comprehensive approach makes your learning and personal development process easy.

It is a fraternity dedicated to mystical knowledge in the widest sense.

As the first step in discovering just how extraordinary you really are we invite you to read the Mastery of Life – see it at www.amorc.org.au or phone 1300 88 11 35 or email mastery@amorc.org.au for a free no-obligation copy.

THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER

mocked the Prophet. There were riots, the Danish Embassy in Islamabad was torched, other Danish embassies in Muslim countries were temporarily closed and so on.

I was the foreign minister at the time and the media asked me whether I thought Australian newspapers should publish the cartoons. I made a simple point; no one will ban them from publishing but if they do they need to think of the consequences. From recollection, none did, which was a relief. After all, we live next door to the largest Islamic country in the world.

But the need for responsible behaviour is a two-way street. Leaders in Islamic countries need to be leaders; they need to tell their communities what a film like this really is. It’s a private, back room film put together by a couple of oddballs. It should be studiously ignored.

The truth is, not too many leaders did that.

They didn’t want to be seen to be defending America against Islam. The result is, they made matters worse.

So in the midst of all this I sent an email to my best Muslim friend in Cyprus. I asked him what he thought about the reaction to the film.

His reply was crisp: “I haven’t seen the film but regardless, I think it is a great shame that learned Islamic clerics and leaders have not condemned the violence and declared such behaviour unfitting of a true Muslim.”

Wise words. Some Muslim leaders have condemned the violence but plenty have qualified their condemnation. That’s dangerous; it’s a half justification for the violence.

My Cypriot friend’s response, though, should help you remember that it is folly to generalise about Muslims. They vary greatly, as do Christians.

Islam in South East Asia is different from Islam in the Middle East. In Turkey, Islam is different again; in the main moderate bordering on the secular. In Cyprus, Muslims – who are the Turkish Cypriots – are traditionally quite secular; they bear no relationship to the hardliners who emanate from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East.

But let’s face it; the rioters of recent weeks have done the reputation of Islam real harm with nonMuslims. Their leaders need to ram that message home to their flocks, without qualification.

14

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

SCIENCE

Original thinker

Charles Darwin

Paul Willis

W

hen you think about it, there are only a few of us who will have an original thought during our lives.

Most of our thoughts concern the mundane details and rituals of daily life. We have to deal with the same challenges every day, not only situations that we’ve faced before, but occasions that confront many people. When we do explore new areas of thought, we are seldom the first to do so. Usually we follow in the footsteps of others or build incrementally on their work.

For me, this idea of original thought was the sexiest thing about doing research science. As I plodded away at my thesis on fossil crocodiles occasionally I would realise that I was dealing with a completely new species, even a new genus or subfamily of crocodiles that no one had ever known before. And I took a little egotistical delight in realising that no one in the whole history of humanity could have possibly had that thought before. It’s a

truly unsullied moment, never to be repeated.

I’m the first to admit that most of the original thoughts I can lay claim to are somewhat trivial. So what if there’s a new species of extinct crocodile?

It’s dead and buried (and subsequently disinterred!) and this piece of knowledge adds very little to the collective sum of human knowledge. As much as I might delight in this new idea, it won’t change anyone’s life, cure some horrible disease or rewrite our understanding of the universe.

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have had one of those major ideas in the history of science. How did James Hutton feel when he realised that rocks form and break down in cycles that recur back in time seemingly without end? Or Charles Darwin when he devised Natural Selection as a mechanism by which life had evolved through time? Or Albert Einstein when he had the stroke of genius to see that time and space are inextricably linked? There are so few of the truly great and fundamentally original ideas from throughout history that most of them are widely known both inside and outside of science.

I’ve had the opportunity to ask some of the greatest thinkers of our time exactly this question: how does it feel to have a great, original thought?

I once met James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and he thought it was a great way to meet women! Then last year I asked Brian Schmidt, Australia’s newest Nobel Laureate, what it was like. This occasion was a couple of months prior to him being awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the accelerated expansion of the universe and the so called ‘dark energy’. His answer? Humble.

To look deep into the workings of the universe and realise, for the first time, an essential and enigmatic feature of its operations made Brian feel elated, warm, satisfied but, most of all, humble.

That’s really the mark of this man. When you meet him one on one what strikes you is that he is a really nice guy. And his commitment to science

WHAT'S ON IN SCIENCE Bringing science to people and people to science The Science Exchange, 55 Exchange Pl Adelaide Bookings: riaus.org.au | t: 7120 8600

RiAus Art: Incredible Inner Space Continues until Wednesday, November 21 Monday to Friday 10am-5pm The Science Exchange Free, no booking required

See a range of incredible images revealing the exploration of inner space at the micro level.

In association with the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF).

Café Scientifique Wednesday, October 10, 6-7.30pm The Science Exchange

The Science Inspiration: Prof Brian Schmidt Thursday, October 25, 11am-12.30pm (Schools only session – free – registration required) The Science Exchange

Joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, Prof Brian Schmidt shares his inspirational life and love of science, from childhood to prize winner. School sessions will be streamed online at livestreaming.riaus.org.au

Urrbrae Wetlands Friday, October 5, 9am, 11.30am and 2pm Urrbrae High School – enter via Cross Road CSIRO’s Double Helix Science Club event $5 per child, adults free

Discover the structures that clean the water entering the wetland. Conduct water testing and check under the microscope to determine the health of the wetlands.

Science as Culture Friday, October 19, 2-3.30pm

Free, no booking required

Goolwa, SA

What is xenotransplantation? Is this the way of the future for organ donation?

Join RiAus as we bring together both experts and futurists to discuss scientific innovation.

Livestreamed at riaus.org.au

As part of the Regional Arts Australia National Conference, a panel of practising artists and scientists discuss the creativity of science and the science of art.

and science education was marked by him donating a sizeable chunk of the cash from the prize to the Australian Academy of Science to further their programs for child science education. A man who has stood on the frontiers of human knowledge and radically reorganised how we see the universe is keen to share that knowledge with the world and encourage the next generation to join him. Put simply, and in the vernacular, he’s a top bloke!

Well Adelaide, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can find out for yourselves! Brian Schmidt will be here in October to present a

special lecture for RiAus at The Science Exchange.

The Science Inspiration is our annual keynote address and it’s your chance to meet true Nobel nobility and engage with an inspiring, original and humble mind. Why not spend an evening on the edge of a rapidly expanding universe?

Dr Paul Willis is the Director of RiAus (Royal Institute of Australia)

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

The quiet epidemic While many believe the biggest killer of people with serious mental illness is suicide, research has revealed the mentally ill are dying 25 years younger than the life expectancy from curable diseases.

Dr Joseph Parks

Louise Pascale

T

aking the stage dressed as a nurse, Kylie Harrison plays a very important role during this month’s Mental Health Week. She is Miss Communication, a stand up comic breaking down the stigma associated with mental illness.

“A lot of people have to face mental illness,” Harrison says. “Sometimes with it some people think, ‘should I laugh at this? Are we allowed to laugh at this?’ But I’m saying it in a comical way.”

The irony of miscommunication is not lost on this performer. For 19 years she has lived with bipolar disorder, an illness that formed after receiving the wrong medication for chill blains. Waking from a coma she found her life had transformed forever and from the age of 14 has tried multiple medications, finding the right one just five years ago. While she experienced many medications she found one common side effect.

“When I am on my medication, especially at the start, I will start to crave food all the time and I will especially crave sugar and carbohydrates and just eat, eat, eat,” she says. “I was eating a block of chocolate a day and when I woke up out of my psychosis I am looking in the mirror at a stranger. I have put on 20 kilos and I look different and you just think, ‘what happened?’”

Weight gain from medications is commonly known among those living with mental illness.

However it was not until 2006 when Dr Joseph Parks published research in the United States that he revealed an epidemic. By examining mortality rates of people living with serious mental illness he found they were dying 25 years earlier than the general population, and not by suicide.

“Far more people with serious mental illness die of heart disease, hypertension, respiratory illness, diabetes,” Dr Parks says. “If our goal is for people with mental illness to recover and have a full life in the community we have to keep them alive. Nobody recovers from schizophrenia after they are dead from a heart attack at 50.”

While Australia has not made the same statistical analysis our 2010 national survey of psychotic illness provided an alarming snapshot. It too demonstrated that one quarter of people with serious mental illness were at high risk of cardiovascular disease with almost half being obese. Levels of physical activity were also far lower than the general population with 96.4% classified as either sedentary or undertaking

low levels of exercise.

These findings propelled the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia into action. Last month they invited Dr Parks to present his findings to both those living with mental illness and the clinicians treating them.

For those living with serious mental illness Dr Parks believes they should educate themselves and question the care and medications they are receiving. However what is really hindering them here in Australia is the lack of communication within our healthcare system. Currently there is no formal system of sharing patient information between general practitioners and their mental healthcare providers.

This mismanagement of information is often at the heart of Harrison’s issues when receiving care. She has had the same psychiatrist since she was a teenager who works in a private practice.

Yet when she becomes unwell she has to be treated in the public system. Her patient file is not shared between psychiatrists leaving her to fight for the care and medication she knows she needs. However under Dr Parks’ integrated care model, information about types of medication and why people are taking them is shared. He argues this is imperative as “it’s not reasonable to ask the patient to keep track of that”.

While in Australia Dr Parks met with State and Federal ministers and found the biggest concern over information sharing were our privacy laws.

Clinicians he presented to expressed frustration at this and agreed not sharing key information does more harm to the patient.

Acknowledging the next step for Australia’s mental healthcare sector is a policy debate Dr Parks is optimistic for our mental healthcare services.

“What I envy about Australia, that we don’t have as much in the US, is there’s a much stronger general consensus that people should be taking care of each other and that’s something precious you should all hold on to. You really are very generous and supportive of each other and I think that is a great value in keeping people healthy and having long lives.”

Harrison works as a peer worker for Life Without Barriers and uses her own experiences to help people living with mental illness. Her medication keeps her well and she has never felt so good. Yet she admits: “I have to live for today. I can’t worry about 20 years time what will happen but it is scary to not have a back up and that if this [medication] stuffs up then you’re in trouble.”

Introducing YWCA of Adelaide’s SHE Leads Program – SA’s only 12 month leadership program specifically designed to develop young women as South Australia’s future female leaders • Strengthen your skills, widen your networks and increase your confidence • Perform at a higher level • Build your career pathway Evidence tells us that an investment in women’s leadership improves business performance, increases productivity, and delivers higher than average stock performance SHE Leads gives employers the opportunity to invest in their female talent in the early stages of their leadership development ... as the war for talent increases in the future, leaders will need to do the gender math. Increasingly, for most CEOs - male and female - managing gender parity is not a luxury: it’s a necessity to ensure continued growth and success in the global marketplace.

Bain & Company global Gender Parity study

Starts 16 November 2012 For more details and to book a place on the SHE Leads Program contact Jody Anderson 8203 9410 or jody.anderson@ywca.com.au Or visit www.ywca.com.au/sheleads

Miss Communication performs at The Mercury Cinema on Friday, October 12 at 6pm

@YWCAAdelaide

YWCAAdelaide

15

16

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

OPINION

Balancing the old and new Nineteenth Century American Pulitzer Prize winning historian and author, Henry Adams once said; “a teacher affects eternity; one can never tell where their influence stops”.

Carl Crossin

“

T

his idea has stayed with me throughout my career as a musician and as an educator, and when it comes to the impact of music – and music teaching – in our lives, there is nothing more apt than this notion of the deep linear impact of mentorship. Most of us can look back at our own formal education and find an inspirational mentor whose passion, care and dedication and is still influencing our lives.

We are living in interesting times where unpredictability, the increased corporatisation of artistic and educational infrastructure, and ever-increasing financial pressures continue to have a deleterious impact on the Australian cultural landscape. This certainly rings true in the world of music education. When talking about the challenges of high-end art and its ability to diversify in order to survive, I believe it is important to first look to the past.

The University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music is the oldest tertiary music school in Australia and boasts a history that epitomises some of our greatest musical and educational traditions.

Its century-old staff list includes some of the most notable and influential musicians in Australia’s musical history: Bishop, Ives, Tancibudek, Peters, Dosser and Leske to name but a few. The Elder Conservatorium has been ‘influencing eternity’ for well over a hundred years.

The Elder Conservatorium does many things but at its core are three elements: artistic and creative activity, teaching and learning, and community engagement, including concert giving.

All three of these are inextricably linked. There is a synergy between these three elements that values both tradition and innovation; that values the richness of cultural memory as well as the essential need to shape our own future with the cutting edge of innovation. And there is at the heart of our work the eternal fire of inspiration.

Elder Hall

With financial pressures continuing to squeeze the educational sector, Conservatoriums around the country face great challenges in providing the quality musical education and training that is expected by the profession – and by the students.

Under-funding of Conservatorium style music education continues to be an issue – particularly at the federal level. By its nature, music education is expensive and there is no getting around this.

It is no different to training to be a surgeon or a dentist – music needs highly specialised and focused training and this comes at a cost.

Music training at the Conservatorium includes a variety of educational modes – lectures, tutorials, rehearsals, master classes and concerts – but at the heart of any instrumental or vocal student’s musical education is the one-to-one lesson. Every major conservatorium around the world (from the Julliard School in New York to the Sibelius Academy in Finland) has one-to-one teaching at its core.

Many Conservatoriums overseas dedicate considerably more hours of one-to-one training than those in Australia. The unfortunate fact is that the Federal Government’s base-funding model virtually guarantees that every new music student awarded a place in a conservatoriumstyle undergraduate music program in this

AMCHAM Internode BusIness LunCHeon InnovAtIon In WIneMAkIng FrIdAy 30tH noveMBer

InterContinental Adelaide, 11.45 – 2pm

Prue Henschke Viticulturist Henschke Wines t: 8212 4688

d’Arry osborn oAM Wine Industry Legend d’Arenberg Wines

e: sa@amcham.on.net

emmanuelle requinBekkers Winemaker Chalk Hill Wines

THe ADeLAiDe

review

country will push the institution further into debt.

The bottom line is that the expenditure needed to effectively train and educate musicians simply isn’t matched by the income received.

As a response to the pressures of underfunding, the Elder Conservatorium continues to look at ways and strategies to assist in the diversification of its offerings. We embrace the challenge of finding the balance between maintaining our proud traditions while still moving with the times and responding to the needs of our very diverse audiences.

Probably the most publicly visible aspects of Conservatorium life are our various concerts. We are fortunate to have one of Australia’s leading concert halls – Elder Hall – in the heart of our city and campus. Increasingly Elder Hall has become a ‘hall for everyone’. The level of activity and diversity in talent that Elder Hall attracts is inspiring. Musicians and cultural groups from across the city and around the world transform the hall into a cultural hub. There are presently plans to diversify the venue further in conjunction with the current restoration appeal.

On a regular basis audiences can enjoy the spacious acoustic and clarity of Elder Hall and hear a huge range of concerts and other activities from classical symphonies to celebrations of the ‘jazz

Its century-old staff list includes some of the most notable and influential musicians in Australia’s musical history: Bishop, Ives, Tancibudek, Peters, Dosser and Leske to name but a few. The Elder Conservatorium has been ‘influencing eternity’ for well over a hundred years." great’ to glorious unaccompanied choral music to experimental music for computers to the latest popular music composed by the students of the Conservatorium’s newest course. And speaking of diversity, the Conservatorium now engages in specialised training, education and creative activities in eight specialisations: Classical Performance, Jazz Performance, Music Education, Performance & Pedagogy, Composition, Musicology, Sonic Arts (formerly Music Technology) and Popular Music & Creative Technologies. It is this diversity of offerings, combined with a judicious and respectful balance of tradition and innovation that will ensure the Conservatorium remains not only relevant but in the hearts and minds of all South Australians.

Carl Crossin OAM is the Director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music

about.me/christopherwong

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

17

FEATURE

Paper, ink and ochre Bruce Nabegyo Australia, 1949 Kunwinjku people, Northern Territory Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent) 2002, Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory; printed by the Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne lithograph on paper Gift of Adrian Newstead 2007 Art Gallery of South Australia

Stephen Forbes

O

ne of the most remarkable and important features of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens is the Santos Museum of Economic Botany. Construction of the present Museum began in 1879 and the Museum opened in 1881.

A history of the Museum’s exhibits and exhibitions tells the story of the changing roles of botanic gardens, and Adelaide Botanic Gardens in particular. After the stringencies of the war years and the Great Depression, Gardens’ director Noel Lothian revisited the role of the Museum in 1948 – shifting the emphasis from economic botany, an essentially ethnographic and agricultural botanical collection, to an essentially didactic botanical science collection. Noel’s endeavour was significant in re-establishing the Gardens’ authority as a collections-based scientific and cultural institution and included the formation of the State Herbarium and repatriation of the botanical collection library from the State Library.

At the same time as Noel was revisiting the Museum the 1948 American Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land was underway.

Arthur Calwell, the Minister of State for the Interior endorsed the suggestion from Charles P. Mountford ‘… a valued senior officer of my Department’ for ‘… the largest expedition in Australian history dealing with medical, nutritional, ethnological and natural history research.’

While there might be a temptation today to see some irony in the deaccessioning of the ethnographic collection in the Museum while a major scientific expedition was being launched to explore this field such an analysis would largely miss the point. The purpose of botanic gardens (and our other collections-based cultural institutions) shifts continually - sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes perceptibly.

The narrative that continues to drive botanic gardens is the relationship between people, plants and culture. What the priorities are at a particular point in time for a particular botanic gardens and for society continues to change.

The central message of museums of economic botany – a 19th century institution once present in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne – is a powerful one that deserves close attention today. The effective stewardship of plants and the minimisation of waste

Think pink, eat mushrooms.

Just three a day for a healthier life.

Don’t be in the dark about the power of mushrooms Visit www.powerofmushrooms.com.au

in the utilisation of their resources are inherent in the term ‘economic botany’. The term resonates deeply with both Carl Linnaeus’s Oeconomy of Nature (an earlier and largely theological version of James Lovelock’s Gaia theory) and a contemporary sustainability agenda.

Etymologically the ‘economic’ derives from the Greek oikonomia - from oikos (house) and nomos (law) – the management of the household.

To the ancient cultures, good economy was prudent household management to minimise waste - effectively managing and utilising scarce resources. The contemporary use of the term is very different to that in use when the gold lettering was first applied to the façade of Adelaide Botanic Gardens’ Museum of Economic Botany.

The original museum collection acknowledged and explored Indigenous people’s innovation with plant materials. Plant resources are stewarded and addressed in innovative and ingenious ways to sustain and enrich lives and to provide diverse products such as food, medicine, shelter, tools, fibre, dyes, clothing and art.

The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Australian Aboriginal people vividly illustrates

alternative ways of seeing and knowing. The transformation of the Museum from an economic botany focus to a botanical science museum in 1948 prior to the regeneration in 2009 underscores the challenges inherent in developing and managing collections, and in developing understanding across cultures and disciplines.

Paper, ink and ochre, the current exhibition in the Santos Museum of Economic Botany, opened on September 15. The exhibition is an important one on a number of levels. The exhibition is of Indigenous works on paper from the Art Gallery of South Australia’s collection and includes early works on card collected by Charles P Mountford during the 1948 American Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land as well as an 18 minute film of the Expedition from the National Film & Sound Archive. More recent works are included from the same communities together with works from Ramingining in Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands and Amata in the South Australian Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands.

The works selected explore and celebrate the role of art in sharing cultural knowledge of plants, animals and country. The works reinforce the notion that there is more than one system of knowledge and that knowledge is intimately bound into social and spiritual contexts. The presence of these works within the Santos Museum of Economic Botany is especially significant.

The spirit of collaboration characterising the relationship between South Australia’s collectionsbased cultural institutions is one of the joys of working in Adelaide. Here, the Art Gallery and the Gardens, have worked together to allow this exhibition to be presented during the Museums Australia national conference. The curators of Paper ink and ochre – Nici Cumpston and Lisa Slade from the Art Gallery of South Australia, and Tony Kanellos, curator of the Santos Museum of Economic Botany have presented a beautiful and important exhibition (unfortunately Tony’s broken leg has so far precluded him visiting the exhibition he worked so hard to make a reality).

Stephen Forbes is the Executive Director of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide Paper ink and ochre Santos Museum of Economic Botany Adelaide Botanic Gardens Continues until Sunday, January 27

18

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FEATURE

THIRD AGE

A need to exorcise Shirley Stott Despoja

A

friend’s aunt (a contemporary of mine) used to come to the breakfast table at her home in NZ in the mid-1950s to find that there were holes in the newspaper where articles had been cut out. She was 15, and the censorship was occasioned by reports of the crime and trial of two Christchurch schoolgirls who murdered the mother of one of the girls with a brick.

I was 17 when I heard about them, a student, struggling a little with growing up and away from my own family. It gave me the shivers, this case of murder and matricide by girls close to my own age. The reports of the behaviour of these two teenagers rocked everyone’s world a bit, especially as one of them, Juliet Hulme, then 15, was the daughter of an upper middle class, academic family at the centre of the then very Anglo society of Christchurch. Pauline Parker, whose mother Honora Parker/Rieper was killed, was 16, and from a less advantaged background.

It was a horrible crime, planned (in her diary, Pauline called it the “moider”), but hardly thought out, by a ratty pair of girls infatuated with each other and the fantasy life they had created. The idea was to prevent adults separating them. Highly intelligent they may have been, but out of touch with reality they certainly were. That didn’t stop them being

found guilty, detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure (in different prisons) and the evidence of psychiatrists being set aside in favour of “bad not mad”.

This crime has contemporary ramifications, as some readers may know. In 1994, Juliet Hulme was found living in Scotland – and famous as ‘Anne Perry’, a writer of Victorian crime fiction; almost as successful as she had been, 40 years before, reviled and infamous. The ‘outing’ was precipitated by the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures. Ugly things happened. How on earth could any human being cope with such a revelation about her past; even if she had half-expected it every day of her life since leaving prison some five years after the crime? A new book, The Search for Anne Perry, by Joanne Drayton (HarperCollins), tells how.

Anne Perry is now in her 70s, still writing: some good mysteries, some not so good (one of them was my bad book of the year once). But many people love her books, which have sold in the millions.

Third Agers will find her story of special interest for we are now all dealing with our past as never before as it looms so large compared with what we see as our future. Even the squirm factor often keeps us awake into the small hours: stupid things we’ve said and done. We all have regrets; but shame is something else.

How does Perry cope with the shame of so brutally and stupidly ending someone’s life? Are we the same person at 15, 16 as we are now in our third age? Don’t we mostly like to think that we are, and that our basic values have not changed despite maturity? Anne Perry certainly can’t afford to think that. To survive and flourish as she has, she must see her teenage self as an aberration caused by several

GUN AMNESTY

1 AUGUST – 31 OCTOBER 2012

FOR A SAFER

SOUTH AUSTRALIA SASA SASA A G000 AS 000 0033

From 1 August to 31 October 2012, hand in any unregistered, illegal or unwanted guns to your nearest police station.

WWW.POLICE.SA.GOV.AU OR CALL 1800 071 507.

The evolution of our atmosphere

“

How does Perry cope with the shame of so brutally and stupidly ending someone’s life? Are we the same person at 15, 16 as we are now in our third age?"

factors: illness, long separations from her parents, infatuation, inability to see consequences of planned actions, extreme adolescent nuttiness. Without necessarily excusing herself, this gifted woman probably also acknowledges that her parents were too distracted by goings-on in their own lives to help her navigate a difficult girlhood. Her father Henry Hulme, by the way, abandoning her after her arraignment, denouncing her from on board the ship to UK, went on to have a big career as head of the British hydrogen bomb program, with glowing obituaries in The Times and other London papers. Life did go on (rather splendidly for him), and for her mother, stepfather and brother and for her partner in crime Pauline, and also, eventually, in a rewarding way for Anne Perry. Pauline’s family did less well. And of course, her poor mother died.

It does not do to think what that woman‘s final thoughts were, after wondering what the dear girl was doing with that brick in her hands.

Joanne Drayton tells the story well. It is fascinating. Just the way Perry’s publishers and agents coped with the bombshell after thinking they had known the genteel, matchinghandbag-and- shoes woman for decades is worth a read. Incidentally, the Mormon church comes out of it well for its support of its 1968 convert Perry when the secret was known by very few. But the book provokes deeper thought about dealing with the past, duration of guilt, and the question: who are we?

The skeletons in our closet may never be as ghastly as Perry’s, but we are all involved in rearranging memories and justifying some things. Anne Perry has had to do it, big time, in the public glare, a very rough deal indeed.

To comprehend the carbon debate, it is important to realise that over the aeons, the atmosphere of the earth has undergone profound alterations in its composition. Scientific estimates for the age of the earth are in the range of 4.5 billion years.

The early atmosphere was thought to be similar to the gases of the solar nebula, consisting mainly of hydrogen. At a later stage carbon dioxide and nitrogen were added to the mix through volcanism. Free oxygen did not exist until 1.7 billion years ago, peaking 280 million years ago at 30 percent. Now it represents just 20 percent of our atmosphere. This brief and incomplete summary is set out to show some of the major changes that have taken place.

There is evidence that since the commencement of the Industrial Age, carbon emissions have led to a steep increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide as well as the increasing acidity of the oceans. Rather than polarising the discussion by introducing the topic of global warming and climate change, I prefer to concentrate on pollution because there is widespread community support for sustainability and control of pollution.

In my opinion, we are facing a scientific challenge, which can best be managed by community education and support for direct action rather than by the imposition of yet another tax. Do we really want to follow the policies adopted In Europe? The banks have had a field day trading in yet another financial instrument. But have carbon emissions in Europe declined since the introduction of Carbon Trading Credits? That is the question.

Until 2010 there was some evidence to support a decline in emissions but recent figures contradict the earlier findings.

Hackers have made off with the Trading Credits of Hungary and Greece learned to its cost recently that there was no market for its credits despite the collapse in the trading price. Meanwhile in Australia, the scheme of Carbon Sequestration introduced by the Howard Government has continued and been augmented. Malcolm Turnbull spoke in support of terra petra, which is the capture of carbon by pyrolytic burning of wood to produce charcoal. If the Indigenous Indians of South America were able to trap carbon and improve soil fertility using this process, surely it is not beyond our resources to do the same?

Soil scientists have long emphasised the vast sink of carbon in the soil and the potential to put this knowledge to use but as yet only the farming fraternity has responded positively.

Instead we have been burdened with a Carbon Tax. Within a week of the passage of the bill through parliament, Gillard and Howes appeared on television together, with Gillard assuring Howes that 94.6 percent of the tax collected from industries such as aluminum, glass and steel would be returned to them to maintain employment levels. I cannot follow how such a scheme would reduce the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Last week we learned that the two major power stations in Victoria using brown coal would not be closed down. Furthermore they would still be entitled to a massive payment of dollars. In my opinion, this is both a catastrophe and a total farce...

It is time to axe the tax.

Catherine Boros, Glen Osmond

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

19

letters Demand a level playing field Andrew Hunter, I agree with your opinion piece. I have been expressing my outrage over many issues in Australia since I returned from overseas a few years ago, with letters to editors and various politicians, but the majority of the population seem more interested in football, cars and clothes than pressing social, economic and cultural issues that affect them deeply. Many are heavily in debt, both partners have multiple jobs, their children are in child-care – don’t they realise that their standard of living is going rapidly downhill, while that of a few extremely wealthy owners of our minerals, natural resources and major industries is increasing out of all proportion to their contribution to society? The income of major company directors has increased from 30 times that of their lowest-paid employees to 400 times in a couple of decades! This is shocking and immoral. Our laws don’t allow the shareholders of listed companies to decide what directors and managers are paid! They decide their own salaries! Why can’t the rest of us do that? Why don’t people know this? Because the press doesn’t tell us and neither do our politicians.

Our citizens can and should demand that our politicians level the playing field.

Here are a few issues (there are many others that we should be outraged about) that I believe should concern the average person: 1. The daily newspapers in Australia are controlled by a very rich minority. They support monopoly capitalism and influence the majority to do likewise. Read the opinion pieces in the weekend Age... they all support monopoly capitalism and the rich and powerful, while the few political letters to the editor that they print are all to the left. We need a leftist national daily newspaper. Anyone interested?

2. Monopoly capitalism controls much of our economy. We need to break up monopolies like Woolworths and Coles and the oil companies and big banks, to bring competition back and reduce prices to consumers. We should bring back state-owned banks to provide competition to the banks that are overcharging mortgage owners, consumers and small-businesses. We should nationalise the railways, metropolitan buses and other industries where there is inherently no competition. Small business people should realise that there is a big difference between small and big business. Small businesses make

“

The daily newspapers in Australia are controlled by a very rich minority.

They support monopoly capitalism and influence the majority to do likewise." little profit because they can’t compete with monopoly businesses. Small business owners should wake up and support the left.

3. We should raise taxes for the very rich who control our industry. If Francois Hollande, the newly elected President of France can tax the income of the very rich at 80 percent, why can’t we? I have met many high-level company directors and owners and they have no more brains than the rest of us, not do they work harder - most have inherited their wealth or exploited the rest of the population unmercifully. They have no inherent right to their wealth or power. The government needs to impose a limit on the accumulation of wealth, property and power, but it’s hard to tell the difference between the ALP and the NCP these days.

4. BHP has stopped development of Olympic Dam. The government should take over the deposit and proceed with development using contractors. If governments around the world like the Saudis, the UAE, the Qataris, the Kuwaitis, the South Americans and the Asians can re-nationalise their oil and gas and mineral deposits and profit hugely from accelerated development, why can’t we? Why should we be at their mercy of companies like BHP and Rio Tinto and give them exclusive development rights and the right to import cheap labor while our own people remain untrained and unemployed?

5. Why have we moved from free tertiary education for our children to expensive tertiary education with lingering debt and massive education of overseas students while our own students are excluded from key faculties?

I could go on all day, but at least I have given you a taste of my outrage.

Michael

Correction To David Knight, Editor, It feels necessary to register some comments on the ‘Connected’ article by John Neylon in the September issue of The Adelaide Review, page 42. Neylon’s comments on my ‘family tree’ exhibition were playful, wide ranging, intelligent and he portrayed the show and me fairly. I was elated by his effort to understand and reflect a show that I have been working toward for the past 18 months.

I was quite deflated by the image that accompanied Neylon’s article. It was not my image, it had my name on it and my title but it was not my image. My photograph is a vertical rectangle with the subject, a forked pine branch, fully in the frame. There is a subtle dark ‘X’ that intersects behind the shaft of the branch and there are subtle gradations of light working up from relative darkness to the light at the fork. What was published was, at best, half of my picture but it had my name and my title attached with no indication that the image published was a ‘detail’ of the original work of art. I wonder if, as a poet, I submitted a nine-line poem I might expect four lines to be published!

I have had a significant influence on the artrelated use of photography in Adelaide since 1977 when I was hired to establish the first photography course at a BA level in SA with the SA School of Art. I lectured there for 24 years and had a part in bringing photography back into Adelaide’s art-consciousness. A large part of the battle, even among the artists in the school, was to gain a greater degree of understanding and respect for the integrity and the complexity of the photographic image in an art context. [Mark Kimber, an ex-student, is currently the head of Photography at the SA School of Art.] The digital image files I submitted to represent my art in the ‘family tree’ exhibition were full frame representations of my artworks. What was published had very little to do with my art or the ‘family tree’ exhibition.

Ed Douglas

Putting the cart before the horse John Spoehr’s article in the September issue of The Adelaide Review [Abbottonian ‘Aus’ terity not the answer’] is as irresponsible as it is dishonest. In what seems to be an attempt to cash in on the presumed economic illiteracy of his audience, Spoehr pulls off the amazing feat of blaming Europe’s woes on its ‘neoliberal austerity program’. This puts the cart before the horse – the austerity program is a response to a crisis; what caused the crisis?

Don’t ask - because, unfortunately for Spoehr, it is the kind of government spending that he advocates.

Spoehr goes onto explain that Europe’s crisis is a tragedy made worse by the policies of austerity; but still he won’t recount what caused the tragedy in the first place. He gives the half-baked dishonest answer that it was the tardy and erratic adoption of the stimulus policies, which ‘prevailed in Australia’. This is followed by a rant against Abbott.

It is frightening for Australia’s future that such political partisanship can exist in our universities.

Spoehr should be challenging himself and his students to question carefully everything that they believe in. He should be ashamed of such a dishonest piece of writing, but at least he has the insight to critically appraise his work as ‘sycophancy of the Labor party’.

L. M. McLaughlin, Linden Park

UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS A N T I Q U E S & C O L L E C TA B L E S

Want to be heard?

Please email all letters to editor@adelaidereview.com.au

SA PRIZE GIVEAWAY Advantage SA’s Buy South Australian campaign and The Adelaide Review have teamed up to offer a monthly all South Australian prize giveaway.

To go in the running for this fantastic prize please go to buysouthaustralian.com.au and enter today!

This month’s prize is a carton of cider and an ice-bucket filled with goodies from Aussie Cider worth over $160!

For an eclectic range of Antique Furniture & Home Decorator Ideas.

• 19th C British Raj Furniture & Collectables • Tribal Indian Antiques • Architectural Pieces

103-105 Main Road, Nairne, SA 5252 Open Thurs - Mon plus Public Holidays Hours: 11.00am - 5.00pm Phone: 8388 6167 www.upstairsdownstairsantiques.net

20

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

health

Hypertension – the notension prescription Avni Sali

A

n important measure of health status used by the medical profession is the assessment of blood pressure.

Blood pressure (BP) is a measure of blood flow in and out of arteries, as shown through a systolic and diastolic reading. High blood pressure means the heart, for example, must work harder to pump the blood to circulate around the body. This obviously places an increased strain on the heart and other organs, and causes further reason for concern as high blood pressure is considered a major risk factor for many other chronic illnesses including cardiovascular diseases such as congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, angina and hyperlipidemia, and other illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, dementia, kidney disease and cognitive impairment.

It is estimated that one in three people suffer from high blood pressure and as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide – according to the World Heath Organization, over 17 million people died from a cardiovascular diseases in 2008. The incidence of high blood pressure is steadily rising and one of the first ways we can effectively start to address this health issue is to understand that when we measure blood pressure, what we are really measuring is the presence of hypertension (HT).

Hypertension is caused by a range of lifestyle factors and it is important to understand that it

is hypertension that needs treatment, not blood pressure. The explanation is simple; we need to treat the causes of high blood pressure – stress and tension, not the effects – elevated blood pressure. In this way, we use the principles of integrative medicine to modify the causes of stress, rather than only prescribing a pill that reduces the blood pressure but does little to address why it is elevated in the first place. A recent study has revealed that drugs alone may have a questionable impact on longevity.

In most cases it is impossible to isolate a single underlying cause for hypertension – causes are lifestyle related and multi-factorial.

Consequently, there are non-drug treatments that can be effective in the management and treatment of hypertension, either alone or in addition to the use of drugs.

The lifestyle prescription for hypertension includes: • Stress reduction and management • Adequate sleep and/or sleep restoration • Physical activity • Smoking cessation • Healthy diet and nutrition, including appropriate supplements • Maintaining a healthy body weight and/or weight loss management • Salt restriction • Sun exposure and fresh air • Moderate restriction of alcohol and caffeine intake • Chocolate, specifically cocoa

Research into the lifestyle interventions that are fundamental to integrative medicine has clearly shown: Those who were rushed, impatient and hostile had nearly double the incidence of HT over 15 years. Cumulative mental stress also affects HT. Meditation (particularly Transcendental Meditation) showed significant outcomes for reduced blood pressure, with individual therapy for anger management and stress management also showing demonstrable effects.

Chronic insomnia and shortened sleep patterns can increase the risk of HT by 2.4 times.

Insufficient sleep is directly linked to HT. An active life can reduce the risk of developing HT by between 35 and 70 percent compared to sedentary individuals. Exercise is highly beneficial with 75 percent of HT sufferers significantly reducing their blood pressure in as little as one week.

Weight loss of 4.5 kilograms can reduce blood pressure as much as an anti-hypertensive medication, especially when combined with dietary salt restriction. In one recent weight loss study, 80 percent of participants were able to control their BP without blood pressure medication. Even as little as a three to nine percent reduction in body weight (in overweight individuals) can be beneficial to blood pressure.

Dietary changes can be used very effectively to manage blood pressure levels.

Our diet can be affected by tension and stress, especially as we typically don’t eat in

“Life is beautiful and I want to get the best out of it.

That’s why I choose Swisse.”

Tommy Hafey – Australian Football Legend

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

21

health

“

It is estimated that one in three people suffer from high blood pressure and as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide."

an optimal way in times of stress. Nutritional deficiencies can then contribute to our body’s inability to cope with stress, so what we eat is doubly important with regards to hypertension.

A recent study has shown that stress can lead to the retention of body salts. Many studies have highlighted the importance of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and wholegrains such as the Mediterranean or DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets. But there are also specific foods or macronutrients which can regulate blood pressure.

Protein, particularly non-animal protein sources have consistently been associated with a reduction in blood pressure. Lean wild meats and other protein sources such as fermented milk proteins, soy, whey and fish proteins can also be useful in managing hypertension, and good fibre sources are also desirable.

Fats in the diet can impact on blood pressure in both positive and negative ways. Trans fat or unhealthy fats can increase blood pressure while healthy fats, in particular fish oils high in omega-3, are very effective in reducing blood pressure, especially when combined with weight loss. Including oily fish in the diet has many protective benefits. In fact, heart disease was noticeably absent in Eskimo populations with traditional high fish intake diets.

There is good evidence that foods rich in potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and calcium can reduce blood pressure. A supplement can be useful if dietary intake is inadequate.

The mineral sodium, or salt, has continually

proven to raise BP so it is wise to minimise sodium intake by not adding salt to meals during cooking or at the table.

Garlic, in a fermented supplement form, can also reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients plus lower cholesterol. Over thirty research studies have been conducted on the value of fermented garlic and its hypotensive and protective properties, proving garlic a valuable part of any HT treatment plan.

Co-enzyme Q10 is an important component of the energy production of our bodies at a cellular level. It has been shown to significantly reduce blood pressure and is found to be deficient in many patients with a cardiovascular disease.

In one study, over 51 percent of patients were able to discontinue antihypertensive drugs in a four to six month trial during which Co-Q10 supplements were taken. There is also evidence that normalising vitamin D levels can help in improving hypertension.

For chocolate lovers, there is excellent news. Cocoa, as found in dark chocolate or raw cocoa powder, has been proven to reduce blood pressure. Blood pressure is reduced when polyphenols, a naturally occurring compound in cocoa, form nitric acid in the body, which has the effect of relaxing and opening blood vessel walls. A daily dose of a high-cocoa content dark chocolate (not sugar-laden milk or white chocolate) is an ideal and tasty adjuvant therapy to other lifestyle interventions.

It is commonsense that to manage hypertension, we need to manage the tension

or stress that is causing it. Eighty percent of all people will naturally experience some level of increased blood pressure in response to stress. Some of the best lifestyle interventions are exercise, diet and relaxation - all of which are free and without side effects. These and the other factors listed above are evidencebased, effective ways to limit, prevent, delay the onset, reduce the severity, treat and control hypertension in all people. It is not a natural state for the body and mind to be tense. While the pace of life does create extra demands on our time and resources, the management of tension and stress, and therefore the prevention of hypertension, should be considered just as important, if not more important, to the daily practice of life as our other responsibilities and commitments. Dial down the pressure and enjoy good health and a happy life - the best prescription a doctor can write.

Professor Avni Sali is Founding Director of the National Institute of Integrative Medicine (NIIM) niim.com.au

Swisse Ultiboost Wild Krill Oil Swisse Ultiboost Wild Krill Oil contains premium quality 100% wild Neptune Krill Oil sourced sustainably from the Southern Ocean to help support cardiovascular health and joint mobility.

Swisse Ultiboost Wild Krill Oil contains Neptune Krill Oil to help relieve inflammation associated with osteoarthritis and help support healthy cholesterol levels in healthy individuals.

Wild Neptune Krill Oil provides a great source of omega-3 and is a rich source of astaxanthin – a potent and natural antioxidant to help combat potential free radical damage.

Australia’s Number 1 Krill Oil*.

CHC: 52545-08/12

*Aztec sales data: MAT 03/06/12 (grocery & pharmacy combined) Always read the label. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist see your health care professional.

22

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

feature

The Queen Liz precinct This charming street in the inner west suburb or Croydon has been popular for some time but with more businesses moving in it is becoming a mecca for vintage shopping and gourmet eats.

EATS Queen Street Café 12 Elizabeth Street

Owners Ben and Dominika Johnston established Queen Street Café in 2004 on the back of the success of the original Duthy Street Deli – they also own Bistro Dom. With rustic tables and a relaxed atmosphere the cafe has been dishing out delicious food since the doors opened.

The Croydon Store Jane Llewellyn

W

ith affordable housing prices plus three means of public transport – trains, trams and buses – it’s not surprising that many young professionals are moving in and hip young things are making the trip west to lunch and shop.

The charm of the Queen Street/Elizabeth Street strip is immediately obvious as you are greeted with murals adorning the train station, painted stobie poles and mosaic pot plants decorating the footpath. Owner of Vintage homewares and furniture store One Small Room (OSR), Timothy Cichero describes this unique charm: “There is something special about the area, the old villas, the empty shops full of character and the positively old school sound of the railway bells.”

Cichero and his wife Rebekah were attracted to the street because they felt it could develop into a high street like those in London. Cichero explains: “We had seen how successful suburban high streets can be from our time living in London. The ingredients were there to create a high street that people like us wanted to go to.”

With a variety of places to eat and shop it’s well worth the trip. Whether you’re after one of the best breakfasts in town at Queen Street Café or a vegetarian feed at Let Them Eat there is something for everyone. Interestingly the Queen Street Café and most of the businesses are actually on the Elizabeth Street part of the strip – Queen Street only makes up a small part

of the street between Port Road and the train tracks and then it turns into Elizabeth Street.

With the rise in popularity of artisan bakeries, Red Door Bakery has developed an almost cult like following since it opened on Elizabeth Street (aka Queen Street) in 2010 and another branch has just opened on King William Road, Goodwood with plans to expand further – one more in the eastern suburbs.

Owner of Red Door Bakery Emma Grierson (she owns it with her husband Gareth) believes this popularity is because “people are so time poor that they have stopped making bread and baked goods at home and these are the things that our generation remember from our childhood, we know flavour and when you discover that again it takes you back”.

The strong sense of community is continuing to attract businesses to the area and makes the street special. Grierson believes the street is unique because of “the community, from the volunteers that do the mosaics to the local kids that scoot up and down the street and to the care the shop owners put into their stores, it’s the vibe of the street that resonates”. Being a local resident Grierson saw a gap in the market so decided to open the bakery. “Queen Street already had a food culture in place, as well as a destination strip with great alternative shops.

Its strong art and community feel were very appealing and being locals, a great bakery was needed,” she says.

Cichero shares this sentiment, he says: “With such a strong sense of community, not just amongst the shop owners but among the

residents we hope that the strip will continue to be a meeting point for locals.” You get the sense that while Cichero and Grierson both love the growing popularity of the street they also like the idea that they are a little off the beaten track. Grierson: “We love that it is a hidden gem in Adelaide, it has such a great character, the old shops, the houses and the businesses are all independently owned and unique.”

In the short space of time that Red Door has been operating Grierson has seen the street evolve. She explains: “The street has certainly become busier, with the weekday trade picking up as local offices pop in for lunch. We see a lot of people on the weekend as Queen Street seems to be infectiously relaxing and happy.”

OSR has been operating for about nine years and in that time both the street and OSR have evolved. “People and businesses have come and gone, but a core group of people have stayed,” Cichero explains. “The arrival of a café provided that extra attraction to making the trip to the suburbs, the combination of food and shopping simply works. We expanded our ‘one small room’ to a collection of three small spaces, yet kept the name.”

As the street expands and its popularity grows, Cichero hopes the street will continue to exude the community feel. “Whilst I am sure that there will be some change, we hope that the street continues to be a beacon to Adelaide people where they can come and stroll amongst the shops and have a bite to eat and return home with something special.”

thecroydonstore.com.au 15a Elizabeth Street

It’s a sophisticated version of your local deli specialising in breakfast and lunch (they call themselves a breakfast and brunch bar).

This family run business also does outside catering.

Let them Eat let-them-eat.com.au 16 Elizabeth Street

Delicious vegetarian food, which supports local produce, they also cater for events off site. The food is interesting and innovative and makes vegetarian hip again.

Queen Street Grocer queenstreetgrocer.com.au 20 Elizabeth Street

Like the Queen Street Café the grocer, which opened in 2011, is also on Elizabeth Street.

This cute little corner store stocks staples as well as more luxury items. The emphasis is on organic and local produce.

Red Door Bakery reddoorbakery.com.au 22 Elizabeth Street

Artisan bakeries are so hip right now. If you have ever been to Sydney and seen the queues at the Bourke Street Bakery in Surry Hills you will know what I mean and now Adelaide has its own version. Try the pork and sage sausage roll; it’s to die for.

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

23

feature

Shopping

One Small Room

Industrial Revolution

onesmallroom.com.au

facebook.com/Industrial.Revolution.

Opening in 2003 as One Small Room it now fills three rooms of incredible pieces of vintage plus mid-century and modern pieces.

Furniture 2 Elizabeth Street

This is the newest kid on the block opening in June this year. Owner Joe Tanham has been restoring industrial furniture for 10 years and

6-10 Elizabeth Street

MISCELLANEOUS

this is his first foray into the retail scene.

Queen Street Pilates Studio

Hype and Seek

7/9 Queen Street

hypeandseek.com.au 3 Elizabeth Street

Hype and Seek have been selling vintage, midcentury, industrial and space age furniture and

queenstpilates.com

This leading Pilates studio offers classes in mat and equipment work. There is also a physiotherapist and massage therapist on site.

vintage fashion and accessories here since 2001.

Curious Orange Haircutters

Plus they offer styling and a hire service.

4 Elizabeth Street

Azalia Boutique

With funky decor this haircutters covers all your standard hair needs.

azalia.com.au 5 Elizabeth Street

Palledeum Hair

Opened in 2008 the boutique stocks amazing

16 Euston Street (corner Queen Street)

vintage finds alongside contemporary labels like Finders Keepers. There is also an in-house

Treat yourself to a new look at one of Adelaide’s best hairdressers. The salon opened in 2003 and

jewellery line by owner Azadeh Afzal.

has a relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere.

Pilates focuses on improved body posture, increasing core stability for the spine and deeper abdominals.

It emphasises correct breathing patterns and improves flexibility for the whole body. Pilates is suitable for everybody from tradesmen to office workers, expecting or new mothers, dancers and pensioners.

Spring into Spring!

Queen St Pilates Studio offers Pilates Mat and Equipment classes. We also offer a great range of other services including Remedial Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy and Cardio Equipment.

If you have always wanted to give Pilates a try, now spring is here, it’s the perfect time!

We are offering a Starter Pack for both our Mat & Equipment classes representing fantastic value!

Mat Starter Packs include a One on One Initial class and a block of 10 Group Classes for $240 saving $25.

Equipment Starter Pack includes Initial Assessment, a One on One class and a block of 5 Group Classes for $280 saving $25.

Classes fill fast, so contact us now to avoid disappointment!

7-9 Queen St, Croydon | www.queenstpilates.com | 08 8340 9966

24

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

fashion

Designer profiles The Adelaide Review asks three of South Australia’s best design talent about their Adelaide Fashion Festival collections.

The people’s fashion festival The Adelaide Fashion Festival (AFF) celebrates its fifth anniversary with more events spread across the city than previous years, as the festival continues to flourish from its Parade hub.

Christopher Sanders

B

eginning in 2008 as a four-day festival in Norwood, the AFF (which is run by the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters) is now a nine-day celebration running from October 19 to 27 at key Adelaide fashion districts. Though the trends and styles of 2012 are different to 2008 (as well as the scale of the festival), one thing hasn’t changed. The focus of the AFF still operates on its guiding objectives.

“The focus has remained absolutely the same as when it started,” Adelaide Fashion Festival Director Skana Gallery explains. “There are three key objectives. The first is to support local emerging design talent. The second is to promote the Parade as a premier fashion shopping destination. And the third is to put on a festival that appeals to everyone – the whole community. And those have been our guiding principles all the way and still are.”

With the festival including a wide range of events from exclusive VIP parties such as the opening and closing parties to free parades in Rundle Mall and The Parade, the AFF is a unique fashion festival as its goal is to make fashion accessible for the whole community.

“We’re about being a consumer festival that is for everyone,” Gallery says. “We’re trying to break down that, ‘oh no, it’s just for the fashionistas’ barrier.”

The festival’s second key objective is to promote The Parade as a premier fashion district but by moving to shopping hubs such as Rundle Mall, King William Rd, Adelaide Central Plaza and the Myer Centre. Is that objective still relevant?

“It’s been a tricky balance,” Gallery says. “The City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters, which conceived and continues to put on this event, retains what we see as the key or, the anchor, events of the festival. That’s the Young Designers Showcase where the emerging designers show their final collections and are judged and awarded. And the other one is the Parades on Norwood Parade event where we close off the street and build a giant catwalk. That’s free for the community. Those are the two highlight events of the festival and by retaining those, we’re happy to share the festival around Adelaide because it is the Adelaide Fashion Festival.”

The Young Designers Showcase has been a major stepping stone for some of Adelaide’s best design talent as previous winners of the Emerging Designers Award include Jaime

Sortino and Necia’s Alexandra Ireland.

“We’re really proud of the Emerging Designer Award and as you say there’s been some fantastic winners and even some of the contestants have done so well. That includes Paolo Sebastian, Jaime Sortino and Necia, as they’ve just gone on to great things.”

The AFF is the highlight event of what is now a jam-packed Adelaide season of fashion events with September and October welcoming A Night of Fashion, Fashion Avenue, Westfield 4 Days of Fashion, In Season as well as parades at the major shopping districts including Burnside Village and Rundle Mall. Gallery welcomes the other events as it gets “everyone shifted into the fashion gear”.

“A few events around this particular time of year, when the spring and summer fashion is starting to appear, is great for fashion in Adelaide and great for our emerging designers.”

Adelaide Fashion Festival Friday, October 19 to Saturday, October 27 adelaidefashionfestival.com.au

Jaimie Sortino Can you describe the collection you will be showcasing at the 2012 AFF? I’ll be showcasing my new collection - Take From a Dream, which is more bridal inspired. The palette is all white; I’ve focused on using textures of white fabrics such as French laces and Italian tulles. The collection definitely has more of a romantic feel to it.

Adelaide has a gang of emerging designers doing some amazing things.

Is there a sense of community with Adelaide’s young designers?

Definitely! We are so lucky to have that sense of community with the young designers here. We have all gone down the same path really with TAFE and different things. The AFF also plays a massive role in that too, we are so lucky our fashion festival celebrates the young designers we have here. It’s also a friendship we have with each other too, we can catch up for lunch or coffee and de-stress to each other about our fashion design problems!

You said that you try and not design with a season in mind. Does that mean you just design when you are inspired and not let the season dictate what you design?

My inspiration and creative process is ongoing. I am always looking at my surroundings, or looking at magazines and online, runway shows, pop culture, music – it’s endless. I get inspired by what I feel and what I want to portray with my creativity, not necessarily what is hot at the moment. That is something that has also reflected the customers and brides that have come to me too. twitter.com/jaimie_sortino

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

25

fashion

FASHION Photo: Simon Cecere

RENDEZVOUS

Necia (Alexandra Ireland) Can you describe the collection you will be showcasing at the 2012 AFF? For this year’s spring summer collection I wanted to show the beauty of contrast. I am always intrigued by the manipulation of fabric, and have focused on creating unique shapes and silhouettes to give a practical garment some wow factor! I have used structured fabrics to create unique silhouettes and teamed with fluid silks to create a peaceful contrast. I have gone with a subtle colour palette, which includes Necia’s staple colours; black and white, as well as a quirky print, and a refreshing splash of colour. I’m really excited about this collection. I feel like I have really evolved as a designer since last year. I can’t wait to showcase my work at the AFF! You interned with Gwendolynne Burkin after winning the Best Emerging Designer Award at the AFF last year. What were some valuable lessons you learned from that mentorship?

My internship with Gwendolynne earlier this year was a fantastic experience! I came away with some great new techniques and skills in patternmaking, sewing and designing for bridal and couture. As an up and coming designer, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to watch her design process and experience all aspects from design to production. A big lesson that I learnt from my time with Gwendolynne was that it is an extremely hardworking business to get into and dreams are not going to happen overnight. It is a long road ahead, but I’m determined to stick to it and make my way there in my own time. necia.com.au

couture+love+madness (Cristina Tridente) Can you describe the collection you will be showcasing at the 2012 AFF? Beg Borrow Steal is inspired by the intriguing habits of the bower bird as it collects and arranges discarded, stolen and borrowed objects to attract a mate. Using unconventional materials, the collection explores texture, colour and arrangement.

The label launched at the 2009 AFF, how has it evolved in the three years since? couture+love+madness has grown over the last three years. I feel that my approach has matured and is less literal compared to when I began. I’m not afraid to explore and push the boundaries and blur the line between wearability and art.

Your work was featured in the recent Design South Australia publication alongside the finest examples of SA design in the architecture, theatre, jewellery and design communities. That must have been a thrill to be chosen as a leading example of Adelaide fashion design?

It was by far the biggest honour to be asked to feature in the recent Design South Australia publication. It was really exciting to be showcased alongside so many other iconic local businesses and labels including Tridente Architects (my dad’s business) that was chosen for excellence in architecture.

What are some new trends/influences that have inspired you this year?

I am really drawn to neon colours. I love how they can exude so much personality from the individual wearing them and am always intrigued to see how they have styled these pieces. couturelovemadness.com.au

Norwood Place Parades on Norwood Parade Presented by the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters, The Parade, Norwood and sponsored by Norwood Place Sunday, October 21 (10am-4pm) The Parade, Norwood (George Street to Edward Street) adelaidefashionfestival.com.au The Parade, Norwood is home to some of Adelaide’s best fashion retailers and independent boutiques, which will come together to showcase the latest trends and what’s hot for spring/summer fashion! A great day out for all to enjoy, Norwood Place Parades on Norwood Parade will feature fashion parades, the Norwood Fashion Market, competitions, a high tea (tickets for the high tea cost $45), live entertainment and more.

Advantage SA Young Designers Showcase Presented by the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters and The Parade, Norwood Saturday, October 27 (8pm) adelaidefashionfestival.com.au The Adelaide Fashion Festival culminates in a glittering gala event, which will showcase the best of South Australia’s young couture and day wear designers and shine a light on our state’s emerging designers. This is an opportunity to rub shoulders with Adelaide’s fashion elite while being treated to the latest collections from Adelaide’s brightest fashion talents. The winner of the 2012 Emerging Designer Award will be judged and announced on the night.

Gilles Street Market Sunday, October 7 and 21 (10am-4pm) Gilles Street Primary School gillesstreetmarket.com.au For the best vintage and pre-loved fashion including the latest from local up and coming designers, check out the Gilles Street Market. DJs spin the tunes alongside delicious food vendors and over 90 stalls of fashion and accessories.

10

/12

26

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

WIN! FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN, ENTER YOUR DETAILS AT ADELAIDEREVIEW.COM.AU

Anna McMichael & Daniel de Borah Pilgrim Church, 12 Flinders St Wednesday, October 24 , 7:30pm Don’t miss two distinguished Australian musicians, violinist Anna McMichael and pianist Daniel de Borah, performing works

by Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann, Messiaen and Debussy.

SCUTTLEBUTT

Would you move from the suburbs to the city?

Sir Montefiore Scuttlebutt

Musica Viva presents Anthony Marwood & Aleksandar Madžar Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William St Thursday, November 1, 7.30pm English violinist Anthony Marwood and Serbian pianist Aleksandar Madžar combine for a magical partnership. They will present a powerful program of Beethoven, Debussy and Schubert, plus Australian composer Gordon Kerry’s work, Martian Snow.

Take Up Thy Bed & Walk, presented by Vitalstatistix

Take Up Thy Bed & Walk

Forbidden Broadway - Greatest Hits, Volume 1 The Arts Theatre, 53 Angas St Saturday, October 6, 8pm Forbidden Broadway is a musical that takes songs from many famous Broadway shows and puts new comical words to the tunes, resulting in hilarious parodies. If you love Broadway, you will love this show. If you hate Broadway, you will love this show!

Shadow Dancer Trak Cinema, 375 Greenhill Rd, Toorak Gardens Preview screening Wednesday, October 10, 6.30pm From Academy Award winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire, Project Nim, The King) Shadow Dancer is an IRA thriller featuring excellent performances from Clive Owen, Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock) and Gillian Anderson, as a young woman is forced to betray all she believes in for the sake of her son.

Lavazza Italian Film Festival Palace Nova Eastend, Rundle St From Thursday, October 11 Featuring more than 30 films the Lavazza Italian Film Festival embraces some incredible stories and topical themes that yield a fascinating perspective on Italy and the inimitable style of la vita italiana.

The Rite of Spring Soundstream Adelaide New Music Festival Elder Hall, North Tce Friday, October 12 A seminal work that incited one of the most famous classical music riots in history, Paul Grabowsky and Gabriella Smart perform a retake of Stravinsky’s transcription of The Rite of Spring for two pianos. Also featuring world premieres by Grabowsky and Mary Finsterer.

Waterside, 11 Nile Street, Port Adelaide Thursday, November 1, 8pm Take Up Thy Bed & Walk is a subversive performance about women, disability and fiction. Conceived by theatre designer and disability activist Gaelle Mellis, this extraordinary new work explores portrayals of disabled women in 19th century literature and will be an intelligent, beautiful, unsettling and humorous performance event not to be missed. It’s personal, it’s political, it’s punk.

Flaming Rose St Cyprian’s Church, 70 Melbourne St, North Adelaide Sunday, November 4, 3pm An exploration of German passion and dedication to nature and the divine, Flaming Rose features period instrument performers Ensemble Galante present dynamic instrumental music by CPE Bach and Telemann, as well as profound vocal works by JS Bach and Handel with acclaimed soprano Tessa Miller.

Michael Ross – Feast Festival The Garden Lounge, The Hub, Light Square Saturday, November 11, 5pm Uplifting, captivating, pure entertainment.

With more than a wink to cabaret and a piano at his fingertips, Michael’s extraordinary vocal range takes you on a journey through his soulful repertoire.

Gorgeous Festival McLaren Vale Visitor Information Centre, Main Road, McLaren Vale Saturday, November 24, 2pm-11pm Gorgeous Festival is an annual boutique music, food and wine festival. The 2012 festival features performances by Missy Higgins and Dan Sultan, as well as gourmet food and premium wine. Like its name, Gorgeous Festival is exactly that for every audience member. Not simply a music festival, it is an experience of region’s abundance.

A

Weatherill Government target that makes Town Hall responsible for substantially boosting Adelaide’s permanent city population has all the hallmarks of setting up the city to fail.

A recently convened parliamentary committee probing urban density has shone light on evidence of the difficulties looming for the city’s senior people. They’re charged to meet the lofty aspirations of parliamentarians, planners and bureaucrats chasing rapid population growth in Adelaide’s commercial centre. The 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide aspires to city population growth of 23,700 by 2038 – to peak at 40,250.

The Environment, Resources and Development Committee’s Inquiry attracted a number of presentations. A recent preparatory Town Hall draft illustrated the migraine-inducing challenge inherent in vigorously chasing the numbers. It’s a recipe for long-term frustration as city growth is likely to continually fall short of targets.

Town Hall’s line is superficially optimistic, but it’s in the finer detail that it becomes obvious that there are going to be grinding challenges.

A decade ago Town Hall spent a fortune workshopping then pursuing a population growth plan. A key word in the title was Audacity. Over the period of the Harbison mayoralty, it underwent various iterations and while bureaucrats amended targets (lower) and kept it wrapped in healthy spin, none of the targets was met. It had cost a bomb to maintain, its tyres continually pumped by high-salaried bureaucrats and analysts. All of them have moved on to other jobs.

This time around, even loftier targets apply –140 percent higher than the government set in 2008. But the problem for city administrators can be boiled down to four key factors: South Australian families don’t like apartments; many people can’t afford them anyway; the government’s not interested in enforcing ‘affordable’ apartment policy (and re-use plans for older city buildings are bogged in building code, accessibility and adaptability complications); and it’s mainly ageing, single occupiers who might end up changing addresses to live in the city. In 2011, 16.1 per cent of South Australia’s population was 65 or more but by 2026 this will climb to 21 percent.

By 2026 about 60 percent of households will be lone-person, or couples without children. There’s going to be very little inbuilt fertility to compound growth in city household numbers.

This fact is obscured, however, by the fact that those that have moved to the city recently mainly comprise tertiary students or young adults, many of whom move out when children come along.

A person on a median income could afford a mortgage on a $288,000 home but the average cost of an apartment is $430,000. Sensing this, in July the state government finally caved in to years of industry lobbying and ceased levying stamp duty on sale of new city apartments. It also extended First Home Bonus Grants, another carrot to tempt

the youngsters. Some new building proposals have recently emerged, not prompted by these inducements but because CBD height limits were recently relaxed. The new proposals have been mainly bankrolled by overseas interests, mostly focused on multi-storey hotels and accommodation blocks, targeted at tourists or overseas students – temporary visitors. Other proposals aimed at permanent residents desire them to fit in with ‘mixed use’ blends of retail and commercial, and where they rise near late-night licensed premises, noise complaints quickly follow.

Culturally, there are some obvious reasons why people used to living in low-density urban environments are not enticed to city high-rise.

As a Town Hall draft said: ‘Supporting the creation of healthy and connected communities is a challenge in the city, where balconies are more prevalent than backyards.’ But there are other less obvious reasons. Rubbish, for example. Town Hall noted that a three-bin system operates in parts of Adelaide, including the city centre. But high-density life adapts badly to it. ‘Bin clutter on footpaths ... detracts from visual amenity, limits access to parked vehicles and obstructs footpaths ...early morning noise disturbance to residents as collection trucks operate ... internal walking distances of more than 50 metres are common from dwellings to bin storage areas ... kitchen [designs] often overlook efficient storage options for waste and recycling containers ... bin storage located in car parks some distance [away] ... lack of signage and often not accessible to persons with mobility impairment ... [and] illegal dumping on streets.’ There’s no hint of that in the glossy advertisements for speculative, off-the-plan apartments.

There’s also no hint that a brawl is looming between the developer peak bodies being courted

by Town Hall and state government bureaucrats to build an additional 15,040 dwellings. That’s a fight about government plans to mandate major changes in waste collection rules in high-rise silos. Developers rightly claim that city high rise is much costlier to erect than single-storey suburban homes, but a proposal for new laws incorporating a new design guide mandating complex new waste collection provisions may well scuttle concepts germinated by the cut in stamp duty and seriously imperil long-term population targets. As a September report tabled at Town Hall warned: ‘Industry is likely to have concerns about increased costs of building design and construction; responsibility for operational management falling on the developer; health and safety; safety of residents using bins; and changes to [existing] contracts or contractual arrangements.’

All this applies before the ramped up city targets have been etched into the wallpaper of the Mayor’s Parlour. There’s more, and the parliamentarians at the Inquiry are reviewing it now. Perhaps some of them might have a chat with those that framed the 30-Year Plan.

Because the high turnover at Town Hall of skilled, big-salary administrators and planners will continue as long as the challenges set them by governments are just too darn hard to achieve within the timeframes of their alltoo-brief local government careers.

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

Nicola Benedetti

The shining Scot Sian Williams

N

icola Benedetti has been a busy woman since winning the coveted title of the ‘BBC Young Musician of the Year’ at the tender age of 16. Having recently released her seventh album, The Silver Violin, with her new record company, Decca, Benedetti is thrilled at its mainstream chart success in the UK, with the album peaking at 32 on the UK album chart. Her youth, energy, and musical reach in gaining a wider audience, particularly to the younger generation, is testament to some of her recent performances. She was T in the Park’s (Scotland’s largest music festival)opening act, where she startled the crowd into wakefulness as she opened the main stage before popular musicians including Swedish House Mafia and Florence and the Machine performed.

When not on the road, Benedetti has a passion for music education, dedicating an enormous amount of time involved in mentoring students around the world, in particular Sistema Scotland, a sister program to Venezuela’s successful youth music program El Sistema. She challenges herself, asking, “Who is my audience? All music, but particularly classical, should be available for everyone. Not everyone has to like it, but people should have the opportunity to discover this fact for themselves. I love to know who is in fact listening out there, and then get to know those people and further my performances accordingly, educating along the way.

“If I can use the privilege of being on a global stage, in a position to educate and showcase how music can enhance your life, then I want to continue my outreach programs for as long as possible.”

When asked about her hectic tour schedule, where she commits to well over 100 appointments a year, she laughs and says, “I am often away from my base in London”.

“I am happy to work hard and work often.

I don’t really get a break though because the moment I am back in the UK I am quickly booked in to anything they may need me for there simply because I happen to be home! I don’t mind though, this can be a fleeting business.”

Her family were not musicians, but they certainly enforced the notion of working hard, and committing to the task at hand.

“My parents allowed us opportunities, such as to play a violin. I have always been thankful to their sacrifices made for us to enjoy these kind of extras in life; more than anything I am extremely thankful that I had parents, whom whilst encouraging, also ensured that whatever we did we worked hard at it. This is one lesson that has stayed with me, and something I encourage with the children I teach.”

Benedetti is performing with the ASO conducted by Garry Walker, London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Permanent Guest conductor, for the Third Master Series concerts.

Her beautiful Stradivarius violin will be singing to our audiences as she performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Of coming to Australia, Benedetti comments that thus far she has “built in time” to relax a little while over here. “But things can change all the time. Let’s hope not too much! I will relish the idea of being able to see some of Australia whilst I am there.”

Nicola Benedetti Adelaide Town Hall Thursday October 25 to Saturday, October 27 Benedetti is also conducting a masterclass on Tuesday, October 23 at Elder Hall nicolabenedetti.co.uk

TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

11 – 28 OCTOBER PALACE NOVA EASTEND CINEMAS

www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

27

28

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

Wednesday 24 October, 7.30pm Pilgrim Church, 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide Anna McMichael – violin and Daniel de Borah – piano Works by Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms, Debussy and Messiaen.

Adult $35, Concession $28, Student $10 BASS 131 246 or www.bass.net.au (service fees apply) www.recitalsaustralia.org.au

Piano Phasing rehearsals Photos: Jiashu Xu

New music, new audience Flaming Rose Works by CPE Bach, Telemann, JS Bach and Handel.

Tessa Miller – Soprano, Tim Nott – Baroque Flute, Emily Dollman – Violin, Hilary Kleinig – Cello, Glenys March – Harpsichord Sunday 4 November, 3pm St Cyprian’s Church, 70 Melbourne St, North Adelaide Full $25 / Concession $18 / Student $10

Soprano Tessa Miller

BASS 131 246 or www.bass.net.au (service fees apply) or at the door www.ensemblegalante.com

A world-class program of contemporary classical will brighten Adelaide this month with Soundstream’s four-day festival, the 2012 Soundstream Adelaide New Music Festival, returning after a two-year hiatus.

David Knight

W

ith its theme of intersection, Soundstream not only aims to deliver some of the finest new music composers and performers to Adelaide, the festival will showcase the accessibility of new music via community engagement. Aside from a program that features Slovakia’s Daniel Matej and the internationally renowned Australians Jon Rose and Paul Grabowsky, Soundstream has programmed community-involving events such as its Young Composers Award and Piano Phasing, which will involve 60 local pianists on 30 pianos playing a new music work by Dutch composer Kristoffer Zegers.

“Kristoffer has created a work where there is lots of space but, at the same time, when the pianos are all playing you get this incredible sonority, this wall of sound,” Soundstream Artistic Director Gabriella Smart explains.

“And that is what is exciting about it.”

Featuring pianists between the ages of eight and 64, Piano Phasing also reflects the theme of the festival – intersection, as community and new music fuses together.

“They’re all playing new music that they’ve never played before, including a world premiere

written by Elena Kats-Chernin, and they’re not thinking of it as new music or that it’s scary or that it’s something they don’t know.”

Events such as Piano Phasing break down the inaccessible tag that new music can unfortunately carry.

“Making new music accessible is not about dumbing down the content, it’s about creating exciting new contexts and that’s Soundstream’s aim,” Smart says.

Smart founded Soundstream in 1996 with the aim of touring and premiering works by international artists. Soundstream Adelaide New Music Festival began in 2008 as an annual festival before moving to a biannual event this year after the formation of the Soundstream Collective (the University of Adelaide’s new music ensemble-in-residence). The biannual program allows Smart extra time to book artists such as the globally acclaimed violinist Jon Rose, who will be performing at a secret location as part of Soundstream.

“Jon is not very well known to Adelaide audiences but he is a national treasure as reflected in the fact he’s been awarded the most prestigious fellowship in Australia, the Don Banks. He’s better known overseas than he is here. He spends half his time in Berlin

and Europe. I don’t think he’s ever performed in Adelaide, especially not a solo concert.

He’s 60 and for me it’s a real privilege to have him here.”

Smart will join Australian jazz legend, and former Adelaide Festival Artistic Director, Paul Grabowsky to perform The Rite of Spring to celebrate 99 years of Stravinsky’s masterpiece.

“It has been, if not the most seminal work, one of the seminal works of the 20th century that has influenced 100 years of western music.

That is almost the ultimate connection between community and composers because it created such a riot. The police had to be called when it was first performed; there was rioting in the street. Which of course meant everyone in Paris went and saw it. People know Paul Grabowsky as a jazz pianist but they don’t realise he was classically trained and when I first asked if he would join me on the two pianos for this work he told me this has been one of his influences from childhood.”

Soundstream’s motto is shaping Australian culture through new music but Smart says her catch-cry is, “Soundstream is an example of bringing the world to Adelaide”.

“You can say the east coast bias doesn’t exist but I’m afraid it does, that’s why it’s about bringing magnificent artists to Adelaide. It’s about bringing the world here ... I think that Soundstream is rapidly gaining a reputation and I suppose the main reason for that is that the choice of artists are international. If you just had local artists – I’m a local artist, so I’m not putting myself down – but if you just had local artists playing for local people, that’s fantastic but if you want to create a national and international profile, if you want to absolutely enjoy the wide palette of new music, then having international and national artists is the way to go.”

2012 Soundstream Adelaide New Music Festival Various venues Thursday, October 11 to Sunday, October 14 soundstream.org.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

29

PERFORMING ARTS Gabriella Smart on Soundstream’s headliners

Gabriella Smart

Daniel Matej (Slovakia)

Paul Grabowsky (Australia)

Jon Rose (Australia)

“He’s just a hugely interesting figure. He knows so much about new music and what is happening across Europe. His music is a reflection of that ... The Communists built lots of factories and destroyed the environment and the artistic culture, Daniel was part of the [Slovakian] new wave of musicians and artists in the 70s and 80s who were able to look outward for the first time. He set up his own music festival called Evening of New Music where he invited the giants of new music to Slovakia for premieres.”

“Paul and I have been friends for a long time.

You want to collaborate with people you are kindred souls with. I knew that it would be very special to work with Paul because he’s one of Australia’s foremost jazz pianists but he also has an incredible knowledge of classical. To be a composer, an artistic director and a pianist is an incredible gift. I feel very privileged he is going to write a work for us as well.”

“Jon Rose is one of the most creative figures in the arts culture of Australia at the moment. He says his mission is to create any sort of context for the violin and in that process he has invented violins in terms of electronics. He’s done a project called The Fence where he followed the rabbitproof fence right through Australia and he drew in artists and musicians – who were just local buskers or played in the local pub or would sing in the shower – he brought them all in and he uncovered a whole history of Australian culture that we have sort of ignored.”

m asterCL ass 6 | $10

The 2012 m a st e r C L a ss Series tuesday 23 OCtOber | 1.30pm–3.30pm

Nicola Benedetti

V IOL I N

pu bL IC m a s t er C L a sses W I t H t H e FI N es t musIC I a Ns

eL der H a L L | N0r t H t er r aC e (0 8) 8 313 592 5 Or e m a I L C L a I r e .Or e m L a N d @a deL a I de .edu. au b O Ok I Ng s O N

s t a t e t h e a t re c o m p a ny.c o m .a u

season tickets on sale now!

presented in association with

www.elderhall.adelaide.edu.au

30

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

PERFORMING ARTS

“

I’m quite keen on updating opera, but you don’t have to resort to political headlines to make Fidelio work. What I’m looking for is truth, not realism."

The truth about Fidelio An opera that rallies against political oppression, Fidelio, will be staged in Adelaide for the first time in 23 years.

Graham Strahle

A

freedom fighter is thrown into prison on trumped up charges and starved almost to death before being whisked away in a bold rescue bid involving an identity swap.

It might sound like something out of the war in Chechnya, or perhaps a Hollywood movie, but actually it is the subject of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio.

For one who was obsessed with the ideas of liberty and human justice, it is no surprise that Beethoven chose a story that echoed precisely the politics of his day. The play on which it is based, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s Léonore ou L’Amour conjugal, was a touchstone for

revolutionary sentiment in Europe. Appearing in the same year as the outbreak of the French Revolution, and telling how Leonore saves her unjustly imprisoned husband by disguising herself as a jailor, it served as a rallying call for the ousting of Europe’s absolutist regimes.

In the most ironic of circumstances, Fidelio was a dismal flop at its first showing in Vienna in 1805, because Napoleon’s troops had just invaded the city and the audience consisted almost entirely of French military. Unable to understand its German singing, they reputedly found it a bore. Fidelio ran two more nights to an empty house before it was dropped. But so determined was Beethoven to push ahead with his opera that he overhauled it twice, in the following year and in 1814, by which

Pilgrim SymPoSium DOCtrinE OF DiSCOVErY:

imPACt On FirSt PEOPlES thEn AnD nOW

A lOOK intO thE PASt tO tAlK ABOUt thE FUtUrE

The Doctrine of Discovery provided that by law and divine intention European Christian countries gained power and legal rights over indigenous non-Christian peoples immediately upon their “discovery” by Europeans.

Prof ROBERT MILLER Professor of Law at Eastern Oregon University, and a Shawnee Indian from Oklahoma Panel members will also give a MAORI and an ABORIGINAL perspective Tuesday 30 October 2012 7.00pm – 9.30pm

Pilgrim Uniting ChUrCh 12 FlinDErS StrEEt, ADElAiDE

For more information and registration www.pilgrim.org.au/dod Ph: 8212 3295

time Napoleon had lost his final battles and abdicated from the position Beethoven had cursed him from assuming in the first place – Emperor of France.

Mounting Fidelio today would not seem a hard task for creative opera directors. To make it relevant for a contemporary audience, all one might need do is transfer the story to any number of current war-torn countries led by corrupt military dictators. In 1981, Harry Kupfer set Fidelio in a concentration camp infiltrated by the PLO, while in 2003, Olivia Fuchs gave it a Guantánamo Bay interpretation complete with orange jumpsuits.

The State Opera of South Australia is not attempting anything so radical when it stages its first Fidelio in 23 years. John Wregg, who directs Michael Hampe’s production, says: “I’m quite keen on updating opera, but you don’t have to resort to political headlines to make Fidelio work. What I’m looking for is truth, not realism. Fidelio is not a realistic piece like Ibsen; it’s a period piece that conveys truths through the symbolism of its characters. It’s these truths that the audience warms to. So Leonore symbolises liberty and fidelity while Don Pizzaro represents corruption.”

Timothy Sexton, State Opera’s CEO and Artistic Director, says: “It’s an interpretation that works. It’s a very traditional interpretation that is set it in Beethoven’s own lifetime and it doesn’t change anything – there are no pyrotechnics, no laser projections”.

The production retains the original spoken dialogue, which some productions cut out.

Neither does it insert Leonore Overture No. 3 in between the two scenes of the second act.

“That’s sometimes done because a big scene change takes place then,” explains Wregg. “But

we do a big coup-de-théatre there – we change the set before the audience’s eyes.”

Dominating the stage up to that point is a massive, towering prison set that weighs in the order of 20 tonnes. Deep in its dim-lit bowels, Florestan wastes away until Leonore, aided by the foolish prison boss Rocco, finds him. At one point the inmates creep out of their cells on hands and knees and sing a paean to freedom; but finally a smiling Don Fernando proclaims the end of tyranny and the townsfolk rejoice as the stage is suddenly bathed in golden light.

This journey from darkness to light is of course an underlying topos of the Enlightenment.

Wregg says this is important to get across to an audience. “Right at the beginning, when Florestan is by himself in the dungeon and sings ‘Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! (‘God! What darkness here’), we do it in blackness and this marks the start of the journey. It is visually oppressive, but a feeling of hope drives the opera all the way through. Leonore is forced to make difficult choices, but she has to go through this in order to save her husband.

In the end, Fidelio expresses a victory of the human spirit over oppression.”

Did Beethoven want in his opera to advance the cause of political change in Europe?

Probably not, believes Wregg. “Politically he was naïve, yes, but on an artistic and moral level he was a sophisticated thinker. He chose Bouilly’s libretto because it teaches a good lesson. It tells us about the choices that confront us and that solutions are not always simple.

One can make good choices, as Leonore does, or bad choices as in the case of Rocco.”

Says Wregg: “It is the conductor, Graham Abbott’s role to make it as musically astonishing as possible; it is my job to make it theatrically as truthful as possible. Fortunately, we’ve got Beethoven to help us.”

State Opera of SA Fidelio Adelaide Festival Theatre October 13, 16, 18 and 20 saopera.sa.gov.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

31

PERFORMING ARTS

Kumuwuki / Big Wave Fourteen years ago Mount Gambier played host to the first Regional Arts Australia conference. Held bi-annually, the conference has now visited every state and is returning to South Australia, this time at Goolwa.

Jane Howard

H

undreds of people invested in regional arts in Australia will descend to Goolwa for Kumuwuki / Big Wave held from Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21.

Goolwa has been home to cultural activity all year as this year’s Regional Centre of Culture.

The national conference features as just one weekend in the yearlong arts program, Just Add Water, run by Country Arts SA. Steve Mayhew is the Artistic Director of the conference and has curated both the conference program and the adjunct artistic program.

Together, they draw speakers, performers, and artistic works from across the country.

“There is an incredible amount of activity happening across Australia,” Mayhew says.

“And that’s amazing. And it happens in the smallest of places.”

Mayhew says “each time the conference is done it really does take the shape of the state that it’s in.” This shape is reflected this year, partially, in the dual name of the conference: Kumuwuki, from the local Ngarrindjeri language, and its English translation, Big Wave.

With over 80 sessions and 20 performances, Mayhew wants the conference to give attendees the opportunity to get a broad look across many facets of the industry, or an in-depth look at a smaller sector.

“There are parts within the conference that you can literally spend two days just focusing on, and not

Now for the pirates’ lair Robert Dunstan

A

n award winning, all-male version of Pirates of Penzance, arguably Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular comic opera, is coming direct from London to Australia.

We speak to the show’s producer, Sasha Regan, who says their fresh take on work is suitable for those of all ages.

The success of Regan’s production of Pirates of Penzance’s came from relatively humble beginnings, as it was first staged in London’s 50-seater Union Theatre, which is run by her company.

“It’s a really small theatre and studio with a coffee bar and another bar near The Thames that we set up in 1997,” Regan reveals. “Some years ago we put on Pirates and it ran for

realise that the rest of the conference was on.”

These focuses include live art, cultural leadership, digital disability culture, and arts and the environment. Covering all these categories is the theme of the festival: the artist in resilience.

The word resilience, says Mayhew, has been used too often as a “badge of downtrodden honour” and in a “way that people get tired of”. At Kumuwuki, Mayhew wants to see the word reclaimed.

“It’s about having a little bit of money in the bank, it’s about having enough creativity to adapt and change when things happen. It’s about having the psychological and mental capacity to do so. It’s about, also, having community around you and connections and networks, because the least resilient thing is the human being by themselves.”

Through the artistic program in particular, Mayhew is interested at looking at how art can engage audiences: from audiences viewing finished work in a gallery, to audiences participating in the work itself.

In June, Geelong’s Back To Back Theatre visited Goolwa to film members of the community performing in a wooden box, which will be edited together into the video Democratic Set, presented at the conference. Laughing, Mayhew says the Goolwa version is “hilarious”.

“You watch it and you go ‘oh my god, I didn’t even think Goolwa was capable of that!’

It’s pretty wild.”

Another work that looks at engaging audiences is Be Prepared from Adelaide dance theatre

a year. So we transferred it to a bigger venue and then a year later it went to a bigger venue again. Now we’re so thrilled to be coming to the other side of the world.”

Regan says she was originally inspired to put on an all-male production of Pirates due to the fact she had been introduced to the work of Gilbert and Sullivan while at school.

“But I think most people, especially here in the UK, somehow get involved in Gilbert and Sullivan during their school days,” she says.

“We’d done an all-girl version of HMS Pinafore at school so that was the idea behind doing an all-male version of Pirates of Penzance.

“There was something appealing and quite innocent about a group of young boys putting on a production of Pirates. And the good thing is that young boys can sing quite high.”

Gilbert and Sullivan’s gently satirical material about social mores and politics remains quite topical even in today’s climate.

“Yes because young people might think, ‘Oh I really don’t think Gilbert and Sullivan is my cup of tea. Mum and Dad might like it but it’s not for me’, but when they come to see it they are really surprised how relevant it is,” Regan suggests.

“And although we haven’t updated the original script or the score – we do it exactly as it was –

company Torque Show. Ross Ganf, the co-creator and director in the three person company, says Torque Show is interested in “readdressing what that audience / performer relationship is”.

The work explores our response to climate change, and is still in its early stages of development.

A stage at which, says Ganf, “most developments would squirrel it away, give it some sort of virtuosic polish.” For Torque Show, he says this early audience is “quite frightening, but I think necessary”.

In Goolwa, the work will be in two parts. For part one, participants will be taken from the festival club, Adam Page’s Elbow Room, off to a “secret climate change training camp”. In part two, participants will take the skills learnt and put them into a “direct action”, similar to a climate change protest.

Part of what Torque Show will be discovering in Goolwa is “how the work sits as a piece of performance and as a piece of activism”. Says Ganf: “I don’t think that the work should be seen as either one of them, I think it’s both.”

Presenting this early development of the work at Goolwa is interesting for the company, too, because “essentially the mouth of the Murray becomes a litmus test for climate change, so psychologically it’s a really interesting place for us to be.”

While Kumuwuki will be a bringing together of

we do a very fresh take on it and have people saying they absolutely love it.

“So we’ve found that we are introducing Gilbert and Sullivan to a whole new audience.

And as soon as they hear some of the songs, especially the Major General song, audiences realise they somehow already know them.

“The songs in Pirates have become part of people’s consciousness,” she concludes with a chuckle.

Pirates of Penzance Her Majesty’s Theatre Saturday, October 20 at 2pm and 8pm

the national arts community, Mayhew also sees the local power the conference will have for residents of the Alexandrina Council, and of South Australia.

“I hope that the conference and the celebrations and the artwork around the conference is just another opportunity for locals to just get their teeth stuck into something,” he says.

“To witness something that will never ever land on their doorstep again. It’s an opportunity to celebrate and really take stock of what is here, now, and […] what art and creativity can do.”

kumuwuki.org.au

32

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

performing arts

Just Gorgeous

G

orgeous Festival, a one-day music, food and wine boutique event, which enjoyed much success when first staged in 2011, is returning to McLaren Vale in late November.

Missy Higgins, in her only South Australian performance for this year, will headline the festival alongside Dan Sultan, Gossling, The Preatures, Butterfly Boucher, Hayden Calnin and Johnny McIntyre on the main stage, while two smaller stages will be showcasing local acoustic talent.

McLaren Vale restaurants such as The Currant Shed, The Victory Hotel, Blessed Cheese, Fino and d’Arrys Verandah will come together to create an enviable festival menu like no other and nine local premium wineries including d’Arenberg, Shottesbrooke, Yangarra Estate Vineyard, Paxton, Hugh Hamilton, Alpha Box & Dice, Wirra Wirra, Battle of Bosworth and Dog Ridge will also be represented.

Dan Sultan, who has just returned from Europe with Black Arm Band and is about to start work on his third solo album, is more than keen to be performing at Gorgeous Festival, which boasts a highly sophisticated yet very relaxed atmosphere.

UK | SERBIA

“It’ll be great because I’m really good mates with Missy Higgins,” he says. “So playing together is always a good way of catching up. And I’ve never been to McLaren Vale either so I’m really looking forward to it.

“And the weather should be pretty good by then too,” Sultan adds Prior to his solo performance at Gorgeous Festival, Sultan will have taken Rock For Recognition, a series of events put together by Oxfam and ANTaR with the support of the National Congress of Australia’s First People that have been put together to raise awareness and promote the need for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution, on the road.

“I was asked to participate by an amazing bunch of people who are doing some pretty amazing work,” he says. “And obviously it’s an issue I really care about although I’m not going to say I have all the answers because I don’t. And I’m realistic enough to know that a referendum may not happen next year or even the year after, but anything worthwhile and important takes time.

So, as a musician, I was happy to be involved.

“And after this preliminary run, we’re hoping it will build,” Sultan adds. “The main thing at the moment is to raise awareness about the issue.”

Anthony Marwood & Aleksandar Madžar

1 November 7.30pm Two musical soul mates bring their virtuosity to works by Debussy, Beethoven and Schubert.

Adelaide Town Hall BOOK NOW! bass.net.au or 131 246 | musicaviva.com.au/marwood

Gorgeous Festival McLaren Vale Saturday, November 24 gorgeousfestival.com.au

Dan Sultan

Robert Dunstan

Musica Viva International Concert Season 2013

Karin Schaupp & Pavel Steidl Morgenstern Trio & Christopher Moore Tokyo String Quartet Jian Wang & Bernadette Harvey Elias String Quartet Angela Hewitt Academy of Ancient Music & Sara Macliver WIN A BAN & OLUFSENG SOUND SY STEM !

Subscrib

e by 26 Octo ber 2012 for you r chance to win a Beo PlayA8 valued at $14 40.

See website for details.

Elias String Quartet

Subscribe or request a brochure at musicaviva.com.au/2013 or call 1800 688 482

MUSICA VIVA INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SEASON 2012 Permit numbers: ACT TP 12/03025; NSW LTPS/12/06859

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

William Barton

Port Fairy Spring Music Festival

Steph Overton

F

inally, spring has arrived! What better way to welcome the warmer weather than by taking a little trip across the border to enjoy some exquisite entertainment by the sea. The Port Fairy Spring Music Festival celebrates its 23rd anniversary this October, with a theme inspired by the beauty of the season it celebrates.

This year’s festival is centred on the idea of Awakenings. Artistic Director Anna Goldsworthy explains: “Awakenings can take many different forms – seasonal, sensory, artistic, intellectual, romantic – and in this program we celebrate all of these”.

Each year, the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival presents an impressive selection of classical and contemporary ensemble music from upcoming young performers and wellestablished artists.

In 2012, the festival will feature a range of instrumentalists, singers, visual artists and actors. There’s even a sneaky appearance by comedian Tim Ferguson who will host the Festival Club, a popular show allowing artists to reveal their hidden talents for one night only.

Other performers to look out for include the Australian String Quartet, skilled didgeridoo player William Barton, singer Deborah Conway and well-renowned Swedish soprano Anna Eklund-Tarantino. A range of South Australian acts are also set to take the stage, including the remarkable Adelaide Chamber Singers.

“Port Fairy is the perfect location for this festival. It has so much to offer – from its glorious architecture and breathtaking scenery, to its amazing restaurants and cafés offering delicious local produce,” Goldsworthy says.

The whole festival is designed so that people can attend as many or as few shows as they like.

All of the venues are within walking distance from one other, allowing people to promenade around the streets between shows and soak up the wonders of this magical little town.

Port Fairy Spring Music Festival Friday, October 12 to Sunday, October 14 Port Fairy, Victoria. portfairyspringfest.com.au

33

34

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

performing arts

Dwight and the three pears The late John Lennon’s sunglasses, three pairs of ’em, have inspired the title song of Grammy winning American country singer Dwight Yoakam’s latest offering, 3 Pears.

Robert Dunstan

“

I was watching the George Harrison documentary where George said that one night John and he were slipped some LSD. While they didn’t have a bad time with it, they just didn’t know where they were for a day-and-a-half in and around London,” Yoakam says.

“And at that moment in the film, they cut to a shot of John wearing three pair of sunglasses at the same time. He was just having a bit of fun and then I thought how sad the loss of John Lennon was at such a young age. And

I said out loud, ‘Yeah, three pairs of glasses on John’, and then I immediately wrote that down and started singing the melody I heard in my head to myself. ‘Three pairs of glasses, three pairs of shades, three pairs of other things’. And the button of the chorus to me is the charm of John Lennon looking at life and saying, ‘Three pairs of wishes for all that you want’. It just seemed to be the perfect summation of John.”

Yoakam emerged in the late 80s with a hardcore Bakersfield sound that also payed homage to honky tonk and classic country material and was seen by many as breath of fresh country air.

feast festival adelaide queer cultural festival november 10-25, 2012 Everyone’s Invited! w All th ay th e fro e U m SA !

3 Shows Only!

ODIDiva

Dwight Yoakam

“I think that music, for each generation, demands that new artists reintroduce and reinterpret the styles of the music that inspired them,” Yoakam says. “I look back at The Beatles and see how they helped reintroduce American music to America in as much as they were listening to The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly and then reintroducing that sound, via their own interpretation, to a whole new audience.”

Beck produced two songs on 3 Pears with Yoakam.

“I was familiar with Beck’s stuff from hearing it on the radio. Y’know things like Loser when he first broke and then Devil’s Haircut from Odelay and I thought it was just such an eclectic mix. But the Beck album I really dug was Sea Change where he was channelling such a lot of influences.

“So I reached out about two years ago and asked Beck if he would be interested in producing or co-producing. So I went out to his house and we laid down a two-beat kinda sound but what I didn’t realise was that Beck had already started to record what we were playing. I didn’t realise he’d intended it on being something we’d keep. And then he said, ‘’You wanna put some acoustic guitar down over the top of that?’ But I wasn’t sure because I didn’t know where we at. Was that for real what we just did? But that’s what became A Heart Like Mine.

4 Shows Only!

Miss Coco Peru is Present

Boylesque

One of America’s most celebrated drag artists.

A larger than life extravaganza of dance, acrobatics, aerial expertise and cabaret.

Sexy, stunning, a visual feast.

Sold out in New York and London.

14 -15 Nov. 9pm, 16 - 17 Nov. 9.30pm FP $35 C $32 cF $32

22 - 24 Nov. 8.30pm FP $35 C $30 cF $30

- Both shows at ANZ Hub Precinct - The Ballroom Light Square, Adelaide -

Principal Sponsor

Diamond Sponsors

Sing in a Carol Choir with Briar Eyers

It’s Sweat, It’s Style, It’s Beautiful People, It’s Boys.

Wry, uncensored, brutally funny.

Tickets available from

ACAPPELLA GOSPEL CAROL CHOIR 2012

www.feast.org.au or call 08 8463 0684 Government Sponsors

Rehearsals: Brougham Place Uniting Church Hall Cnr Frome Rd & Stanley St. Nth. Adelaide Times: Workshop Sat Nov 3rd. 10.00-4.00 Then Tuesdays 7.30-9.30 pm Nov 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th. Dec 4th.

Cost: $80.00 No auditions Choir will sing out in the last two weeks before Christmas

Registration: 0412 489 714

“It’s a homage to a lot of people. There’s a bit of The Monkees goin’ on in there with the I’m a Believer lick, but there’s also the sound of The Rolling Stones colliding head on with Johnny Cash.”

Yoakam, who will be touring Australia’s east coast in November, has also featured in a slew of highly regarded films but recently had to turn down another offer due to the making of 3 Pears.

“It was a mini-series about the Civil War,” he says. “I really wanted to do it but it got bumped a couple of times and then it just wasn’t going to fit into my own schedule. But there’s a couple of other things coming up which I can’t really talk about just yet” The singer is, however, involved in the American version of the Australian television show Wilfred.

“I did an episode of the first American series and I did another episode for the latest one.

But we’re not sure what my character, Bruce, is all about. But it’s been a ball to do the show and be part of all that.

“The election turmoil is part of America’s DNA,” Yoakam then says when asked about the upcoming American election.

“If you go back and read about Andrew Jackson it makes today’s politicians look like little sissies. It makes what’s goin’ on now look like a little pie fight.”

Yoakam wouldn’t, however, be drawn into making any predictions about who will be President.

“It depends a lot on what happens in Nevada and New Jersey. That’s what it’s going to come down to. I think folks like Obama but if he’s voted out it will be because the country feels that maybe there’s another approach needed as far as the economy goes. Most Americans like Obama as a person – I know that I do – but it remains to be seen whether he’ll be President again.

“I can’t say who will win and wouldn’t place bets on anyone,” Yoakam says. “We’ll just have to see.”

Dwight Yoakam 3 Pears (Warner Music)

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

This month

OCTOBER 11−14

soundstream adelaide new music festival

The Adelaide Review’s guide to October’s highlight performing arts events

The Violin SPEAKS

violin and electronics: Jon Rose “A subway car screeching to a halt, the wailing of Jimi Hendrix's guitar... memorable jazz riffs and Paganini style virtuosity.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Magic Flute

6:00pm Thursday 11 October Special location to be advised

Tuesday, October 2 to Saturday, October 6 Scott Theatre, Kintore Avenue

Mozart’s The Magic Flute is playful, profound and is one of Wolfgang Amadeus’ most beloved works. Catch the fourth most presented opera in the world performed by members of the Elder Conservatorium with Carl Crossin conducting.

Soundstream Adelaide New Music Festival

The Rite of SPRING

pianos: Paul Grabowsky and Gabriella Smart Its 1913 Paris premiere incited one of the most famous classical music riots in history.

Gomez

7:30pm Friday 12 October Elder Hall

Thursday, October 11 to Sunday, October 14 Various locations

As one of the country’s premier displays of new and experimental classical music, Soundstream brings global and national identities to Adelaide including Daniel Matej and Paul Grabowsky.

Graphic SCORES Matej Ensemble

A musical score awash with colour, punctuated with crosses, lines and circles. John Cage, Earle Brown, Zygmut Krauze and Daniel Matej.

Lavazza Italian Film Festival Thursday, October 11 to Sunday, October 28

10:15 pm Friday 12 October Madley Performance Space

Palace Nova

The largest celebration of Italian cinema outside of Italy returns to the Palace Nova with more than 30 films including the Golden Globe winning The Entrepreneur, the Cannes winner Reality and even Woody Allen’s love letter to Rome, To Rome with Love.

Daniel Matej IN PERSPECTIVE

Daniel Matej Jon Rose Marianna Grynchuk “Daniel Matej transforms music and projects it into a better time.” PIET-JAN VAN ROSSUM

Thurston Moore

Fidelio

3:00pm Saturday 13 October Madley Performance Space

Saturday, October 13 to Saturday, October 20 Adelaide Festival Centre

This is a truly operatic event as the State Opera presents Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, with American tenor Richard Crawley, soprano Miriam Gordon-Stewart, as well as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the State Opera Chorus.

Young Composers’ AWARD

Gomez

7:30pm Saturday 13 October ABC Studio 520

Finalists’ Concert

New voices for a new age – celebrating six of Australia’s future star composers.

Wednesday, October 17 Governor Hindmarsh

Piano PHASING

Outside of their home country of England, Australia is the best market for these English indie veterans best known for their albums Liquid Skin and In Our Gun.

FREE

A blockbuster event - 60 pianists performing on 30 pianos at the Adelaide Town Hall.

Thurston Moore Monday, October 29

4:00pm Sunday 14 October Adelaide Town Hall

Billy Bragg

Governor Hindmarsh

Bookings and full program details at www.soundstream.org.au

Art rock supremo and Sonic Youth founder embarks on a rare solo tour. A must-attend for devotees, as Sonic Youth defined art rock like very few before or since.

Billy Bragg Wednesday, October 31 Adelaide Town Hall

With the complete sessions of his Woody Guthrie tribute albums (Mermaid Avenue) available in the shops, the English troubadour returns to Adelaide to deliver classic Bragg and Guthrie songs.

www.soundstream.org.au proudly supported by Fidelio

Adelaide City Council and Winston Music

35

36

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

performing arts

P.J. Hogan goes mental D.M. Bradley

W

hile writer/director P.J. Hogan’s Mental is a rather harsher outing than his breakthrough film Muriel’s Wedding (which was itself fairly troubled), what most surprises about his latest pic is the fact that it’s semi-autobiographical.

“Shaz is based on a real person,” he explains.

“When I was 12 my mother had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalised. My Dad was a local politician who was running for reelection at the time. And he said to us, ‘kids, nobody votes for a guy whose wife is bonkers’, and we had to keep it to ourselves – all five of us rat-bags… He ended up stopping for a hitchhiker, and he trusted her as she had a dog, and we then came home to find this stranger sitting on our couch, rolling a cigarette, with a hunting knife in her boot, and she said, ‘a bit of a mess in here, isn’t it?’ and she set us all about cleaning.”

‘The Original Shaz’ loomed large in P.J.’s

memory for years, he even spoke to Toni Collette about her on the set of Muriel’s, “although I had no idea that one day I would make a film about her… And then, when I worked out how to tell her story, and I was writing the script, I kept on hearing Shaz’s lines being said in Toni’s voice. I suppose that the part was always Toni’s… We remained friends after Muriel’s and she kept asking me, ‘How’s Shaz going?’ and, while I was prepared for her not to like the script because, as a director, you don’t always get your first casting choice, she read it and the next day said, ‘Let’s do it!’”

Talking about the rest of his terrific cast (Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Gibney, Kerry Fox, Deborah Mailman and others) and how outrageous they get onscreen prompts P.J. to both praise them all and offer his sharp thoughts about the very Hollywood notion of characters needing to be ‘sympathetic’. “The actors all wanted to play the parts and they all

P.J. Hogan

loved the characters, despite - or even because of - their flaws… I always have trouble with the word ‘sympathetic’, as I spent so long in the American industry. ‘Sympathy’ and ‘likeability’ are imposed in scripts so much that all character just goes out the window. I mean, how many of us can look around our friends and family - our ‘life cast’ - and think, ‘Wow! What a bunch of sympathetic, likeable, unflawed human beings?’ I love flaws, and I proudly consider myself deeply flawed.”

And, finally, P.J. also feels strongly that he doesn’t have to justify Mental’s (and Muriel’s) often caustic view of Australian suburbia. “You know, I love Australia, and I fielded questions

about this back during Muriel’s, when some people seemed to think it was ‘un-Australian’.

‘How can you be so mean to Muriel?’

‘Australians aren’t like that!’… And I must say that I have one sibling with schizophrenia and one, who’s bipolar, and I have two autistic children, and so I know that mental health is a real issue, and I’m in the trenches. And I see the prejudice and the generosity and the craziness here every day.”

Mental opens on Thursday, October 4

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

37

performing arts

Shadow Dancer (M) Christopher Sanders Considering it’s been 18 years since the IRA called for a ceasefire and 14 years since the Good Friday Agreement, a contemporary film about the IRA might seem redundant in this day and age. If you believe writer Tom Bradby (an ITV journalist who wrote the book Shadow Dancer as well as the screenplay), it’s just taken 20 years for his initial idea – while working as a young reporter in Belfast – to germinate into a book and now a film. But aside from that, looking back means the politics of the time can be taken out so this 1993-set film can focus on the relationships for this powerful drama/thriller rather than the politics.

This is a high-class thriller in the hands of director James Marsh, best known for his stellar documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim. Months away from the ceasefire, this quite thriller stars Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock, Never Let Me Go) as Colette, a single mother who is part of a deeply entrenched Republican family. The MI5 busts Colette after she botches a bombing attempt in London’s Tube. Once caught, MI5 agent Mac (Clive Owen) convinces Colette to spy on her hardline family in order to protect her son. While these themes may seem tired, Marsh’s film isn’t a

traditional, predictable thriller. Shadow Dancer is so quiet, eerily so, as the silent tension builds as you watch Colette interact with her family as a Republican interrogator Kevin (David Wilmot) lurks, ready to torture and kill at the order of Colette’s brother Gerry (Aidan Gillen from The Wire and Game of Thrones), a high ranking Republican member, but how high, we don’t know, as exposition is minor, leaving work for the audience to figure out and imagine.

Riseborough is brilliant as Colette – it is her movie as the soldier, sister, mother and daughter who has to spy on all of her close family members.

She barely talks but a glance or a quick ‘aye’ communicates more to the audience than pages of dialogue. The tension is extreme as family and loyalties clash on both sides (the IRA and the MI5) while most of the violence is implied. But that doesn’t make it less terrifying. Seeing a plastic body bag spread on the floor while Kevin interrogates is one of the most chilling scenes of the year.

Shadow Dancer is a unique thriller/drama that deserves to be seen and applauded. It proves Marsh is not only a master documentary maker but a highly skilled feature maker as well. This film will linger long in your mind after the final scene.

On the Road (MA) Nigel Randall Questions arise from Walter Salles’ film treatment of the Kerouac classic On the Road. Does faithfulness (to the novel) spoil all the fun? Will Gen Y get the Beat Gen? Is it a good film? What is an Organe

Accumulator? In a suitably jazzy response – sometimes, probably not, mostly and no idea.

Salles and screenwriter José Rivera had a good grounding in the Road Movie in The Motorcycle Diaries. Interestingly that film’s exec producer, Paul Webster, claimed its subject, Che Guevara, was “more akin to Jack Kerouac or Neal Cassady than Marx or Lenin”. The exec producer of On the Road, more interestingly, is Francis Ford Coppola, who purchased the rights in 1979 and has been attempting to get it made since. In his finally realised version, Sam Riley (Control, Brighton Rock) plays Sal Paradise, Kerouac’s alter ego whose quest for adventure and travel, experimentation in drugs and sex and compulsion to scribble it all down forms the premise of the film. This results in a narrative that episodically traces his hobo-like existence across America and his encounters with similarly drawn characters Kerouac based on his real life Beat cohorts. Central of these is Dean Moriarty (eye catching Garrett Hedlund), the charming ex-con and philanderer modelled on Cassady whose lust for life attracts men and women alike. Sal first meets Dean when he answers the door butt naked halfway through sex with his provocative teenage bride Marylou (Kristen Stewart). The three of them become more than just travelling companions in the most casual of ways - and in one memorable scene as they merrily drive along. Stewart handles her part (and theirs) with aplomb.

There are other well cast parts that pop up in roles of varying importance. Of these, Kirsten Dunst underscores the boozy flights of fancy with some kind of reality as Dean’s other suffering wife; Viggo Mortensen excels as the William S. Burrough’s standin Old Bull Lee and Steve Buscemi appears in an erroneous scene pointing to Dean’s hustler ways. For all its faithful rendering of the stories told on paper (or scroll in its original form), the film version of On the Road loses something so vital to the spirit of its source. It’s what you’d imagine they’d play to high school students if it were ever allowed. It’s doubtful those students could comprehend the extent Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady and co. heralded a counterculture movement against the buttoned down constraints of the early 1950’s given the lack of wider social context provided here. An enjoyably, safe curiosity – hardly what these guys were about.

From Italy with love The biggest Italian film festival outside of Italy will once again bring the freshest crop of Italian films to the Palace Nova Eastend. This year’s selection, of more than 30 films, shows that Italy’s rich cinema history didn’t stop with the neorealists and their protégés. Italy is still producing remarkable films as 2012’s crop includes new work from Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone, the much-loved Carlo Verdone and even Woody Allen (!).

Garrone’s new film Reality has followed Gomorrah’s success, as it took out the Grand Prize of the Jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival just as Gomorrah did four years earlier. A satire on reality television and Italian culture, Reality is about a scamming fishmonger who applies for Big Brother.

The opening night selection is a crowd pleaser, as Luca Miniero’s Welcome to the North (pictured) is a follow-up to 2010’s Welcome to the South and is a comedy that plays on the northern Vs southern Italian stereotypes.

Veteran Italian director/actor and writer Carlo Verdone is responsible for the closing night event, A Flat for Three, a comedy, which won the special jury award as the Italian Golden Globes, about three divorced men who share a flat in Rome.

And then there is Woody Allen. What’s the famed New Yorker doing in an Italian film festival? Well, Allen continues his European excursion (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris) with To Rome with Love, another ensemble romantic comedy from Allen starring Italian superstar Roberto Benigni, as well as Allen’s favourite Aussie, Judy Davis.

Lavazza Italian Film Festival Palace Nova Eastend Thursday, October 11 to Sunday, October 28 italianfilmfestival.com.au

e L d e r co n s e rVAto r i u M o F M u s i c p r e s e nt s

Evenings

co n c e rt 8 | e Ld e r H A LL

Messiah

2012 CO NC E RT SE a SO N | m usi C f O R E v E Ry pa lE T TE

ElDER CONSERVaTORIUM CHORalE

CO N C E RT 7 | sCOT T Th E aTR E | K i NTO R E av E N u E

The Magic Flute

with the strings of the

ElDER CONSERVaTORIUM SyMpHONy ORCHESTRa

pe rform e d by

VOICE STUDENTS FROM THE ElDER CONSERVaTORIUM OF MUSIC

carl crossin

with the

ElDER CONSERVaTORIUM CHORUS aND SyMpHONy ORCHESTRa c a r l c r o s s i n | c o n d u c to r d av i d l a m pa r d | d e s i g n e r

r i c h a r d t r e va s k i s | d i r e c to r guila tiver | producer

Who will win the battle between the Queen of the Night and Sarastro? Will Tamino and Pamina realise their true destiny? And will poor Papageno find his love?

N OTE : V E N U E I S SCOT T TH E aTR E , K I NTO R E aV E N U E pROudly suppORTEd by

Artwork © Sue Ninham 2012. www.sueninham.com

These performances of The Magic Flute by Mozart with Libretto

by Stephen Fry are given by permission of Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd, exclusive agents for Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd of London

pE R FO R M a N C E S TU E S Day 2 TH U RS Day 4 SaTU R Day 6 OC TO b E R a ll aT 7. 3 0 pM adulT $25 CONCs $20 sTudENT $15

|

c o n d u c to r

Handel’s Messiah – monumental, powerful, inspirational, timeless…

Soloists – voice students from the Elder Conservatorium of Music.

bOOKINgS on (08) 8313 5925 OR Email ClaIRE.OREMlaND@aDElaIDE.EDU.aU | w w w.EldERhall. adElaidE.Edu. au

satu r day 27 oc to b e r 6 . 3 0 pm adulT $25 CONCs $20 sTudENT $15

38

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

visual arts

Infinite Horizons Adelaide gets to experience the full genius of Fred Williams with Infinite Horizons. The first major retrospective of Williams’ work in a quarter of a century is currently on show at the Art Gallery of South Australia and features more than 100 works of art.

Patrick McCaughey

I

hope Adelaide responds more warmly to Fred Williams this time round. When he first showed in Adelaide more than 50 years ago, he was accused of “lowering the standards of art in South Australia” - now that takes some doing!

- and when the murals in the Adelaide Festival Theatre were unveiled Stephanie Britton reported “…we have paid dearly in more ways than one for the Williams mural… How he sustains any kind of reputation if this is the best he can turn out, I find hard to understand. The concept is hackneyed, the design is totally out of keeping with its environment, the colour is as nondescript as the forms its describes.

The whole thing is an embarrassment.” Those same murals are now considered to be amongst Williams’ finest paintings, an unfolding allegory of the Australian landscape, its extreme dryness and the human longing for water. They mark ‘the great change ‘ in his art from the 1960s to the 1970s and

were his only public commission.

Fred Williams belongs to that small group of major artists who changed the consciousness of a country and its culture. A change of consciousness means that the artist makes you see the world differently, gives you a new feeling for the environment and leaves you with a more profound understanding of your landscape, the place and space in which you exist.

John Glover, Eugene von Guerard and AbramLouis Buvelot did it for the colonial era. The masters of the Heidelberg School – Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Fred McCubbin – raised Australian consciousness on the eve of Federation. The mighty trio of women artists – Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston and Clarice Beckett – ushered Australia into a 20th century awareness of the world.

Russell Drysdale and Sidney Nolan succeeded as the poets and painters of heroic survival and lasting stoicism in the face of an inhospitable landscape. In our own time, contemporary Aboriginal painters

A FrAyed (K)nOt Wild Fibre Artists

28 September – 19 October 2012 gallery

Charmian Quintrell, Family Elements

studio

Opens: Friday 28 September at 6 pm Launch Guest: Ian Willding, Curator – Visual Artist Artist Demonstrations: Saturday 29 September, 2 pm – 4 pm Liz Steveson (Solomon’s knots) Charmian Quintrell (felt making) Saturday 6 October, 2 pm – 4 pm Yvonne Twining (leather activities) Jackie Pearce (stitching and collage) Saturday 13 October, 2 pm – 4 pm Margaret Harris (weaving) Liz Yates (basketry)

Free entry - All Welcome!

Pepper Street Arts Centre Exhibitions. Gift Shop. Art Classes. Coffee Shop.

558 Magill Road, Magill PH: 8364 6154 Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12 noon - 5 pm

www.pepperstreetartscentre.com.au

John Lacey Open Gallery & Studio “a work in progress”

Open most Days 11 - 5pm

41 Woodcone Rd Mt Compass 8556 8388 www.johnlacey.com.au

Just south of Mt Compass, so why not drop in when next visiting Goolwa to the Victor region

Gus ClutterbuCk Art And DesiGn Artwork hanging, advice and installation for Private homes | Offices | Galleries

Gus Clutterbuck

0407 721 532 artful@internode.on.net

138 RICHMOND ROAD MARLESTON 8354 0839 | ccp.sa.edu.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

39

visual arts Previous page: Fred Williams Tree loppers 1955 oil on composition board Private collection © estate of Fred Williams

“

Then the great change came.

Like every major artist, Williams showed a capacity to transform his art – lock, stock and barrel. He changed his palette from the tonal values of the 1960s to a riot of iridescent colour."

the source of lively and lasting art. They won him the Helena Rubinstein Travelling Scholarship, then the most prestigious art award in Australia.

After the You Yang paintings came the succession of landscape series in the 1960s. He offered a vision of the bush as light filled and splintering one moment and dark, tenebrous and enclosing the next. He had gum trees exploding at the horizon line. There were vertiginous hillsides and landscapes that were both spare and massive, laconic and monumental. The decade came to a climax in the paintings of 1969-70.

They were the most abstract landscapes Williams ever painted. On flat, monochromatic surfaces of gray or tan, divided into panels by a ghostly white line, Fred Williams painted small flecks of paint in contrasting colours and tones. He kept changing the titles of the series. They were first known as Gum Trees in a Landscape, then as Divided Landscapes and finally as Australian Landscapes.

For in these daring and experimental paintings, Williams believed he had uncovered the essence of the Australian landscape, its handwriting, its basic alphabet. Here was laid bare the dryness, the extensiveness and the repetition which so indelibly marks the Australian world.

Then the great change came.

Like every major artist, Williams showed a capacity to transform his art – lock, stock and barrel.

He changed his palette from the tonal values of the 1960s to a riot of iridescent colour. And colour is the language of feeling in art from Rubens to Delacroix, from Manet to Matisse and Williams was no exception. The new paintings were flooded with a new intensity of feeling for the landscape.

ADELAIDE ART SOCIETY | SPRING EXHIBITION Grain Store Studio, 112 Margaret Street, North Adelaide

To be opened by Pam Saint at 2.00 pm on Saturday the 27th October.

Open on the weekends of the 27th & 28th October, 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th of November, closing date.

Open weekdays Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10.00 am – 1.00pm between the 28th October and the 11th November

Adelaide Art Society 112 Margaret Street, North Adelaide

He dramatically expanded his subject matter.

Throughout the 1960s he had rarely painted outside of Victoria. In the 1970s he would paint in every state in the nation from the islands of Bass Strait to Weipa at the very tip of Cape York. He would paint, dramatically, a snowbound Kosciusko and the River Murray pushing its way through a drought stricken South Australian landscape. Finally he came to the iron ore country of the Pilbara for his last, climactic series. Fred Williams formed a deep attachment to the far northwest, famously remarking “any body who could not paint this particular country is probably in the wrong profession.”

We can readily identify two views of outback/ inland Australia. For Hans Heysen in the Flinders Ranges or Drysdale in the western back blocks of NSW or Sidney Nolan in Central Australia, the landscape inspires an Australian version of the sublime, a landscape of awe and trepidation.

Indigenous Australian artists have taught us otherwise. It is the landscape of the Dreaming, formed by their Ancestors. They created a land with sites for ritual and ceremony to honour the land and a place where there are waterholes and soaks which attract game and nourish vegetation to provide food and sustenance for the tribe. It is a sacred landscape and a landscape of survival for its inhabitants.

Fred Williams who admired contemporary Aboriginal art chose a different path. His close affinity for the Pilbara was for its immense spaces, its brilliant, atmospheric light and its natural monuments, its mesas and outcrops of iron ore. He painted them all with a warm palette and an intimate

Steven Langdon - Fisher King

such as Emily Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri have changed forever the way we value the land. Fred Williams has joined this company of the elect.

Sir Joseph Burke, the first Herald Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne and a major presence on the Australian cultural scene, once complained to me that Russell Drysdale had ruined the Australian countryside for him.

“Wherever I go, all I see are Russell Drysdale landscapes.” He said he was just getting over that when Fred Williams came along and ruined it all over again. “All I see now are Fred Williams landscapes.” (Needless to say, Joe Burke was a good friend and intense admirer of both artists.) Burke was quite right. The surprise lies in where and how Williams achieved such a universal vision.

Incontrovertibly, the most boring stretch of the Australian landscape is that which runs from Melbourne to Geelong and it does not improve on the way back. Unchanging in any season, the dreariness and the boredom are broken momentarily by the You Yangs which rise so abruptly from the nebulous plain. Yet it was from those dry and dusty hills, looking across that flat, monotonous landscape that Fred Williams achieved his breakthrough paintings, the You Yang series.

He saw gum trees collecting along roads and fence lines in tight bunches or scattered randomly across the paddocks. Always Williams rendered them in brilliant, spontaneous patches and swirls of paint.

When they were exhibited in 1963, the shock of recognition was palpable and immediate. The most common, humdrum Australian landscape could be

Left: Fred Williams Beachscape, Erith Island I 1974 gouache and sand on paper National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased from Gallery admission charges 1983 © estate of Fred Williams

touch. He replaced the Australian sublime, with its overtones of fear and estrangement, with a clear sense of delight and surprise in its magnificence and mysteriousness. We too can be ‘at home’ here.

Like all true artists, Fred Williams was from time to time prey to doubts about his art and what direction it should take. Yet whenever he went out to paint the landscape directly, whether it be the bush-covered hillsides of the Dandenongs or the gorges and waterfalls of Victoria, the place Australia renewed him. It was the source of his unshakeable confidence in his art. All of this was achieved and accomplished so modestly without fanfare or show.

He had a deep and abiding aversion to personal publicity. Conspicuously generous towards other artists, particularly those younger than himself, possessed of a high intelligence and unfailing good humour, Fred Williams was the most widely respected and deeply loved artist of his age. What a legacy he leaves.

Fred Williams Infinite Horizons Art Gallery of South Australia Continues until Sunday, November 4 artgallery.sa.gov.au Patrick McCaughey is a former Director of the National Gallery of Victoria and the author of Fred Williams (Murdoch Books) now in its fourth edition.

Steve Langdon BirdS and FiSh ground Floor gallery

1 oct – 18 nov Bay Discovery Centre glenelg town hall 1 Moseley Square, glenelg, Sa 5045 Ph: 81799508 www.holdfast.sa.gov.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

BRUCE NUSKE

40

27 September to 20 October 2012 Kirsten Coelho – BruCe nusKe – Prue VenaBles – liz Williams

31 - 33 North Street | West End Adelaide | South Australia 5000 T +61 8231 4440 | M 0421 311 680 | art @bmgart.com.au www.bmgart.com.au

Master of stillness Where others saw the modern world of industry and technology around us as spiritually barren, Australia’s ‘master of the urban vision’ and modernist painter Jeffrey Smart saw something captivating and beautiful.

Gallery Hours Tues to Sat 11am to 5pm Bruce Nuske: Leaf Tea 2012, Handformed Ivory porcelain pierced decoration, 15 x 23cms

M

INSTINCT 24 OCT - 18 NOV 2012

MATT HUPPATZ

OWEN LEONG

JUZ KITSON

DREW PETTIFER

GREENAWAY ART GALLERY www.greenaway.com.au

Ines Parker, Karlwe Karlwe series no. 3, 59cms x 40cms, woven tapestry: wool, cotton and silk

Contemplating an arChean land Alvena Hall and Ines Parker 7 – 28 October 2012 1 Thomas Street (cnr Main North Road) Nailsworth Tel 8342 8175 prospect.sa.gov.au

Nina Bertok aster of Stillness – an exhibition celebrating Smart’s career from his early years in Adelaide through to his retirement in 2011 – will feature more than 60 paintings that depict the painter’s fascination with urban landscapes and geometry.

The Adelaide Review speaks to Smart’s long-time friend and exhibition curator Barry Pearce about what makes the Adelaide-born-and-raised artist one of the most important living painters in Australia.

“This collection covers the entire career of Jeffrey Smart, from the 1940s up until 2011, when he made his last painting and then declared his retirement,” Pearce explains. “When you look at them all, they really tell you the story of a journey that starts in Adelaide, where Jeffrey was born, grew up and was trained, up to his move to Sydney for 10 years, and up to when he moved to Italy permanently. Even before he left for Sydney, he would tell his students, ‘I’m going to live in Sydney and then when I’ve had some success, I’m going to live in Italy’, which was always his dream and which is what he did. He moved to Italy in 1963, lived in Rome for 10 years and then bought an old farmhouse in Tuscany where he still lives.”

The collection tracks various phases of Smart’s life, according to Pearce, but maintains the painter’s trademark style and beloved subject matter.

Urban landscapes, traffic signs, 20th century technology, Adelaide’s backstreets, telegraph poles and building skyscrapers – the city-oriented lifestyle and the interesting characters who dwell within this environment remained Smart’s focus up until his last masterpiece and one of Pearce’s own favourite paintings.

“Well, actually I have two favourite pieces,” he says. “One of them was painted in the very middle of his career in 1969. It’s called Morning Practice, Baia and it shows a man balancing a cube, which looks a lot like a character from a circus. It shows

a very geometric backdrop, the sun is coming up and creating shadows, and Jeffrey was inspired

by Picasso’s paintings. This painting has never been seen in Australia – in 1969 it was exhibited in London and bought by someone who took it to America. Jeffrey considered it his best work and it’s just a fantastic painting that tells you everything about Jeffrey himself. My second favourite piece is the very last painting he did in 2011 when he declared his retirement. It’s called Labyrinth and is a portrait of a man standing in a labyrinth and, once you see this picture, it really connects back with everything he’s ever done. It’s his final masterpiece, the one that sums it all up in the best way for a painter to finish his career. It’s the holy grail.”

According to Pearce, two important factors played a part in influencing Smart’s artistic style.

While experiencing the 1930s Depression era had an impact on the way the painter would come to see his immediate surroundings, Smart’s architectural ambitions – which he never managed to achieve – also affected his works.

“The subject matter is the lives of people who live behind the doors and windows and under the rooftops. He always liked geometry and wanted to be an architect but his parents couldn’t afford to send him to uni so architecture became the subject of his paintings instead. During the 1930s Depression, his father was a real estate agent. They’d had a nice house, they were reasonably well-off in Adelaide, but when the Depression hit they suffered from it so they had to rent their house out in the Adelaide suburbs and they moved into a flat on the outskirts of Adelaide, in the southern part of the city. Jeffrey has said that he remembers to this day being a young boy, standing on the kitchen balcony which looked onto the backstreets and the alleyways of Adelaide – and he just instinctively fell in love with that vision.”

Pearce counts himself as not only an admirer of Smart’s work, but also as a long-time friend.

“I’d written a substantial book on Jeffrey in 2005, I’ve known him for 30 years because I’m

Image: Jeffrey Smart, Labyrinth, 2011, oil on canvas, 100.0 x 100.0 cm, private collection, © Jeffrey Smart

originally from Adelaide too. We both studied at the South Australian School of Art and were taught by the same people. We both grew up in the same kind of Adelaide, a place that we had a love/hate relationship with, this town that we both saw as a conservative, geometric small city surrounded by the hills and the sea. We started corresponding in the early 80s and that’s how our friendship began.

Knowing the man and his work didn’t make it hard to pick out works for this new exhibition. “

Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart Paintings 19402011 Samstag Museum of Art and Carrick Hill Friday, October 12 to Friday, December 14 unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum

JAMJAR Storage Jar $250 design + craftsmanship

NEW!

Available online and in-store now! www.jamfactory.com.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

41

visual arts

Firing up Daniel Thomas, Emeritus Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, has always been good at pointing things out. He once observed that Adelaide was the only Australian capital city to be built on clay.

John Neylon

W

hat this means, who knows, but for now there may be some comfort in knowing that one has feet of clay but not necessarily head in the sand. Right now Adelaide is caught up in claymania as it presents ‘Subversive Clay’ the Australian Ceramics Triennial accompanied by a number of outstanding exhibitions. Check the ACT site for full details. Two exhibitions Post Skangaroovian at SASA Gallery and Earth Works - Contemporary Indigenous Australian Ceramic Art at Flinders University City Gallery provide some historical rectitude; Earth Works in delivering a survey of key figures and developments associated with Indigenous ceramic art and Post Skangaroovian delivering a snapshot of now in a prequelish kind of way.

Earth Works curator Christine Nicholls has drawn on a long and close involvement with individual artists and communities to chronicle and reflect on an extraordinary range of works in which clay or ceramics have figured almost exclusively.

Here at last is a map of which many have owned bits and pieces over the years but never known

how significant they are and where they should be located. I am thinking, from personal experience, of the robust clay vessels by Thancoupie that, when originally acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia, sat on display within the Australian collection with enormous visual presence but few affiliations apart from some Arthur Boyd or Milton Moon ceramics nearby. There are several Thancoupie works in the Earth Works show including the magnificent Thaal the black eagle, Mal the red eagle (1994) and a stoneware form, Ayala (1997) which looks in its surface morphology and patterning to be heaving like the earth being born.

Also included are several of the artist’s Free form (knee pots) created by dropping the knee and the body’s weight onto a pad of clay and later incising deep designs into the inner surface. It doesn’t get any earthier than this. Another familiar ‘face’ is the group of small, decorated vessels originating from Hermannsburg and particularly associated with a group of Arrernte women ceramicists who worked with the potter Naomi Sharp. The skills Sharp was able to share with these women enabled their creative talents to expand the expressive potential of small ceramic vessels to reference country and sometimes, the women’s personal Altyerr (‘Dreamings’). Creatures featured on the bowl lids such as a parrot, wallaby and perentie (lizard) are modeled with great flair.

Included in this exhibition are works by socalled ‘New Wave’ independent potters, including Ricardo Idagi, Janet Fieldhouse and Danie Mellor. The irony of Idagi’s commemoration of the anniversary of the arrival of the London Missionary Society on the Torres Strait island of Erub (Darnley Island) in 1871 is emphatically spelt out in a ‘Happy Anniversary’ cake being ground beneath the heel of an old brown sandal. Another of Idagi’s works, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, uses a European metaphor to spell out the injustice of mission land never being returned to its (rightful) Indigenous landowners. Mellor’s dogs, while projecting canine charm and a cuteness bordering on kitsch are vehicles for a number of subversive strategies for reclaiming culture and

country. So no conceptual patting. To summarise; a landmark exhibition in terms of mapping and opening up territory for further exploration of a relatively recent but sustained Indigenous art tradition and quite simply an exhibition which in the beauty of forms and decoration of some works and the robust declarations of cultural identity in others, speaks for itself.

Daniel Thomas again, this time as author of the term ‘Skangaroovia’, coined in the mid 1980s as a suggested (replacement) name for the perceived blandness and misleading title ‘South Australia’. Not many saluted it when it ran up the flagpole but it did live on as Skangaroovian Funk: Peculiar Adelaide Ceramics 1968 – 1978, an exhibition of ceramic-art-withattitude at the Gallery in 1986, curated by Judith Thompson. This (also landmark) exhibition captured a special window in time when some highly creative and subversive Adelaide-based artists high jacked pottery and turned it into a weapon. There was anger (Olive Bishop’s anti war Wash and War shirts and Ian Smith’s The Generals), satire (Margaret Dodd’s Bridal Holden), sex (Tim Moorhead’s Over easy in the morning and Bert Flugelman’s shunga-bunga Tattooed Lady), studio pottery slat kicking (Aleks Danko and Bill Gregory), play power (Ron Rowe) and amazing technical pyrotechnics meets cabaret (Mark Thompson, Bruce Nuske and Paul Greenaway.

The current exhibition Post Skangaroovian is asking for trouble if it wants to mix it with this lot.

No chance. Dodd and Nuske are the only ‘survivors’ from the Funk 86 show. But it is telling that Dodd’s love (or hate) affair with the car has continued (with an upgrade to the Holden Commodore) and Nuske continuing to work trademark territory characterised by impeccably modelled porcelain figuration with a fantastical twist. Enough of comparisons with Funk 86 except to say that these current sons and daughters of have largely eschewed colour in favour of a more Skando than Skango chill bill aesthetic. The dark dagginess (or should that be dogginess?) of Gerry Wedd’s little

sculptures defines him as a true heir of all that is opposed to ceramic’s lingering associations with Meissen shepherdesses as is Gus Clutterbuck’s gloriously ramshackle excuse for an outback landscape (could be the Bungles on a bad hair day) made from castings of recycled squashed containers. 1986 – 2012 is a long time between shows so I suggest you check the Post in readiness for Post Post in say 2040 because it looks like this tradition is just firing up.

Post Skangaroovian South Australian School of Art Gallery Continues until Friday, October 12 Earth Works: Contemporary Indigenous Australian Ceramic Art Flinders University City Gallery Continues until Sunday, October 14

Honor Freeman, 2009, leaky bucket, slip cast porcelain, stain, glaze

28 Sept - 21 Oct 2012 `

House Special

Gallery M Marion Cultural Centre 287 Diagonal Rd Oaklands Park SA P: 08 8377 2904 E: info@gallerym.net.au

An exhibition of artworks in various media by members of the Red House Group Inc

exhibitions gallery shop

images (from left) painting by Zoltan Von Bujdoss, sculpture by Makram Iskandar, painting by John Hamilton, photography by Tessa Manning

www.gallerym.net.au

Kangaroo Island Artist

Neil Sheppard (SHEP) presents

“Of Guts and Gold” November 3 – December 16 Opening Night November 3 For further details contact: Venturas Visions Gallery and Studio 36 Main North Road T 8849 2087 M 0408 411 404 www.venturasvisions.com.au www.shepstudio.com.au

42

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

visual arts

Heading for the hills

Jane Llewellyn

A

fter nearly 16 years in the business Tony Bond is closing his Contemporary and Aboriginal Art Gallery in Stepney at the end of this month and heading to Oakbank in the Adelaide Hills for a treechange. However he’s not closing altogether with plans to open a new business in Oakbank by mid next year. Along with the new location will come a new guise.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to diversify a bit,” Bond explains. “My wife is an interior designer and before my 16 years in art I was involved in the antique business. I’m not saying I’m going back into that but I’m just being a bit open minded about how I do it. Mixing art with furnishings is the plan.”

It was while he was running his antique business, Adelaide Antique Auctions that he became particularly interested in Indigenous art. “We started doing tribal art auctions twice a year and I just fell in love with the Indigenous stuff and was really interested in Aboriginal culture. When I sold the auction business in 1996 I decided I was

going to deal in Aboriginal art. I became really passionate about it,” Bond recalls. He went on to open his first gallery in 1999 on Unley Road before moving to Stepney in 2009.

Bond also has a keen interest in restoring old buildings. “I like old buildings. I like that contrast of hanging a really great piece of art in an industrial setting,” he says. Along with the 1842 house he is renovating on the Oakbank property there is also an old barn which sits on the main road, Onkaparinga Valley Road, and will be the location for Bond’s new venture. He declares: “It’s a big old stone barn built in 1858. It’s quite a landmark and it will suit my purpose very well.”

In this tough economic market it’s not surprising that Bond is diversifying his business and broadening his client base. “It has been tough for the emerging and mid career artists I deal with. I will definitely be taking some with me. It also opens up the opportunity for them to do other things down in the city because I will be in the hills which is sort of separate.”

Bond has always run the gallery without the formal structure of artist contracts allowing a

certain degree of flexibility. “I have never insisted on strict representation. I’ve never signed an artist contract in my life,” he explains. Bond will continue to explore other ways to exhibit and promote artists’ work. “I would like to do a bit of pop up stuff. We have a great mailing list. We have a strong email list and social media presence.”

The location of this gallery is not just a treechange for Bond but also a chance to tap into some of the tourists who visit South Australia. “We don’t get a lot of tourists in Adelaide but when they do come they go to places like the Adelaide hills, the Barossa and McLaren Vale so they aren’t bad places to have a gallery. They’ll go and taste wine, take a drive and be in a happy place and hopefully buy some art.”

Reflecting on his career Bond seems to have no regrets: “We have had some incredibly good times and I expected things to slow down. I’m quite excited about the new venture. I’m 50 next year and I’ve had enough. It’s a relief really.”

The gallery’s final exhibition is works by Kaltjiti Arts and Jana Wallace Braddock, which runs from Thursday, October 11 to Monday, October 29.

“

I have never insisted on strict representation. I’ve never signed an artist contract in my life."

In Celebration of his 80th year ‘Encore’ showcases his 2012 collection as well as exhibiting artworks that span his illustrious career.

‘Encore’ is open at his ‘BK Studio’ - 26 Coglin St, Brompton.

EXHIBITION IS TO BE OPENED ON SUNDAY 14th October, 2–5pm.

Please join Ben Kypridakis to the opening of his latest exhibition of ceramic artworks entitled

‘Encore’

THIS EXHIBITION IS THEN OPEN TO THE PUBlIc ON: Tuesday 18th October – Friday 21st October, 11.00am – 4.30pm Tuesday 25th October – Friday 28th October, 11.00am – 4.30pm

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

43

T’Arts T’Arts Collective Collective GaysArcade Arcade(off (offAdelaide AdelaideArcade) Arcade) Gays

Excitingartist artistrun runcontemporary contemporarygallery gallery/ shop / shopininthe theheart heartofofAdelaide.

Adelaide.

Exciting

1 - 27 October

Breaker Morant

Storm Boy

South Australian rules The South Australia Film Corporation (SAFC) celebrates 40 years of independent filmmaking with a fascinating exhibition, From a Sunday Too Far Away, a behind the scenes insight into SAFC classics and cult favourites, as well as the forgotten gems.

Christopher Sanders

E

Jane Skipping, watercolour

by Gary Lee Gaston

stablished in 1972, the SAFC was the first state film corporation established in the country with the production studio delivering its first bona fide classic some three years later with Sunday Too Far Away, which was followed by another immortal Aussie film Storm Boy in 1976 and Breaker Morant four years later. This era represented a golden age of South Australian (and Australian) cinema. Producer Matt Carroll worked on all three films, and many more, during his SAFC tenure from 73 to 83.

“It was a very interesting time,” Carroll explains from his Sydney office. “Several of the films were pivotal. Sunday Too Far Away was pivotal because it was such an Australian story; no one had tried doing that in a feature before – Wake in Fright being the only precursor to it.

That made us all very adventurous in what we could do. And we had an awful lot of history to catch up on and cover, so all those sorts of films like Breaker and Gallipoli and things like that got made. It was a scramble to make some great stories that had been sitting there for a long time.”

Though there weren’t too many photographs taken during the filming of Breaker Morant, Carroll discovered an army photographer who would then have a career in the film industry.

The photographer, Jim Townely, was part of the army’s publicity team sent to the Breaker set to capture images of an army platoon working as extras on the film.

“He came up to the cover the first couple of days and then he disappeared. He came back and had the most magnificent stills. I went, ‘oh my god’.

I went to Jim and said ‘these are fantastic’. They

PAST PRESENT EXHIBITION Margaret Marsh, Sheana Davies, Peta Stuart, Wendy Ness, Emanda Fretwell

Cricket Boys by Jane Sabey

were just outstanding photographs. I said, ‘look, would you be able to cover the rest of the film?’

With guidance from the Breaker crew, Townely made a decision to quit the army and work in film.

He would later work as a still photographer on such films as Gallipoli, Babe and Ray Lawrence’s Bliss.

“His work on Gallipoli was superb too, obviously because he had been in the army but he went on to do a whole lot of... then he disappeared. I came back to Sydney and I don’t know what happened to Jim. I saw him a few times. I kept seeing him on film sets here and there and I kept running across him. So he had a great career. Another great still photographer we had in those days was David Kynoch. He took the Storm Boy photographs. They were just fantastic and out of that the publisher at the time saw David’s photographs and actually published a whole new edition [of the book] with David’s photographs.”

From A Sunday Too Far Away isn’t just a showcase of SAFC produced Australiana classics.

It will feature contemporary films supported by the SAFC including Rabbit-Proof Fence, Shine and the work of Rolf De Heer. The exhibition will feature a behind the scenes look at approximately 30 films, a third of them SAFC produced, plus around 20 films independently produced and supported by the SAFC.

Open 10am-5pm Open Mon-Sat Mon-Sat 10am-5pm Phone 82320265 0265 Phone 8232

www.tartscollective.com.au www.tartscollective.com.au

From A Sunday Too Far Away Flinders University City Gallery Saturday, October 20 to Sunday, December 2 safilm.com.au

melinda brodde curl ribbon around the pieces of my heart, bundle all the bones and make a pile in the corner 18 October - 4 November 2012 www.hillsmithgallery.com.au

ROYAL SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ARTS INC. Art & Artistry Till 7 October An Exhibition Celebrating 80th year of the Credit Union Christmas Pageant Artists: Gary Lee Gaston, Kit Chambers, David Blight, the artists behind the imagery of the Christmas Pageant.

General Store of the Far North, 1944, watercolour on cardboard, by Jeffrey Smart

Gallery talk by Gary Lee Gaston Sun 7th Oct at 2.00pm

Jeffrey Smart & His Contemporaries Sunday 14 October – Sunday 11 November Forum: Sunday 28 October 2–4pm An exhibition of artworks by Jeffrey Smart, his peers, teachers & students – Jacqueline Hick, John Giles, Horace Trenerry, Ursula Barr Smith, John Dowie, Hans Heysen, Geoffrey Brown and many more

Royal South Australian Society of Arts Inc. Level 1 Institute Building, Cnr North Terrace & Kintore Ave Adelaide, Ph/Fax: 8232 0450 www.rsasarts.com.au rsasarts@bigpond.net.au Mon- Fri 10.30-4.30pm Sat & Sun 1- 4pm Pub Hol. Closed.

Lyn Wood

New paintings, drawings and etchings celebrating the FLOW of the river.

OpeNiNg by KeN Orchard SuNday 4th NOvember 2pm including new works from rob Johnston...

South coast regional arts centre, Goolwa Terrace, Goolwa 08 8555 7289 leah.grace@alexandrina.sa.gov.au exhibition runs from 3rd November to 2nd december Opening hours: Wednesday – Friday 11am - 4pm, Saturday – Sunday 10am - 4pm

44

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

ADELAIDES LARGEST RANGE OF QUALITY ART MATERIALS

This month The Adelaide Review’s guide to October’s highlight visual arts events 83 Commercial Road, Port Adelaide Open: Mon - Fri 8.30-5pm Sat 9-2pm Phone: 8241 0059 sales@portartsupplies.com.au

National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Tandanya presents

Glenside design. Image: Grieve Gillett Architects

Moving forward Christopher Sanders

Darryl Pfitzner Milika, (detail) Kaurna Reflections, 2012 16.4 x 24.5 cm digital colour print on 244gsm Premium Epson, edn of 25 ShOwing until 11 nOveMber

Sky, land & Beyond: expanding identity Darryl Pfitzner Milika Free Artist talk Sat. 6 October at 1pm Large scale works on archival board combining sculptural relief elements with paint and texture, together with a series of small-scale digital image prints exploring landscape, sky and cosmology reinforcing traditional Aboriginal connectivity between the micro and macro.

ShOwing until 25 nOveMber

DeSert PSycheDelic Jimmy Pike Pat lowe will present free gallery talk Sat. 3 november at 1pm This significant exhibition follows Pike’s journey from making paintings and prints in prison to producing textile designs.

Desert Psychedelic: Jimmy Pike is curated by artisan and toured by Museum and Gallery Services Queensland.

Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute 253 Grenfell St (cnr East Tce) Adelaide 5000 (08) 8224 3234. Free entry. Open daily 10am - 5pm www.tandanya.com.au

A

n exhibition of postcard-sized works will assist South Australia’s only accredited independent art school, the Adelaide Central School of Art (ACSA), relocate to Glenside. The school will be situated adjacent to South Australian Film Corp’s Adelaide Studios. The exhibition, Wish you were Here!, will be raising funds to support the move with each work selling for $75.

The funds raised by the exhibition will assist with the fit out of the new premises. The not-forprofit art school has a 50-year lease at Glenside, which is shaping up to be a cultural precinct with the art school and the film studios. ACSA wants to raise $500,000 over the next 18 months, which CEO Ingrid Kellenbach says is needed to complete a “proper fit out” of the two buildings they are moving into.

“It’s a bit like the icing on the cake I suppose,” Kellenbach says. “We’ve got the money with the loan and we’ve got enough to do a bare bones fit out. What we don’t have is the funds to fit out the gallery with proper lighting or the library; things we still see as essential but they are not essential to the make-up of the building.”

As with Adelaide Studios, Grieve Gillett Architects will design the new ACSA buildings, which were unoccupied for more than 35 years. The Wish you were Here! exhibition includes works by ACSA graduates and students as well as well-known invited artists. Each work remains anonymous until the exhibition concludes, so when people purchase

a piece they will not know who the artist is.

“I’ve already had people say, ‘you have to tell me [who the artists is]’ but I say, ‘but I don’t know’. I might have invited someone but I haven’t received any of the works. We’re sworn to secrecy. I know the works I’ve made.”

Initially the school – which includes Central Artist Supplies on its current premises that will shift with the school – will move into two buildings, the P&O and the Admin buildings, but ACSA is able to expand into two other Glenside buildings, with these projects to be developed in stages over the next 10 years. Currently ACSA has 220 students at its current Norwood base.

Kellenbach hopes student numbers will grow incrementally after the school moves.

“We want to expand, not expand hugely. I suppose expand and do different things we haven’t been able to do. More programs for the community, more opportunities to bring our graduates back in to do some things; specialised workshops and masterclasses and the real growth is potentially in one of these other buildings and having an artist in residence studio, so we can actually invite someone to be a resident.”

Wish you were Here!

Adelaide Central School of Art Studio Gallery Friday, October 5 to Saturday, November 3 acsa.edu.au

Jeffrey Smart (Master of Stillness) Curator Barry Pearce talk Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art Saturday, October 13 (1pm)

Curator and friend of Jeffrey Smart, Barry Pearce, will present a floor talk about Master of Stillness, a retrospective of Smart’s incredible career. Free. You can book via barrypearcecuratortalk.eventbrite.com

Jeffrey Harris My Father’s Table The Light Square Gallery Wednesday, October 10 to Thursday, November 1

Adelaide-based artist Jeffrey Harris will showcase around 50 new oil on canvas paintings at the Light Square Gallery. All works are new and are on show to celebrate Harris’ 80th birthday.

Jeffrey Smart, Portrait of David Malouf 1980, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 100.0 x 100.0 cm, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, © Jeffrey Smart

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

45

books Live by Night Dennis Lehane (Little, Brown) Christopher Sanders

Mortality Christopher Hitchens (Allen & Unwin) William Charles Diagnosed with throat cancer mid-book tour in 2010, polemicist Christopher Hitchens turned the occasion of his final illness – much like fellow US-based Englishman Tony Judt had two years before – into an opportunity for a series of essays of sustained and poignant brilliance. Eloquent to the last, Hitchens is also unsparing in his description of the physical ravages of cancer, the mental battles fought against it and the prospect of a looming death as seen through the prism of his much publicised atheism – and all this while being cycled through the high-tech yet Godfearing US medical system. Hitchens is at his lucid best, encyclopedic in his referencing of politics and literature while at the same time unstinting in his attention to medical detail. Impotent, numb and in constant pain, though apparently tougher than even he gives himself credit for – his infamous submission to waterboarding is discussed in the light of questions of torture, religion and death – Hitchens refuses to be comforted by illusion. He faces the process of a painful and premature death with stoic good humour, a wry grin, and a wistful farewell to all that was wondrous in life.

Dennis Lehane’s last adventure Moonlight Mile was a rare blip in the Boston writer’s stellar career, as the lukewarm 2010 novel was the weakest of his famed Kenzie-Gennaro series. The latest from the film director’s favourite (Shutter Island, Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone have all been turned into films) is a sequel (kind of) to his 2008 novel, The Given Day. It’s prohibition-era Boston and Lehane’s protagonist Joe Coughlin (the brother of The Given Day’s Danny Coughlin) is a hoodlum with a silver spoon upbringing who falls in love with a gangster’s moll, Emma, after robbing an after hour casino she works at and is impressed with her looks and attitude. What begins as a simple forbidden love story in prohibition times (which gets a little tedious after the first 100 pages) then sways in the most unexpectedly heart wrenching way, as a father and son relationship appears out of nowhere, which forces Joe to serve time in jail before setting up as a kingpin rum peddler in Tampa Bay. Live by Night isn’t classic Lehane but its noir-like world of gangsters, femme fatales, Cuban revolutionaries and Klan-endorsed maniacs means it is still a crime page-turner of the highest order.

The Chalk Girl Carol O’Connell (Headline/Griffin) Roger Hainsworth

written about a dozen previous novels and I had missed the lot. Nine of them are Mallory stories (see below) and I have already read two. The rest are at my elbow. In The Chalk Girl a little girl mysteriously strays into a tour group in New York’s Central Park. She has blood (not her own) on the shoulders of her dress and her ‘uncle’ who took her there has, she asserts, ‘turned into a tree’. The case is taken up by NYPD detective Kathy Mallory (she insists on just ‘Mallory’) who had been a stray herself on the New York streets until picked up aged nine, and adopted (sort of) by a police lieutenant and his wife. Now she is a cop herself, more feared than loved by her superiors some of who believe her half-mad or worse. Here Mallory embarks on a labyrinthine investigation that by comparison makes the plot of Bleak House appear as simple as The House at Pooh Corner.

The alleged ‘uncle’, a known pedophile who had abducted the stray, is found suspended in a bag from a high branch. He is not alone. A few trees away hangs a woman near dead from thirst and from one still further hangs a man very dead indeed. A serial killer? Mallory is not convinced. Certainly there are more horrors to reveal both present and buried in the past.

On the streets Mallory was a highly skilled thief.

As a teenage computer hacker of genius no secret in New York was entirely safe. As a detective in her twenties Mallory is frightening to her colleagues and terrifying to the guilty, which, be warned, is as well. Some of them are pretty terrifying themselves. No matter, let the stout of heart grab on to Mallory. She is the most original detective to appear for generations.

Happily ever Did youafter know

I had read no more than a couple of pages of The Chalk Girl when I realised I had stumbled on a most remarkable talent. Looking more closely I was chagrined to discover that once again I was reviewing a book by an author who had

that the wingspan of areader Boeing 747 ischild An avid is a happy longer the and and one whothan will thrive Wright Brothers prosper.

Simple as that. And the bestfirst booksflight? for them are at all Learn Dymocks stores. something new everyday!

Follow us on Twitter @DymocksAdelaide 135 Rundle Mall, Adelaide (08) 8223 5380

135 Rundle Mall

46

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

travel

A Samoan experience Breathing heavily as we ascend Samoa’s leafy Mt Vaea, our guide Anthony offers up a homespun Samoan gem to effectively push us to the scenic summit. When he opines, “paradise is sometimes hard to get to”, he could well be talking about the Samoan experience as a whole.

Scott McLennan

I

nexpensive and untainted, Samoa is free of Fiji’s desperate consumerist lunge or Hawaii’s American cultural sway, thus emerging as a pristine précis of Polynesia’s glories. Known as Western Samoa until 1997, the country was a burgeoning tourist destination until 2009’s deadly tsunami claimed almost 100 lives on the main island of Upolu. The proud nation has comprehensively rebounded, with September’s 20th annual Teuila Festival a robust showcase of the country’s culture. The vibrant week-long celebrations in the capital Apia promotes national customs and events in front of crowds of locals and international travellers, but beyond the city perimeter lies opportunities perhaps even more unique than witnessing age-

old rites, canoe races and ceremonial dances.

Finally arriving at Mt Vaea’s peak, we take in the view of Apia and its harbour as we rest beside the tomb of Samoan resident Robert Louis Stevenson. Searching for a climate that would arrest his chronic health issues, the Treasure Island author moved his family to Samoa in 1890 and was warmly welcomed by the locals.

Down on Upolu’s south coast the vistas are just as spectacular. While one of Samoa’s key selling points is that it isn’t clambering to erect sprawling, homogenous resorts on every sandy shore, majestic accommodation does exist. Rebuilt in the wake of the tsunami devastation, Seabreeze Resort looks south onto an ocean that doesn’t hit another land mass until it reaches Antarctica’s ice floes 8000km away. An idyllic cove that acts as a holiday spot perfect for honeymooners or those with a love of boutique lodgings, it’s a fairytale setting. Cheaper – but no less memorable accommodation options along the coast include thatched beach huts known as fales, where visitors can bed down on modest, traditionally woven mats and fall asleep as the waves lap like a comforting marine metronome mere metres away.

We wake at 5am, with our meticulous guide Anthony shoehorning a trip to the blissful island of Savai’i into our schedule.

We arrive on Savai’i to find the crystal waters and sandy beaches postcard perfect, with Tuasivi’s waterfront scene straight out of a Bounty chocolate bar commercial. Offsetting the majestic calm of this scene are the angry Alofaaga blowholes located just 30 minutes down the coast, where crashing waves are violently forced through black tubes of petrified

lava. Locals showcase the astonishing ocean power via coconuts thrown into the blowholes, with the coconuts exploding in a shower of husk as the pressurised seawater is spurted 20 metres into the air. It’s an awesome way to break up any sedate and scenic days, albeit something of a waste of delicious local coconuts.

Although natural wonders inject cash into villages, an abundance of fresh fruits and fish ensure some areas of Savai’i are basically cashless and self-sufficient. Locals are unapologetically relaxed and appear free of nine-to-five expectations, with shirtless groups lazing at beach-side bus stops in the shade of beach palms, seemingly unconcerned if their bus never arrives. “Why work?” Anthony laughs rhetorically as we drive past a large, impromptu Thursday afternoon cricket game that sees fielders drawn from all over the village and amusingly sprawled out across the road.

Another ferry ride later and we’ve arrived at Manono Island, an even smaller scenic escape with few amenities or luxuries. This is genuine island culture rather than a feeble re-creation to snare the tourist dollar; despite our Spartan accommodation, the islanders are friendly and our hosts’ hearts are as big as the centipedes in the bathroom. Big. It is true that paradise is sometimes hard to get to, but when the results are as rich as these, a journey to Samoa is emphatically worth the extra effort.

Before reflexively booking your next holiday to an overcrowded, horrifically westernised island, instead seek out this natural jewel in Polynesia’s crown. samoa.travel

time for adventure

FREE INFO NIGHTS

Polar Expedition Voyages Information Evening

Information evening Wednesday October 17 Speak to our in-house polar experts – we’ve been there!

2013 dates now available Early bird cabin offers – save up to 25% Combine with early bird flight specials

Information evening starts 6pm – please register your attendance adventures@peregrinetravel.com.au Ph: 08 8223 5905 or www.peregrinetraveladelaide.com.au

Peregrine Travel Centre - 192 Rundle Street, Adelaide SA 5000

SOUTH AMERICA

WITH

GARRY WEARE WED 17 OCT

WED 14 NOV

Hear from the Himalaya ‘guru’ about adventures in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Tibet. Great trekking tales and insights.

Vibrant & beautiful: journeys of discovery to challenging treks – from Venezuela to Patagonia, & all the amazing places in between.

shows start 6pm register online:

worldexpeditions.com

1300 720 000

• 10 great

new trips:

• autumn otago • tarkine canoe • great australian walkabout

Lic 2TA001418

• • • • •

HIMALAYA

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

47

food, wine & coffee

NOW OPEN NOW OPEN

TIROS @ Regency is the brand new bistro style training restaurant at TIROS Regency is the TAFE SA @ Regency Campus.

Photos: Tony Lewis

brand new bistro style A fresh modern menu featuring locally training restaurant at TAFE SA sourced ingredients, beer and wine.

Regency Campus With seating for 130 guests both indoors and al fresco, it is perfect for fresh modern menu that A quick business lunch, dinner, celebrations casual dining. featuring and locally sourced

ingredients, beer and wine.

Review: Ruby Red Flamingo John McGrath

Y

ou know that The Manse, a Tynte Street fixture for as long as anyone can remember, is no more, don’t you? But are you on to Ruby Red Flamingo? Everyone else is.

I went to Ruby Red days after its unannounced opening and there was a carnival inside.

The Manse and its rambunctious successor, Ruby Red, have only one thing in common, the site.

The menu and dress code are the same: sharp casual. The menu is written up on blackboards dotted around the walls. Dishes can and do change rapidly at the whim of the market and Chef Enzo Zerdino. Chef Zerdino is a star in Veneto and in Adelaide where he has a loyal group of Italian followers. Chef has a share in the business at Ruby Red along with Vittorio Ventura, someone I didn’t expect to see back after all these years. Your knees, Vic, your knees. They won’t take it.

I can speak to Vic in this odiously familiar way because we have shared a few sherbets in pubs around the manor. He didn’t tell me about Ruby Red. Secretive b*gg*r. The other partner is Lauro Siliquini. You know Lauro.

Somewhere he has served you. Lauro was a surf lifesaver in his hunky Italian youth. Yeah.

I know. Italian. Surf. Lifesaver. Giggle.

Lauro told me that his position (I can’t say “lifesaver” again) gave him invaluable inside knowledge about who was up who and who was paying the rent. He runs the pumping floor of Ruby Red in an easy rhythm that only comes with skill and experience. Lauro drew a picture of my nick-name (you will never know my nick-name – ever) on the butcher’s paper that serves as a table cloth here.

When shaded garden tables open in summer and upstairs opens as a bar to handle guests

waiting for a table, as well as more restaurant space, Lauro will have even more to run. Little accumulative touches like the digestivi, the before and after herbal drinks that Italians have according to their region, come from Lauro’s region, Ascoli Piceno. They are Anisetta Meletti, a drink lightly touched with liquorice, not clobbered by it, like an average Sambuca. If you are at Ascoli Piceno on a surfing holiday, visit Caffè Meletti. It is one of the finest cafes in Italy. Truly elegant.

After starting, say, with Lauro’s Anisetta and a jug of Flamingo Spritz, you might like something to eat. After staring at the menu I would, and did, have a half serve of almost everything, shared, of course, with my two chaperones.

I will mention some dishes that cannot be missed. Maccheroni (a large tubular pasta cut into short pieces) with eggplant, tomato, smoked Scamorza, (like mozzarella on steroids) with dried Ricotta ( “Ricotta” already means “re-cooked”, drying it concentrates it further into a slightly grainy cheese that is sweet and a little salty) So. Eggplant pasta, eh. Possibly one of the last dishes I would order from a menu. Not so at Ruby Red. If the Pope tasted this pasta it would be canonised. Absolutely marvellous. Would convert a doubter to eggplant. Order a whole dish to share ($21.50) or there will be squabbles at the table.

I was enveloped by a wave of nostalgia when I saw Paillard on the menu. You could call it Paillard di Vitello (veal) in Italy or paillarde in France – it was named after a French restaurateur called Paillard – but whichever way you slice it there is no place to hide. It is cooked for a very short time on a hot grill. If it isn’t good meat the dish is a tragedy. At Ruby Red it is a classic that turned out perfectly, char-grilled with roast potatoes and spinach. $12.50 for a half serve. $25 for a full serve.

Mention this ad to receive your choice of main course and bottomless soft seating drinks forfor only $10.00 With 130 guests Valid from 1 Oct to 23 Nov 2012.

Other stars were Gnudi, naughty ravioli who will not wear their modest pasta shells ($11/$22). A beautifully designed and wonderfully executed ring of polenta plus a mix of four cheeses with a heady mix of strongly flavoured mushrooms with spinach spilling over the rim. I didn’t realise that there was a mushroom-wort at the table until I had to make a desperate lunge for the last forkful ($12/$24).

I don’t know what has happened to polenta in restaurants. Five years ago I wouldn’t have touched it with a sturdy stick.

The Mushroom detests trifle (Zuppa Inglese at Ruby Red) ($9). Their version turned her completely around and she intends serving a Ruby Red facsimile at Christmas. I thought the Tortio al Cioccolato ($11) were absolutely fab. Cooked up in 10 minutes apparently.

Discouraging for the home cook.

To finish off we went to the bar for a Strega, a special model Strega, with Vic. The shot glasses are the little goblet kind, much favoured by the Italian community.

Something like Marie Antoinette’s nipple after a boisterous night with the Dauphin. Glasses and crockery here are a mixed bunch. Cutlery is not changed after each course unless you request it to be. Bottles of aperitifs are left on the table to be inspected. You could pour yourself a schooner but somehow you don’t if you are trusted. All this is aimed at keeping prices affordable and service fast.

Red Ruby Flamingo has made a big splash. That splash will get bigger.

Ruby Red Flamingo 142 Tynte Street North Adelaide 8267 5769 HOURS Lunch and dinner, Wednesday to Saturday BYO $12

both indoors and al fresco, it is perfect for that quick business Bookings are essential calllunch, now todinner, avoid disappointment. celebrations and casual OPEN dining.

TUESDAY TO FRIDAY Lunch this fromad 12to Noon Mention receive Dinner from 6.00 pm your choiceof main course 137and DAYS ROAD, REGENCY PARKnew soft brand drinks TIROS @ bottomless Regency is the bistro stylefor training restaurant at only $10 FOR BOOKINGS PHONE 8348 4348 TAFE SA10 Regency Campus.

Vaild from Oct to 23 Nov 2012 www.tafesa.edu.au/regencyrestaurants

NOW OPEN

A fresh modern menu featuring locally sourced ingredients, beer and wine.

Bookings are essential

With to seating for disappointment.

130 guests both call now avoid indoors and al fresco, it is perfect for that quick business lunch, dinner, celebrations and casual dining.

OPEN

Mention this ad to receive your TUESDAY TO FRIDAY choice of main course and bottomless soft drinks for only Lunch from 12 $10.00 noon Valid from 1 Oct to 23 Nov 2012.

Dinner from 6:00pm

Bookings are essential call now to avoid disappointment.

137 DAYS ROAD, REGENCY PARK OPEN TUESDAY TO FRIDAY FORLunch BOOKINGS PHONE from 12 Noon Dinner from 6.00 pm 8348 4348

137 DAYS ROAD, REGENCY PARK

www.tafesa.edu.au/regencyrestaurants FOR BOOKINGS PHONE 8348 4348 www.tafesa.edu.au/regencyrestaurants

48

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

food, wine & coffee

The Adelaide Review’s guide to this month’s food and wine highlight events

Vegetarian with Mel Haynes

George Calombaris

This month

Central Market Friday, October 12 (6pm) adelaidecentralmarket.com.au

Chef and nutritionist Mel HayNes will appear at to discuss vegetarian and vegan diets.

Good Food & Wine Show Adelaide Showground

CheeseFest

the Central Market to cook vegetarian dishes and

Friday, October 12 to Sunday, October 14 goodfoodshow.com.au/cityhub/adelaide

Featuring exhibitors, celebrity chefs and masterclasses, the Good Food & Wine Show is the perfect spot for foodies to indulge all their cooking pleasures in one locale.

Riverland Wine and Food Festival

Food is life Famed Melbourne Chef George Calombaris will be a guest of Adelaide’s Good Food & Wine Show to present The Tree of Life. This is not a one-man performance of the Terrence Malick film, rather a theatre cooking experience where the MasterChef judge will create dishes inspired by his life.

Berri and surrounding towns Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21 riverlandwineandfood.com

Christopher Sanders

A celebration of food, wine and the Murray

“

River, this festival features many events over the weekend including Saturday’s Main Event that showcases 10 Riverland wineries and locally produced and sourced menus.

Coonawarra Cabernet Celebrations 2012 Coonawarra coonawarra.org

Australia’s ‘red wine centre’ will showcase the region’s flagship wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, over four days with more than 30 cellar door events, tastings, exhibitions, gourmet food and the inaugural Australian Cabernet Symposium.

Richard Gunner Photo: Matt Turner

Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21

CheeseFest Rymill Park Saturday, October 27 to Sunday, October 28 cheesefest.com.au

Across two days this annual celebration of Australian specialty cheeses will promote the art of cheesemaking with food, wine and

Mastering the Grill with Richard Gunner Central Market Kitchen (level one) Wednesday, October 31 (6pm) feastfinefoods.com.au

Your grilling techniques will be second to none once you’ve taken the Mastering the Grill course with Feast! Fine Foods’ Richard Gunner. For $140 you will watch and learn how to cook beef oyster blade and rump steak, as well as trimming and cooking hanger steak and more.

Coonawarra Cabernet Celebrations

entertainment.

Food for me is always about childhood memories, culture and experiences,” Calombaris explains. “I always like to draw upon the good and bad times of life. Food is not about filling the stomach; it’s about warming the heart and soul.”

This includes negative experiences. “My father always taught us to turn negative and tough times into a positive. Life is too short and we should live it to the max every day. During tough times I find food as a comfort.”

The show will culminate with Calombaris’ own Tree of Life dish. Inspired by his mother’s Cypriot heart and the story of Aphrodite, the dish, without giving too much away, actually gets watered like a plant for the full effect.

Calombaris began as an apprentice at Hotel Sofitel with fellow MasterChef judge Gary Mehigan before joining Mehigan at Fenix.

At just 24 he won young chef of the year and was named as one of the top 40 chefs of influence in the world by Global Food and Wine Magazine in 2004. Calombaris initially caught the attention of the food world with his modern twist on Greek cuisine. For the last four seasons Calombaris has been a judge on Channel 10’s MasterChef along with Matt Preston and Mehigan. He owns seven restaurants in Melbourne (including the famous Press Club) and one in Mykonos.

There are plans for more.

“I am currently working on a new place in Melbourne called Jimmy Grants. It’s a bottle shop/ souvlaki bar. I have always wanted to do a really Athenian style souvlaki bar. Very exciting.”

Calombaris, who will return to the small screen for a fifth season of MasterChef, is at ease performing on stage.

“In the beginning it was hard but now I really enjoy and love theatre. No add breaks, no boundaries, just me, food and you.”

With eight restaurants, and plans for a ninth, plus a television career and travelling around to appear at events such as Good Food & Wine, you would think that a Chef would just like to return to the kitchen and cook. But the 33-year-old says the thrill of working hard is what motivates him.

“I respect all in life except lazy people. I hate laziness. I get motivated by tough moments and the thrill. I hate dull moments like I hate dull food. I only get one chance at this life and I will never die wondering.”

Previous Tree of Life performances have seen his mother join him on stage but she won’t be appearing at Calombaris’ appearances across each of the three days at the Good Food & Wine Show, which will also host celebrity chef performances by Matt Moran, Manu Feildel and Maggie Beer.

“Unfortunately my parents will be in Greece but I will be bringing up my head chefs from Hellenic Republic, Travis McAuley and my head chef from The Press Club, Joe Grbac. These guys are my stars and are amazing chefs. I respect their hard work and commitment to me.”

Finally, plenty of Adelaideans make the trip to Melbourne to discover its food scene. What are the new trends and Melbourne eateries impressing Calombaris?

“Well the burger has taken Melbourne by storm. But in saying that there are some great places to eat: Cutler and Co, Coda, MoVida and the list goes on. I am lucky to be among some amazing chefs and restaurants.”

Good Food & Wine Show Adelaide Showground Friday, October 12 to Sunday, October 14 goodfoodshow.com.au/cityhub/adelaide

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

49

food, wine & coffee

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Annabelle Curtis

I

remember being horrified the first time I met a person who openly admitted that they considered food to be a hindrance to their day.

The concept that food brought them no pleasure or satisfaction was unfathomable to me. Possibly the most famous man in history to understand this relationship was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

He published Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste) in 1825 and he, all those many years ago, pondered the need that some of us innately have for food. This book would be Brillat’s final homage to his relationship with food, as his death would follow only two months after publication. This relationship with gastronomy would result in a cult following of others, trying to explore their own relationship with the art of eating. When you take into consideration the elements of what it is to eat; to smell, to see, to taste, eating is an art form, of which only some of us can aspire to master, as Brillat did.

Scent could possibly be the most important element of enjoying what we eat. The warm smell of a roast chicken permeating the house can bring on extreme feelings of hunger and anticipation, the smell of a loaf of bread baking has the power to bring a family to the table. Smell, unlike all other senses, has the ability to preempt what is to come and to what degree we will enjoy it.

Colour and variety are the most important elements of a true meal. A platter of thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes representing every colour of the rainbow garnished with torn basil and grassy green olive oil could be compared to a fine work of art. Colour invites focus to what we are eating and stimulates the brain whilst we imagine the taste of what is to come.

If the elements of smell and colour have not already converted you to a life of enjoying food then appreciating the art of taste will. Once food passes your lips it must speak for itself, it must live up to the anticipation created by the other senses. Being brave with the use of salt and pepper could solve most issues of insipidness. Salt is one of the wonders of the world, it holds its own unique taste. Black sea salt flakes on the top of a thinly sliced rare ribeye can highlight the earthiness of the meat, French fleur de sel through your favourite caramel sauce will give a depth of flavour you never imagined.

The art of eating is one of many elements requiring passion and a dedication to mastering.

Brillat worked on his relationship with food for over 25 years before he put it into words. His understanding of what food means to mankind was centuries before his time and yet has never been more relevant. Taking the time to master the art of eating will result in a true love for food and eating alike.

‘Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.’ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Savarin Cake 10g dry yeast 2 tablespoons warm milk 250g plain flour 30g caster sugar Pinch of salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of one lemon 4 eggs 80g butter cubed

Saffron Savarin Cake with Poached Pears Saffron Poached Pears 6 pears –pealed, halved and cored

Syrup 1 ½ cups caster sugar Zest and juice of a lemon 1 pinch of saffron 1 tablespoon honey 1 vanilla bean, spilt down the centre 1 cinnamon stick 80ml white port (or substitute) Bring all the syrup ingredients to the boil and leave to reduce for 10 minutes.

Add the pears and turn the heat down to a simmer cover with a lid and cook until tender.

Remove the pears and continue to reduce the syrup down by half.

twitter/CurtisAnnabelle

1. 2 litre round bunt tin, greased with butter and dusted with flour 2. Place the yeast, milk, flour, salt, vanilla, lemon zest and two eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer.

3. Using the cake paddle mix on a low speed mix until combined.

4. Add the remaining two eggs, one after the other allowing time for the mixture to come back together.

5. Increase the speed to medium and add the butter a cube at a time, until the mixture starts to come away from the sides.

6. Leave to prove for one hour or until doubled in size.

7. Transfer the mixture to the greased bunt tin and leave to prove for a further 30 minutes.

8. Bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

9. Remove from the tin and place on your final serving platter.

10. Drizzle with the saffron syrup until soaked.

11. Dress the cake with the poached pears and serve with cream.

FEAST! FINE FOODS for the best quality meat used by Australia’s finest restaurants, backed by exceptional customer service.

Scan thiS QR code to See a video of PeteR GilmoRe diScuSSinG ouR Suffolk lamb

ENJOY THE FLAVOURS & TEXTURES FROM OUR RANGE OF AWARD WINNING LAMB

N o r wo o d

|

UNl ey

|

Ce NTr Al MArKe T

|

VICTor HArBor

|

fea st fi ne fo o ds. c o m. a u

50

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

food, wine & coffee

High returns from Eden’s Riesling Charles Gent

W

e tend to dub them all Eden Valley wines, but it’s a slight misnomer, since many of the sublime Rieslings to come from the Barossa’s next-door neighbour are actually from the region’s highest hilltops.

The 2009 Eden Springs Riesling, selected in the top 10 of The Adelaide Review Hot 100 South Australian Wines, is a case in point. It emanates from the High Eden sub-region, a place of stony slopes and scarp where the often unnamed vineyards are separated by strips of residual bush and crisscrossed by narrow dirt roads. It’s a place where road signs and cellar doors are scarce.

Eden Valley Rieslings have always required a couple of years in the bottle before their limey character really kicks in, and the 2009 Eden Springs had been given the time it needed to work its magic on last year’s Hot 100 panel, who praised its citrus aromatics and “tangy, zingy mouthfeel”.

High Eden was a moniker conjured up by the quicksilver mind of David Wynn, who drove the development of the area in the 1970s after finding the site he sought in a Citroen fitted with an altimeter. Surprisingly, Wynn was not on a quest for more Riesling-raum,

but in pursuit of a proper Australian home for Chardonnay.

The benefits of growing white wine on both sides of the Barossa range have been known since the 19th century; the original Pewsey Vale vineyard in Eden Valley dates backs to this time. A farmer turned winemaker named Cyril Henschke, based near Keyneton, helped to rekindle Eden Valley’s reputation for Riesling in the 1950s. When Henschke courteously listed his growers on his back label, a marauding Leo Buring tried to poach them.

By the 1960s, many of the Barossa’s big wineries, most notably Buring and Orlando, had Riesling vineyards on the other side of the hills, although it was Yalumba’s revivified Pewsey Vale that made a special virtue of the location.

There’s less than 40 square kilometres of High Eden, and it’s all at around the 500-metre elevation mark. The thin quilt of soil over limestone and schist provides a classic cool-climate terroir, which also eludes much of the frost that troubles Eden Valley’s lower-lying vineyards. Eden Springs, established in 1972, was an early comer.

As a brand, though, Eden Springs is no longer.

Ray Gatt, who became the vineyard’s third owner in 2006, has recently renamed the winery, so the 2009 vintage was the final bow for the regal goldon-black label. In the all-important winemaking,

however, there has been no disconnection: Jo Irvine, daughter of local legend and leading merlot fanatic Jim Irvine, continues in the role.

Louise Radman from Gatt Wines says the approach of selecting and blending parcels of fruit from 40-year-old vines to make a Riesling with minimal intervention will carry on. The quality of the two subsequent vintages, now sold under the label of Gatt Wines High Eden Single Vineyard Riesling, seems to bear this out.

Radman says despite their comparatively recent arrival, the owners have slotted happily into the close-knit winegrowing community. They faithfully attend the annual Riesling taste-off at the local hall and also sponsor a footy team.

Yet Ray Gatt is clearly a man with a plan: since building his own winery in High Eden in 2007 (a cellar door is expected to follow shortly), he has bought more hectares of vines nearby as well as a vineyard down on the Barossa Valley floor, and is spending considerable time and effort on smoothing a path to markets in Hong Kong and Japan.

And as a sign of a serious ambition, he has also added a $250 super-duper premium Cabernet to his list.

Me? I’m just going to keep on drinking that Riesling.

For your intimate corporate or social occasion this festive season:

TasTe The passion of seriously souTh ausTralian® The Brassiere is home to the Seriously South Australian® menu, offering diners a culinary journey through our states finest produce and wines.

The Modern Australian menu is inspired by seasonal and local produce and influenced by a diversity of cultures and flavours.

233 Victoria Square, Adelaide | 8237 0697 | thebrasserie.com.au

Rob’s Long Table Tastings at Somerled Cellar Door

Ours is a welcoming, elegant, family-owned Adelaide Hills cellar door.

Our Long Table tastings are hosted by the winemaker himself, Rob Moody.

Rob, of Penfolds and Wynns from 1969 - 2001, worked with Max Schubert among other local heroes, during that time producing some of the most iconic Australian wines of the past 40 years.

Be guided by Rob, and enjoy our high end, compact range of wines alongside Heather’s complimentary house roasted almonds and celebrated Spanish cheese platter.

These are 60-90 minute affairs and we love hosting them for up to 20 people.

If you would like to make a day of it, ask about our ideas for half or full days of indulgence in the Adelaide Hills.

Contact Lucy Moody: lucy@somerled.com.au or 0419 158 462 89 Main Street, Hahndorf

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

51

food, wine & coffee

CHEWIN’ THE FAT Back to the future: returning to nature Jock Zonfrillo

T

here are a few things I’ve noticed here in South Australia recently that made me smile, not a lot, but enough to keep the faith.

Numbers at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Markets have reached an all-time high, averaging 6000 people through the gate every Sunday. This is music to my ears, locals buying produce from their own state, and a market set-up that only allows produce grown in SA to be sold (no imported European mushrooms with more air miles than a corporate fat cat here!). Of course the numbers

could be better but 6000 people connecting one on one with the people who grow the food they are eating… that makes me feel good. If you haven’t been, do yourself a favour and get down there this Sunday. Make a change and join the sustainable, ethical revolution without impacting your weekly schedule and you will no doubt save some cash at the same time!

Community gardens are popping up all over the place, what a brilliant initiative for the councils to back. I remember the old allotments as a kid, digging up potatoes and hiding behind the shed with a handful of baby peas, busting them out of their shells into my mouth. When was the last time your kids experienced that?

Sounds better than an afternoon of Super Mario right? I urge everyone to get involved, particularly if you have kids, it’s a super easy way to connect with the older generation too and get some brilliant gardening tips before they are lost forever.

Thanks to the media, over the past five years we have been exposed to more and more facts and information about where food

comes from. Television programs designed to challenge your thought process... is it right to eat these eggs from a battery chicken farm?

Am I comfortable with the reality that this chicken I’m going to roast for dinner has been produced unethically? Thankfully the big guys are changing, and that’s a direct response to you, the consumer.

You are now asking these questions when you shop thanks to the exposure to reality, even if it was packaged nicely and presented on your TV screen, at least the message is being spread.

The champions of this campaign are many, they teach you how to cook, give you ideas which are easily remembered, recipes and dishes which look and taste amazing while at the same time afford you, perhaps subconsciously, a feeling of contentment that it has been done properly from the very beginning.

Jamie Oliver and Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, in particular, have spent much of their careers showing the average punter there is a better way, a more wholesome way.

I’m often asked (behind a snigger) what I think of these guys. My answer is simple, they have done more for the food industry than most in our field, they have neither Michelin stars nor do they have a restaurant in the top 50 but they do hold a moral standpoint to fight for the intrinsic value of nature.

I don’t hold some delusional vision of everyone walking around barefoot and wearing fig leaves, don’t get me wrong, but not only I do love the fact people are now generally interested in what they eat but they are also enjoying the slight change in lifestyle that it often brings them and their family. If you know you’re guilty of not acknowledging nature then please, get out there!

Experience the mist on a lake at dawn; fog cloaking the land in the hills or the sound of rain on the gum trees – simply amazing. These experiences will form lasting memories for nothing more than the price of your time.

It’s almost like we became convinced that we were separate from nature, of course we are not, nature is everywhere, you are a part of nature… you just need to find your place in it...

Jock Zonfrillo is the Head Chef of Magill Estate twitter.com/zonfrillo

Lenzerheide High Tea experience • sumptuous • elegance

Chocolate for Spring

Voted Australia’s favourite fine dining restaurant 2012

Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat ~ High Tea Tues–Sat 12–3 Bookings Essential 146 Belair Road, Hawthrone SA 5062 www.lenzerheide.com.au P: 08 8373 3711

52

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

food, wine & coffee

Mike Wells is state barista champion

Raising the bar Derek Crozier

F

our hundred billion cups of coffee are consumed every year. In an industry that employs more than 20 million people worldwide, it’s no wonder that barista competitions are happening all around the world. Even in our own backyard.

Have you ever ordered a coffee with the latte art of a swan or a tulip on top? Well, there’s a good chance that your barista could be entering a coffee competition and be on the road to becoming the next world Latte Art champion.

When I tell people about coffee competitions they seem to be shocked that they exist. They may be thinking, “really, its only coffee”, but you and I both know that coffee standards and consumer expectations have risen over the years. Barista competitions are a major contributing factor in this.

AASCA (Australasian Specialty Coffee Association) have been running the Australian Barista Championships and sending our champions to the World Barista Championship

since 2002. Representing Australia can be a fair bit of weight on someone’s shoulders but an honor at the same time.

The idea of barista championships is to not only enhance the barista’s skill and knowledge but also to inform, educate and raise awareness to the public. Then in turn, spill out into the coffee industry and people’s homes. Competing and/or winning the AASCA championships whether it’s barista, latte art, cupping and brewers cup can complement a career and an individual’s profile in their coffee journey. They can be asked to do magazine interviews, cameo spots in boutiques, be the face of a business or even end up on evening television. It’s an opportunity for baristas, barista trainers and café owners to represent a business or themselves with a chance to win the regionals, nationals and even the world finals.

Baristas will train for months leading up to the event. On the big day, things are tense behind the scenes with the competitors going over their routines, preparing their equipment and waiting nervously. However there is still the underlying camaraderie among rivals.

The competitors in the Barista Competition have 15 minutes to produce four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks. They are judged on beverage presentation, taste, technique and overall routine. As soon as they start, the pressure is on. With one head judge, two technical judges, four sensory judges, a photographer, a video camera operator and an audience over their shoulders through the entire set and they have to do this while maintaining a calm and professional demeanor.

Next year, for the first time in history, Australia will be in the spotlight with the World Barista Championships (WBC) being held at the 2013 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) in May. The event is set to be a milestone, and is expected to attract a record number of visitors from all over the world. In 2012 MICE welcomed more than 7000 Australian and international visitors and 100 exhibitors took part in the three-day event, representing a rich cross-section of the Australasian coffee industry.

The WBC will be streamed live online, so be sure to have a look and expect to see a world of coffee that could be the standard of your local cafe in years to come.

Derek Crozier is the Managing Director of Freshly Ground Studio freshlygroundstudio.com.au

First Pour’s Mike Wells won the South Australian Barista Championship held at Adelaide Showground last month. Wells, who is head barista and coffee trainer with First Pour Adelaide and Veneziano Coffee Roasters, won the Barista Championship ahead of Ben Allen (A Mother’s Milk) and Ilia Martini (Bar 9).

Wells will now compete for the title of Australian Barista Champion in Melbourne this March. In other results from the Championship, Bar 9’s Daniel Freer won the Latte Art title, while Scratch Patisserie’s Jonny Pisanelli took out the Cupping title and Ian Callahan (Bar 9) won the Brewers Cup. The full results are below.

Barista Championship 1. Mike Wells (First Pour) 2. Ben Allen (A Mother’s Milk) 3. Ilia Martini (Bar 9)

Latte Art 1. Daniel Freer (Bar 9) 2. Ronald Wu (Muratti Cakes) 3. Ramy Massoud (First Pour)

Cupping 1. Jonny Pisanelli (From Scratch Patisserie) 2. Brian Raslan (SA Coffee Academy)

Brewers Cup (filtered brewed coffee) 1. Ian Callahan (Bar 9) 2. Hamish McKenzie (Bar 9)

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

53

food, wine & coffee

Coffee Break with Ian Callahan

mushrooms go pink The national launch of the mushroom industry’s Mushrooms Go Pink campaign was held at the Regency TAFE with a sit down dinner for the mushroom industry’s night of nights.

The Adelaide Review discovers some of the secrets to making great coffee from former State Barista Champion and Bar 9 owner Ian Callahan.

S

peciality coffees houses have been popping up all over Adelaide recently.

Why do you think this is?

South Australia is such a culinary state with amazing local produce and some of the best and most varied wine regions in the country. It was only a matter of time before people became more discerning with where they buy their coffee, and the rise in speciality coffee houses simply mirrors the public’s taste for great coffee What makes Bar 9’s coffee different to others you will find around Adelaide?

Bar 9 is a true baristas café; by us, for us. It wasn’t about creating somewhere cool or hip, or inventing a new and clever fit out. The core of the business has always been about amazing specialty coffee; where it’s come from, what brewing method is best going to showcase it, and how we’re going to get other people as excited about the coffee as we are.

Can you explain how you became a barista and what made you want to pursue it is a career rather than a casual job?

Initially, it was simply the job I got into when I returned from an overseas trip. Then, wanting to do it to the best of my ability, I spent a lot of time researching, tasting and experimenting with coffee. This all culminated in 2008 when I became the State Barista Champion for SA. Since then many doorways opened and I met with and spoke to countless other passionate professionals who’ve all helped me to grow my career further through coffee.

You offer two blends on a day-to-day basis.

Can you describe the differences between the Black Label and the Barista’s Blend?

Basically Black Label is crowd pleaser; it’s there to be enjoyed by all. The origin of beans that make up the Black Label change seasonally, however the flavour profile is pitched at being sweet and

Photos: Shane Reid From top: Linda Rogers, Angela Izard, Kellie Stevens; Jane Allen, Rudi Moraw, Carmine Callisto, Erik De Groot; Annette Munro, Connie Femia, Back Samiko Callisto, Tamara Emswiler; Tony Adey, Sally Neville; Ed Halmagyi, Judyta Slupnicki, Phil Rogers, Sue Seymour.

interesting, with a rounded syrupy body and great length. Barista’s Blend is basically what we the baristas are drinking. It’s usually a little more challenging or might have a flavour profile a little more out of the ordinary. It’s not there to please everyone but promises to be a new experience, and to hopefully open up people’s minds (or palates) to what great specialty coffee can be.

With your Brew Bar you offer the largest array of brewing methods available in one cafe in SA. What made you want to offer the different methods?

When we started serving filter-brewed coffee there wasn’t really anywhere in Adelaide you could buy it from. So there was no real trend to follow, or market to capitalise on. We basically started serving it because it’s what we were drinking and we thought it tasted amazing. It’s usually a lot cleaner, sweeter and softer than espresso, emphasising the coffee’s natural origin characteristics, so naturally it’s a great medium to showcase our really special coffees. These days we have a great following of loyal customers who love filter coffee (as opposed to espresso coffee) and it’s fantastic to see other specialty coffee houses serving up alternate brews as well.

What are some café/coffee pet hates you made sure had no place at Bar 9 when you opened?

Number one would have to be attitude. Nothing taints a coffee’s flavour as much as an arrogant barista. We’re learning new things about coffee every day, so there’s no use pretending to know it all. It keeps things constantly fresh and forever moving forward.

Bar 9 96 Glen Osmond Rd, Parkside bar9.com.au

SA Coffee Academy provides the following courses by qualified Trainers: • Espresso Coffee Making • Coffee Appreciation • Coffee Art • Advanced Coffee Making & Management

Even professional baristas understand the benefit of using a premium specialty coffee, because passion and quality leave the competition on the run. Come in and try perfection by the cup, poured by professionals.

Coffee Craft uses and recommends La Crema Coffee

678 South Road Glandore SA, 5037 Phone: 08 8463 1651 www.coffeecraft.com.au

Become part of this creative and passionate industry

Enrol today Professional consultancy available

Level 1, 96 Gawler Place Adelaide SA 5000 Ph: (08) 8231 7444

www.sacoffeeacademy.com.au

54

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

food, wine & coffee

An important vintage David Ridge reviews two SA Rieslings from a cracker 2012 vintage, which are juxtaposed with some serious Sangioveses, including a look at the best one yet from SA and a Tuscan for comparison. Food is matched by Il Mercato.

2012 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling

2012 Crabtree Watervale Riesling

Clare Valley, SA RRP: $50 grosset.com.au

Clare Valley, SA RRP: $26 crabtreewines.com.au

I only know Jeffrey Grosset just well enough to know when he’s maintaining that contained excitement. He knows he doesn’t have to hype his 2012 Rieslings, and especially this one; everyone else will do it for him. The master Riesling maker has merely conceded that this might be one of his best three wines. It is a Polish Hill classic, showing the Clare sub region’s slate underlay keeping everything in tight shape and disciplined, while the citrus fruits and white flowers glow in a an icy cold and mineral-framed light. The length and precision are laser-like. There’s a beautiful bit of grip kicking in towards the end. Such prose, such hype? No qualms about being a bit silly in this wine’s praise. You should conspire to try this, soon or in another 10 to 20 years. Hardly expensive for a wine of world class.

The 2012 vintage is likely to be an important one for SA Riesling (take ’important’ to mean a step up from mere great or exciting or excellent). This gorgeous wine is an indicator of a vintage right up with the best ever, and this and plenty of its peers are likely to be snapped up pretty soon. Here we have a Riesling bursting with characters, which are almost equally forthright in flavours as aromas.

Both are radiant and ultra fresh with Watervale’s signature citrus, concentrated notes and flavours of sweet lemon flower and zest. This is like that best bottle of Pinot; almost impossible to stop once you’ve started on it. There’s an artist at work here who’s captured everything on offer and seen no need to add anything much – maybe just cleverly ensuring that little bit of drying grip to tone down such full-throttle Riesling fruit. Brilliant. Wonderful.

Now, this has a long future ahead, no doubt.

Mauri Taleggio D.O.P. Producer: Mauri Milk Type: Cow RRP: $63.90/Kg Origin: Lombardy, Italy international.mauri.it

Onetik Chebris Producer: Onetik Milk Type: Sheep and goat RRP: $64.90/Kg Origin: Pyrenees, France onetik.com/en/onetik-cheeses

Mauri Taleggio D.O.P. is a soft Italian gourmet cheese that is considered a delicacy when served in dishes. The Taleggio has very old origins, dating back before the 10th century. The rind of the cheese is thin, and of soft consistency; its colour is natural rose-orange, with a distinguishing light sage colour mould. This cheese is sweet to taste with a light acid streak, slightly aromatic with a truffle aftertaste.

Taleggio is best enjoyed at room temperature to truly appreciate its taste and aroma.

This cheese is made with a blend of goat and ewe’s milk; aged for three months, it is creamy and smooth. The rind is thick and yellow-grey; the pate is ivory-coloured and has a smooth, slightly oily texture. The flavour is sweet, creamy and refined with hints of olive, hazelnut and fig, finishing with a cleansing acidity from the goat’s milk.

M

AB WAU GH J & VIGNERONS

Summer releaSe 2012

Sunday 28th OctOber, 11am–5pm Marking the release of our new-vintage whites and alternative red varieties, we are opening our cellar for the day.

creating fine food and fine wine events

Taste the new wines alongside a spring-inspired menu by Andy Davies of Press*, featuring estategrown produce: wood-oven roasted spring lamb, a crisp garden salad and seasonal dessert.

Open Friday - Sunday 11am - 5pm

All NGERINGA wines available by the glass, bottle & on tasting.

European-inspired biodynamic wines

Visit www.ngeringa.com for more details.

Estate-grown ‘From the Paddock’ Tasting Plate

119 Williams rd, mt barker Summit, adelaide Hills t/F: +61 8 8398 2867 wine@ngeringa.com | Follow us on

Monthly Pizza Sundays, next firing up 25th November

Looking to hold a client event with a point of difference?

Visit: www.tayste.com.au

VINEYARD & CELLARS Radford Road Seppeltsfield We would like to advise everyone that our cellar door is now open with the 2010 release, along with the 2007 Roennfeldt Road range.

Opening hours are 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesday.

We look forward to catching up.

For details: Phone (08) 8562 8103 Fax (08) 8562 8259 Email greenockcreek@ozemail.com.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

55

food, wine & coffee

2008 Tenuta della Seta Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

2009 Coriole Sangiovese Reserve ‘Vita’

Tuscany, Italy RRP: $45.00 lacantinawines.com.au

McLaren Vale, SA RRP: $50 coriole.com

The little hilltop town of Montepulciano south east of Siena in lower Tuscany (and not to be confused with the Montepulciano grape of further east on the Adriatic coast) is one of the first recognised premier reds of Italy. Yet it remains a discovery for many who might be much more familiar with the famous Brunello of Montalcino and Chianti. It is a blend and like Chianti, based on Sangiovese, but seems to have more length and elegance than these and possibly a more Coonawarra-like shape and length than the savoury and often shorter flavoured Chianti. This is a very good example of what many think one of Italy’s great bargains and does it in a very trad style, eschewing both new oak and the ‘introduced’ varieties like Merlot and Cabernet. There are mostly darker and earthy characters, of spice, prune and porcini, and flavours are persistent, but lean, lively and savoury. As complex and ‘important’ as Sangiovese can be, it’s also a wonderfully versatile and ready food companion.

Although it’s not from a particularly extensive Hall of Fame of best-ever SA Sangiovese wines, this is certainly the star so far. The most experienced and dedicated practitioner of Tuscany’s justly famous grape, Coriole’s Mark Lloyd has been plugging away for over two decades to get a red which captures the essence of the great Sangiovese wines of Tuscany’s famous Chianti, (Vino Nobile di) Montepulciano or (Brunello di) Montalcino zones. This is a wine of size and concentration, and showing aromas and flavours of dark cherry, prune and coffee grounds, all desirable Sangiovese traits. It’s well shaped, framed by seemingly older rather than intrusive and perfumed new oak, and is seen right out with a correct, tingling and drying savoury finish.

This is a confident and poised local version of an Italian classic, and well worth a place on our tables.

Provolone Classic Piccante Producer: Auricchio Milk Type: Cow RRP: $24.95/Kg (spring special: $19.95) Origin: Lombardy, Italy auricchio.com Auricchio Provolone Piccante is one of Italy’s most famous cheeses. Full cream milk is used to create this cheese with added rennet from a kid/lamb to produce the strong, flavoursome cheese. The final product is an extra sharp tasty cheese that will delight the most knowledgeable of palettes. This cheese is ideal as an aperitif, grated over pasta, shaved on carpaccio, and as a fresh cheese in many tasty recipes.

Taggiasche Olives Producer: Guiseppe Calvi & C. RRP: $8.90 Origin: Liguria, Italy oliocalvi.com The Calvi Taggiasche olives without stone are preserved in Calvi Extra Virgin Olive Oil. They are a petite quality olive with an extraordinary taste, which is delicate and still rich in flavour.

The skin of the olive is soft and makes them very tender. These olives are tasty enjoyed as an appetiser and for cooking use.

56

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

Photo: Nicole Corderio

CHEESE MATTERS

Festival of cheese Kris Lloyd

I

f you’re wandering around the east of Adelaide in late October and you get a sniff of cheese, don’t think that your olfactory is deceiving you. Some 20 or so specialty cheesemakers will be arranged in the beautiful parklands at Rymill Park with several handpicked restaurants and some of South Australia’s best winemakers and brewers. If you are a lover of all things cheese, this is your festival 2012 will mark the seventh year of CheeseFest in South Australia, now Australia’s biggest cheese festival.

The idea of having a festival to celebrate cheese was influenced by my many visits to several festivals overseas. I loved the thought of visitors moving from stall to stall tasting different cheese styles, chatting with the cheesemakers and having the opportunity to try mostly local cheeses all in the one space.

In 2006 the inaugural CheeseFest was held in McLaren Vale. It attracted 1200 cheese lovers.

We have since moved the event into the

city. In 2011 over 8500 visitors attend Rymill Park for all things Cheese. CheeseFest is an experiential way to show off our young and growing artisan cheese industry.

This year we welcome some newcomers to CheeseFest. South Australia’s own Kangarilla Creamery, Lártisan from Timboon, Yarra Valley Dairy and That’s Amore from Donnybrook in Victoria. Cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milk cheeses will all be on offer. Stinky washed rinds, creamy Camemberts, milky Bocconcini, bitey cheddars, gooey Brie and richly complex blue vein cheese are just some of the styles that will be wafting the air.

As the cheesemakers offer visitors samples of the fruits of their labour, they also have the opportunity to talk about their passion, what’s in season and new products on the horizon. CheeseFest patron Simon Bryant will have a stall. You can watch him in action as he prepares a number of signature dishes using cheese and his own dirt(y) inc food products.

Andre Ursini from the wonderful Andre’s Cucina and Polenta Bar will feature some of my favourite fresh cheeses served in Andre’s classic style. Paul Wood, Callum Hann and the affectionately named Dizzy Food Birds of Farmgate SA will also have their own stalls preparing culinary delights. This year we have asked them to share their thoughts in our Talk n Cheese marquee discussing the finer details of South Australian cheese and food.

Experts from Cheeselinks, showing visitors the process from milk to a fresh cheese, will conduct home cheesemaking demonstrations. Local artisan breadmaker, from the newly opened Boulangerie 113, Paul Triglau, will demonstrate how artisan bread is made. He will also be serving his freshly baked breads and pastries at his stall. Fresh bread and cheese has been a much loved food combination that dates back thousands of years. These two products, which are both made through a process of natural fermentation, are reliant on excellent artisan techniques.

The line up of winemakers this year includes Nepenthe, Tomich Hill, Coriole and Shingleback. Brewers from Adelaide Hills Cider, McLaren Vale Beer Company and The Brew Boys will all be offering fine pairing opportunities with the many different styles of cheeses that will be available over the weekend.

For a bit of cheesy fun we are challenging you in the Bocconcini and spoon race. Who will make it to the finish line with their Bocconcini intact and in place? Perhaps the challenge will be not to eat it before the finish line! CheeseFest is unique in its celebration of one food – cheese, and is the ideal setting to come and explore cheese. Try some styles you haven’t tried before or just sit back, relax, soak up the atmosphere, the culinary offerings and sniff the cheese.

Kris Lloyd is Woodside’s Head Cheesemaker woodsidecheese.com.au CheeseFest Rymill Park Saturday, October 27 (12.307pm) & Sunday, October 28 (11am-5pm) Entry: $15 cheesefest.com.au

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FORM DE SIGN

PLANNING

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

57

INNOVATION

Sector 7G AGDA music poster DIA Award submission

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects

DIA AWARDS

SA’s design community will soon celebrate the best the state has to offer.

58

park(ing) DAY

The anuual reclaim event was a great success in 2012.

60

design + cycling

Aside from the health benefits cycling offers design opportunities.

62

58

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

form

SA Design stronger than ever

the DIA Awards and support those who have taken the time to prepare entries and be judged by their peers. We received a record number of entries for 2012: 48 professional submissions and 27 student entries, all of which were judged on Saturday, September 1 at ISIS and are now being

COMMUNICATION: Sector 7G. Cathy Carruthers

compiled for the awards night on Friday, November 2.

The number of entries (75) is a remarkable achievement.

Last year we had 60 entries, and years’ previous would see between 45 and 60 entries. Gold Award winners in the

COMMUNICATION: Woodhead.

PT Design

Built Environment category will automatically prequalify Brendon Harslett and Simon Dodd

for the National Interior Design Awards that have been

W

well represented by SA projects over the years.

e have an amazing night planned for

The entries themselves, we are told by the judging

this year’s Laminex Group DIA Awards

panels, are of an exceptionally high calibre, a glowing

Ceremony. Of particular interest is

report card for design in SA, as the judging panels are

the venue, which is a tightly guarded

often quite brutal in their assessments of the works. We

secret. It won’t be revealed until award attendees will be

are also looking forward to the launching of the award

asked to go to ‘Venue A’, jump on a mode of transport

website in the next few days, so we can properly peruse

and then be taken to ‘Venue B’.

the entries, vote in the People’s Choice Awards, then pre-

The entire year’s program, inclusive of the awards,

empt who will be likely to receive awards on the night.

would not be possible without our annual sponsors:

Once again 2012 sees a huge influx of student entries.

Laminex, PolyFlor, Caroma, and Billi (who we just

It is refreshing to see the student entries grow each year.

announced and have pledged their commitment for

Suffice to say, we are excited, and can’t wait for Friday,

the next five years). This kind of support for our design

November 2, not only for all the hard work of the Awards

industry is encouraging beyond whatever financial crisis

to be over for another year, but to be able to sit back and

we keep reading about. Such is the enthusiasm for our

reflect that South Australia is not only a great place to

awards program that preparations have already begun for

think, design and build, but also a place that recognises

the 2013 program with people offering support for future

and celebrates these traits.

events. This is a remarkable reflection on what a success the DIA in SA have made of this event, a spectacle on the

Brendon Harslett and Simon Dodd are the DIA SA

design calendar of which we should be proud.

Co-Presidents

COMMUNICATION: Woodhead.

Flinders Centre

The best way to support design in SA is to attend

Recharge & Move Forward…

According to the world's leading colourexperts, Pantone’s colourof the year 'Tangerine Tango’marries the vivaciousness of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, providing the energy boost we need to rechargeand move forward.

Dane Arm Chair

Jensen Sofa

A perfect burst into spring, Design Furniture presents this uplifting colourin an exciting new‘Danish Retro’ collection.

Our award winning collection is beautifully complimented with a retrospect look at the Australian legendary designer Florence Broadhurst, whose life crossed over with the Danish Retro Period.

Florence’s work is in increasing demand as a new generation embraces the talents of such a captivating woman whose legacy will no doubt live on for many years to come.

Visit us at www.designfurniture.com.au.

Matisse Chair

Klein Sofa

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Swanbury Penglase Architects.

CBC Junior Primary Campus

BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Genesin Eden

be in the chance to win OBJECT: Matthew Simpson The Accidental Alchemist

BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Genesin Eden

A M anor I ndulgence P ackage One night’s deluxe accommodation Midday check in and pamper pack on arrival

BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Arketype Bowden Info and Sales Centre

Four course dinner with a bottle of wine Country continental breakfast for two in our Restaurant

SA DIA AWARD SPONSORS ISIS SOLVER PAINTS 1000 CHAIRS ZENITH ALSARE WINES GREEN EDGE BORAL SA DIA SPONSORS LAMINEX BILLI CAROMA POLYFLOR

Midday check out OBJECT: Oliver Forrest Mount Fluid Chair OBJECT: Toby Nowland Fold and peg stools

Worth $998.00 2012 Design Institute of SA Jurors:

Kate Beerworth

Built Environment

Communication

(Professional)

• Frank Stillitano

• Andrew Wallace

• Ron Langman

• Matt Martin

• Zoe Page

• Catherine

• Denise Melville

Winwood

• Janet Stone

Anthony Giordano Donna Rafie

• Kyrstyan Mcleod • Janyce Allan

Object • Louise Kelly

Built Environment

• Dan McLean

(Professional &

• Steven Henderson

Student)

• Marta Cherednik

Mark Robinson

• Julie Pieda

Jane Lawrence

With many thanks to Mount Lofty House

VOTE In the 2012 Design Institute & Adelaide Review People’s Choice awards

Voting closes midday October 29 sa-dia-awards.com

NOVEMBER 2nd 2012 reserve your space www.trybooking.com/cdr

59

60

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FORM

PARK(ing) Day M

ore than 30 car parks were reclaimed

by South Australian businesses, universities, design firms and architects for the third annual PARK(ing) Day, which saw a record number of entries in 2012.

The jury is still out whether Adelaide had the biggest number of entries globally but the CBD was a design lover’s feast with amazing installations displayed across Pirie Street, Waymouth Street and Hindmarsh Square.

This year sustainable living was a visible theme throughout the installations with many parkers using cardboard as their main material.

For the second year running The Adelaide Review proudly presented the People’s Choice Award, which was won by Woods Bagot and Stylecraft.

The PARK(ing) Day committee said it was great to see the community build on previous years with new enthusiastic faces.

Here’s to an even bigger PARK(ing) Day in 2013!

Arup Park 2012 Title: Play Many city based workers spend a large proportion of their time performing standard, repetitive and process driven actions, all primarily using the left brain.

Left brain thinking can focus on a problem and keep thinking on the same lines when what is needed is a fresh perspective.

Taking a break and engaging your mind in creative right brain activities can help you in coming up with innovative solutions. Our Park is focussed on giving people a chance to get outside, take a break and play to embody the PARK(ing)

Day intention of rethinking how we use urban space for everyone.

Strategic games like Connect 4 and Jenga and simply creative activities like using play dough all require using the right brain. Our park was intended to be interactive and was about having fun, remembering how to play and reinvigorating people’s creative sides.

Just a short time outside in our park should leave people refreshed, happy and perhaps a little bit more creative when they go back to work.

Simply the best track guided blind system.

No ropes • No zips • No straps • No buckles PULL DOWN and PUSH UP and STOP wherever you want. It’s that simple.

• Versatile • Easy to apply • Easy to use • Manual or motorised Choose new solar powered Ziptrak® electric motors to help reduce your global footprint!

Electric motors can be solar powered with remote control for an eco-friendly and cost effective choice.

Ziptrak® is now offering the amazingly simple and environmental SolarSmart™ automation solution for your Ziptrak® blinds.

For product information and contact details of your nearest Authorised Ziptrak® Dealer please call: Phone +61(8) 8377 0065 Fax +61(8) 8377 5934 ziptrak@ziptrak.com.au www.ziptrak.com.au Ziptrak® blinds can only be sold through authorised Ziptrak® Dealers carefully chosen for their integrity and quality workmanship to ensure customer satisfaction.

Ziptrak® blinds are sold through quality blind and awning retailers across Australia and New Zealand.

Ziptrak-HPCAd_AdelaideReview_.indt 1

30.05.11 14:50

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

61

FORM

The Adelaide Review People’s Choice Award For the second year running, Woods Bagot and Stylecraft won The Adelaide Review People’s Choice Award as part of 2012 PARK(ing) Day. Team Coordinator, Kate Russo, explained: “Our theme ‘Put Your Thoughts on the Line’ encouraged visitors to think about what we could do to improve our city to draw people in, making it a place as inviting as our own backyards.” These ‘thoughts’ were written on shorts and hung on the line. All the thoughts will be collated and presented to the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, a visitor himself at the PARK(ing) site, in an attempt to generate positive change. The site replicated a backyard; complete with a hills hoist, washing basket and trolley…right down to a garden gnome. All Woods Bagot and Stylecraft staff celebrated the day with a street side BBQ to go with the theme.

The 2012 Woods Bagot Stylecraft PARK(ing) team holding the ‘Adelaide Review People’s Choice Award’ trophy; Pedro Torres, Simon Tothill, Kate Russo, Adrian Condina, Tasha Ugrinic (Stylecraft) and Sarah Zahradnik.

Transforming 21st Century Cities To learn more go www.arup.com and search Cities

Adelaide Oval Redevelopment, SA © SACA Cox Architects

1209_FORM_Print Ad_SA.indd 1

24/09/2012 1:41:25 PM

62

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FORM

The bike will change us Much has been said and written about the lifestyle and health benefits of cycling but how can design and cycling come together?

Brendon Harslett

A

s a keen cyclist and runner (albeit, quite bad at both), I can certainly vouch for the spring in my step late in the day after an early morning cycle or run inhaling the cold air in abundance, sadly, well above the suggested maximum. The spring I speak of has nothing to do with the copious amounts of coffee consumed (for those quick to jump to that conclusion).

But what has all this feel good babble got to do with design? Plenty. And for the sake of the

MORE THAN BEAUTIFUL FLOORS

article, and for my primary interest, let’s focus on the bike and Adelaide.

Cycling, design and Adelaide To facilitate it: Adelaide Mayor Steve Yarwood’s push to reduce city speed limits and decrease traffic congestion with the addition of greater cyclist provisions is the first great design complexity – with input from our urban planners - to redesign the way we enter our city. I would like more research into the recent notion that the

FLOORS & FURNISHINGS

Photo: Corey Roberts

compulsory wearing of helmets could be scrapped if the streets are safer for cyclists, but it would need a compelling argument to win my support.

Once we arrive: The buildings we inhabit and the places we go need to accommodate the way we arrive at them, by foot, vehicle and bike with shower and change areas, storage areas and the like.

Most buildings aren’t currently at a level that would accommodate further nonmotor commuters, so vast design work by building owners will need to be undertaken for this. BikeSA ran a great ‘exhibition’ in Hindmarsh Square recently of a semipermanent change and shower facility – a great interim concept until our facilities are more readily available. Companies can now provide opportunities for employees to integrate fitness programs into their ‘employer of choice’ initiatives, along with fully supplied fitness rooms with relevant facilities. Slowly this is becoming part of the interior design brief.

What we wear: BikeArt Adelaide curated an outdoor exhibition during the Tour Down Under 2012, which exhibited woven fabrics integrated with reflective qualities that would mean the leisurely stroll to work on a bike would not necessitate the shower and change ritual. I certainly don’t trust my ability to conceal odour without a shower, but it’s a great idea in the making.

F I N E ST WA L L -TO - WA L L C A R P E T • T I M B E R & R E S I L I E N T F LO O R I N G BEAUTI FU L RUGS • HOME ACC ESSOR I ES • CUSTOM MAKI NG SERVIC E 51 Glen Osmond Rd Eastwood Ph 8274 1125 www.terracefloors.com.au Open Mon–Fri 9am–5pm Sat 10am–4pm

What we ride on: I exist amid some of the nation and planet’s finest industrial designers, many of whom commute and exercise on a bike. It is with great interest that most of these designers have ‘had a go’ at building their own bikes. An exhibition of these amazing creations would be brilliant to view. This also flows over to those nondesigners who have attempted the same – everyday commuters, cyclo-messengers and

many others. On a much higher budgetary level, a media article recently exposed the fantastic Audi electric bike concept, which has followed the trend and work done by other car manufacturers such as Mercedes Benz and McLaren (on the Specialized Venge used by current World Road Champion, Mark Cavendish).

How they look: Lance Armstrong engaged the services of artist/designers Shepard Fairey, Damien Hirst, Kaws, Yoshitomo Nara, Marc Newson and Kenny Scharf to create six bike pieces that were ultimately sold off for approximately $1.3 million in a silent auction, which went towards his Livestrong Foundation. However, the graphics we see on the various machines that adorn our street and garages, whether factory, mass-produced or custom created, are as sometimes as dreadful as they are masterful.

Other ways: We live in an age of beautiful technology, each of us has the ability to capture our delights on digital media, with the ability to Photoshop, crop, red eye reduce and sepia, but it still takes a trained eye and technical skills to produce a quality result. Photographer turned architect turned photographer, Corey Roberts, himself an accomplished cyclist, has started an online blog (superflat.com.au) of stunning photography revolving around the early morning cycling amateurs, shot mostly throughout the Adelaide Hills. Sure, I’m parochial about cycling, but the ways it is touched by design and innovation brings out the romantic in me. I’m excited about how its integration and progress, with the support of the Lord Mayor, is mapping the way we our changing and improving our community and habits for the better.

Brendon Harslett DIA SA Co-President

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

63

63

italia collection 2012 ceramic | porcelain | stone

ITA0024

Tiles for all Lifestyles

showroom | 55 glynburn road, glynde | 08 8336 2366 | italiaceramics.com.au

64

the adelaide REVIEW october 2012

FEATURE

64

Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art University of South Australia 12 October – 14 December 2012

Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940 – 2011 Curator Barry Pearce for the Samstag Museum of Art and Carrick Hill, Adelaide in partnership with TarraWarra Museum of Art

Image: Jeffrey SMArT, Self portrait at Papini’s (detail), 1984 – 85, oil and acrylic on canvas, 85.0 x 115.0 cm, private collection, © Jeffrey Smart