This month I am trekking around Europe with my partner, and I had the good fortune to be in London on the night of the fifth Wild Rumpus event. In a gallery space in central London on a Saturday night…
Larkin about: the people of Hull celebrate their city’s victory.
Anna Gowthorpe/PA
Kingston-upon-Hull has been named the UK City of Culture for 2017; a spotlight has been thrown on a place that many people either don’t really know much about, sometimes falling prey to typical Home Counties…
Australia is richly blessed with an abundance of resources which, along with robust legal, business and political infrastructure, has allowed it to pull through tough times on several occasions. As we…
Reed, who died today, knew how to place himself at the centre.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The plaudits have arrived very quickly for Lou Reed, who has died aged 71. He is clearly regarded as a towering figure, credited with playing a central role in creating one of the most influential albums…
Artist Alice Evans lies on the streets of Edinburgh, but she’s OK really.
Danny Lawson/PA
Playwright Mark Ravenhill’s provocative opening speech at this year’s Edinburgh Festival outlined a doomsday scenario where public funding for the arts disappeared and Britain descended into a cultural…
Encouraging live music through initiatives such as the newly-announced National Live Music Office makes good social, cultural and economic sense.
shutterstock
Federal arts minister Tony Burke this week announced the government’s commitment to setting up a National Live Music Office. Burke said the taskforce will: …partner with governments, local councils, communities…
Crime fiction has become a truly global genre. Books based in Reykjavik, Oslo, or Barcelona now vie with home-grown works set in more recognisable, down-at-heel locations like Manchester or Northampton…
When it was revealed this weekend that JK Rowling was the author of a recent critically acclaimed but obscure crime novel - The Cuckoo’s Calling by one Robert Galbraith - it made perfect sense to many…
Despite myths to the contrary, humanities graduates can enjoy their passions and look forward to job opportunities too.
Student image from www.shutterstock.com
As a vice chancellor, I conducted many graduation ceremonies and welcomed scores of proud graduates to the fellowship of educated men and women. One regular feature of these ceremonies was a queue of students…
Three-quarters of Indians say cricket helps the relationship between India and Australia, a new survey has found.
Flickr/Foxypar4
Liz Minchin, The Conversation y Nancy Youssef, The Conversation
Australia should work harder on its official and unofficial diplomacy to strengthen its ties to India, after a new survey revealed Indians had a mixed perception of the two countries’ relationship. The…
Namatjira, by Imants Tillers, which won the 2013 Wynne Prize.
Art Gallery of NSW
It was the 1960s when a curator – who shall remain nameless – was ordered to hang Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira’s work in his gallery. He hung the painting next to the ladies toilet with a vase of…
Simon Crean has set out a forward-looking proposal for the future of Australian arts. But will it last?
AAP/Alan Porritt
The first major national cultural policy in 19 years was unveiled by Minister for the Arts Simon Crean yesterday. Minister Crean has called it “a national cultural policy for the decade.” Uncharitable…
Opera Australia and the Sydney Opera House need to work together to secure opera’s future.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
It was built for the art form but you’d be forgiven for thinking the Sydney Opera House is a little ashamed of opera. Months go by without any mention of opera performances on the Opera House’s Facebook…
Does some fine madness yield great artists, writers, and scientists? The evidence is growing for a significant link between bipolar disorder and creative temperament and achievement. People with bipolar…
No war was photographed like Vietnam and many of these images still speak to us today.
Photographer: Michael Coleridge. Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial EKN/67/0130/VN.
An unprecedented level of media coverage made the Vietnam war a watershed moment in the discipline of photography. The images by official military photographers, photojournalists, and individual soldiers…
Art history is falling out of favour with universities but why? We need to look at the reasons behind this change.
AAP Image/Warren Clarke
The impending closure of art history at La Trobe University has drawn sharp criticism from academics. They have pointed out that students enjoy art history: it is economical, has enduring value and demonstrably…
The true value of art cannot be measured by economic standards.
Flickr/TruShu
In 2012, public debate over the value of art and culture has reignited as conservative state governments in Victoria and Queensland cut arts funding from their budgets. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman’s…
Cutting the art history department at La Trobe university is short-sighted.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
La Trobe university’s art history department is set to be abolished, with a consultation period over the changes to the university’s humanities program to end this month. While one art history department…
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne