tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/art-galleries-13433/articles
Art Galleries – The Conversation
2024-02-06T04:27:58Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221868
2024-02-06T04:27:58Z
2024-02-06T04:27:58Z
Yhonnie Scarce’s glass works are a glistening, poignant exploration of how nuclear testing affected First Nations people
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573368/original/file-20240205-21-p37dyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8000%2C5329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cloud Chamber (2020). Blown glass, dimensions variable. On loan from the
TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria. © Yhonnie Scarce</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains themes and references to historical events which may be distressing.</em></p>
<p>Yhonnie Scarce, a Kokatha and Nukunu artist, has emerged in recent years as one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists. Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, curates a survey of significant works by Scarce from the last few years. </p>
<p>The exhibition presents a “best-of” for a wider West Australian public who may not be familiar with the South Australian artist. At the same time, it’s an opportunity for Western Australia’s art followers to see a range of works not previously assembled in Perth. </p>
<h2>A translucent shower</h2>
<p>The exhibition is installed across two levels, conjoined through an architectural void that invites spectacle. In this void, Scarce’s glistening Thunder Raining Poison (2016-17) hangs from the ceiling by hundreds of wires.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thunder Raining Poison (2016-17). Hand-blown glass, wire, metal armature 500cm (height), dimensions otherwise variable. Collection: National Gallery of Australia. Purchased 2016. This acquisition has been supported by Susan Armitage in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum. © Yhonnie Scarce.</span>
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<p>Scarce’s works are so steeped in the contemporary art idiom that, despite the centrality of glass throughout this exhibition, we might not at first consider her a “glass artist”. Yet in Thunder Raining Poison, and in her two other “cloud” works, Cloud Chamber (2020) and Death Zephyr (2016), the artist draws our attention to the fragility and beauty of the material. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Death Zephyr (2016) (detail). Hand-blown glass, nylon and steel, dimensions variable. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Purchased with funds provided by the Aboriginal Art Collection Benefactors, 2017. © Yhonnie Scarce. Image © Art Gallery of New of New South Wales 14.2017.a-c.</span>
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<p>Each of these cloud works are clusters of hanging glass yams. This potato-like tuberous root vegetable, which urban-dwelling Australians may not be familiar with, grows throughout the bush. </p>
<p>In Scarce’s aesthetic and material, yams signify death. The sensitivity of the exhibition’s themes, and perhaps the low lighting, seem to demand quiet in the space. In this silence we hear the gentle chiming of the hand blown yams, reinforcing their fragility. </p>
<p>Hanging in clusters, these clear and black glass yams evoke the dynamism of clouds collapsing into sheets of rain – black rain – falling after the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/maralinga">nuclear bomb tests</a> that were carried out on Scarce’s traditional lands in South Australia, between 1952 and 1963. Born in Woomera, Scarce is descended from the Lake Eyre Kokatha people and the Southern Flinders Ranges Nukunu people.</p>
<p>The works resonate with another Indigenous work in the gallery’s collection: Lin Onus’s installation work, <a href="https://sc.artgallery.wa.gov.au/19900236a-b-maralinga">Maralinga</a> (1990), which depicts an Aboriginal woman and children facing, in horror, a mushroom cloud signified by radioactive symbols. Yet Scarce’s material dialect is much more poetic. </p>
<h2>Nuclear colonialism</h2>
<p>Australian nuclear colonialism is a recurrent theme in the exhibition, with the upstairs gallery including three of Scarce’s Glass Bomb works from the Blue Danube series (2015).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573619/original/file-20240205-19-sbts2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Glass Bomb (Blue Danube) Series 1, 11, 111 (2015). Hand-blown glass, yarn 18x48x18; 25x60x25; 22x64x22cm. Purchased 2016. Collection: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Yhonnie Scarce.</span>
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<p>Perhaps the most poignant work with this theme is Fallout Babies (2016). Set in a corner space, this work is partially surrounded by a floor-to-ceiling photograph of a graveyard with the buried bodies of children from communities that were exposed to the fallout from the <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/maralinga">bomb testing</a>. The bodies are metaphorically represented by bulbous glass plums, which speak of fertility and promise. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573621/original/file-20240205-27-fvw0hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fallout Babies (2016). Blown glass, found hospital cribs, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne. © Yhonnie Scarce. Photographer: Janelle Low.</span>
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<p>Hollowing Earth (2016-17) is made of materials quite <a href="https://www.decorativecollective.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-uranium-glass">literally infused</a> with trace amounts of uranium. It glows a luminous green under the black-lit gallery. The glass vessels in Hollowing Earth represent bush bananas, another recurrent bush food in Scarce’s aesthetic cypher. The glass surfaces of many of these voluminous glowing bodies are torn while the glass is still hot and malleable. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573623/original/file-20240205-25-7zt0p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hollowing Earth (2016-17) (detail). Blown and hot formed uranium glass, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne. © Yhonnie Scarce. Photographer: Janelle Low.</span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-world-pushes-for-a-ban-on-nuclear-weapons-australia-votes-to-stay-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-68337">As the world pushes for a ban on nuclear weapons, Australia votes to stay on the wrong side of history</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Bush bananas also appear in the work In The Dead House (2020), a work previously installed in the old mortuary in Adelaide Botanic Gardens as part the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-meeting-of-monsters-at-the-adelaide-biennial-brings-us-closer-to-our-fears-132753">2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art</a>. Laid out on a vintage mortuary trolley, fragile glass bodies are ripped wide open.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573624/original/file-20240205-27-ntl9ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the dead house (2020). Hand-blown glass, found mortuary trolley, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY, Melbourne. © Yhonnie Scarce. Photographer: Saul Steed.</span>
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<p>The work references early 20th century Adelaide coroner, Ramsay Smith, who <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-20/tommy-walker-graverobbing-adelaide-coroner-indigenous-history/12721850">profited from exporting</a> Aboriginal remains to British museums. Smith is notorious for having decapitated the corpses – and the bush bananas echo heads and bodies that have been violently disgorged.</p>
<h2>Moments of gentle beauty</h2>
<p>Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day includes some moments of gentle beauty found in the love of family and tragic ancestry. Both Remember Royalty (2018) and Dinah (2016) belong to stories of trauma, institutionalised racism and inhumane colonial abuse. But these are also moments in this exhibition that actively seek to restore pride that was once brutally taken. </p>
<p>Dinah includes a cropped photograph of the artist’s great grandmother, Dinah Coleman, taken in the 1920s without her consent. She was at Koonibba, a Lutheran mission near Ceduna, South Australia. </p>
<p>As the wall text notes, the photo was quite possibly taken by the anthropologist <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/family-history/family-history-sources/tindale-genealogies">Norman Tindale</a>, who visited in 1924. This suggests it was an anthropological image that subjected Dinah to a dehumanising scientific gaze. Scarce’s cropped photograph of Dinah restores her dignity and humanity. </p>
<p>Similarly, Remember Royalty takes images of Scarce’s close ancestors and enlarges them on fine vintage fabrics. They look out at an audience in 2024, returning their gaze as equals. Not surprisingly, this complex and sensitively presented work was acquired by London’s Tate Modern gallery in 2022. </p>
<p>As with the other works in this exhibition, we have the opportunity to contemplate this work in its raw yet visually seductive materiality, before this and the other works are once again dispersed. </p>
<p><em>Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day is at the Art Gallery of Western Australia until May 19</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-sliced-open-radioactive-particles-from-soil-in-south-australia-and-found-they-may-be-leaking-plutonium-161277">We sliced open radioactive particles from soil in South Australia and found they may be leaking plutonium</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kit Messham-Muir is the Lead Chief Investigator on 'Art of Peace', a three-year ARC Linkage project in partnership with the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) and National Trust (NSW) and in collaboration with academics from University of New South Wales, University of Melbourne, University of the Arts London and California State University. Art of Peace receives a Linkage Project grant (LP210300068) from the Australian Research Council over three years (2023-2026). He is not involved in any way with the curation or exhibition of Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day at AGWA.
</span></em></p>
The sensitivity of the exhibition’s themes, coupled with low lighting, seems to demand quiet in the space. In this silence, you hear the gentle chiming of hand-blown glass.
Kit Messham-Muir, Professor in Art, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214272
2023-12-27T20:26:08Z
2023-12-27T20:26:08Z
How to get the most out of a visit to an art gallery with kids
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558991/original/file-20231113-25-k3nymi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C5431%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In our house we have a favourite story about the time our toddler was dragged from the National Portrait Gallery kicking and screaming “I want to see more paintings!!!” </p>
<p>She needed lunch, we had to go, but she really loved the “Nick Cave Gallery”, as she called it, with his luminous portrait by <a href="https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.16/nick-cave">Howard Arkley</a> on display.</p>
<p>What parenting miracle did we pull off to have a daughter that loves art galleries so much? We have always taken our kids to galleries. It’s what we do for fun and is what they want to do as teenagers. Visiting a new town or city, we check out local art wherever we can find it.</p>
<p>I have a long history of working with galleries and I am a practising artist, so gallery spaces are familiar to us and are meaningful places associated with joy, wonder and celebration. But you don’t need to be an artist to help your kids enjoy a gallery visit. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-tips-to-make-the-most-of-your-next-gallery-visit-161135">Four tips to make the most of your next gallery visit</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Start young</h2>
<p>Children are naturally curious, so start young and make gallery visits a normal activity. </p>
<p>Expose babies to art as soon as possible: <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/learn/early-learning/research-project/">research</a> proves regular engagement with art develops children’s aesthetic sensibilities and even very young children can respond to art in complex ways.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A baby looks at a stuffed seagull." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559017/original/file-20231113-17-3i07wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Even very young children can respond to art in complex ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>I remember my baby son neighing like a horse in front of a painting before he could talk. I looked at the painting he was staring at, Nicholas Harding’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2005/28093/">Bob’s daily swim</a>. There in the thick, painterly background, was a horse. My son connected with the work because he loved horses.</p>
<h2>Before your visit</h2>
<p>Look for ways to introduce your child to artists before your visit. Art activities bring exhibits to life in fun and engaging ways. </p>
<p>For example, from the NGA you can make <a href="https://nga.gov.au/media/dd/documents/nga_artist_activity_sheets_poliness.6a7fd67.pdf">Sol Le Witt-inspired vegemite toast</a>. Suddenly, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/nationalgallery/nga-72606">Wall drawing no.380 a-d</a> (1982) takes on a whole new flavour, and your child is connected with the work before they see it. </p>
<p>Try to tap into your child’s interests. If they like superheroes, pop icons or Hollywood stars they might just love to see a show by Yankunytjatjara artist <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/2023-mecca-holiday-collaboration/">Kaylene Whiskey</a>. </p>
<p>Marilyn JS Goodman’s brilliant book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Draw-Guide-When-Make/dp/1780239890">Children Draw</a> includes tips on taking your child to a gallery: consider going on a weekday when it’s less crowded, include the cafe, and, importantly, don’t try to see everything – for younger children plan on spending no more than an hour and don’t try to look at too many art works. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two teenage girls look at art." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559019/original/file-20231113-29-6mo2ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making visiting a gallery a normal part of life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Let your child take the lead and include them in the planning. Planning a trip together may be the perfect time to ask questions and share knowledge: “did you know we can’t touch artwork in galleries? Do you know why?” </p>
<p>This can not only help avoid awkward situations with security guards but also helps your child to understand why we don’t touch art (we need to protect the artworks), and may encourage further inquiry into the art or gallery.</p>
<h2>There’s no right or wrong response</h2>
<p>Some adults may feel uncomfortable talking about art. Just try having a conversation about what you see, and be prepared to be amazed by what your child observes.</p>
<p>Start by asking your child questions: what are you noticing about this exhibition? What stories are these works telling? What do you think about when you look at this artwork? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A girl and her mum look at ancient pottery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559018/original/file-20231113-15-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ask questions like ‘what does it make you wonder?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In schools, you might hear teachers use <a href="https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/See%20Think%20Wonder.pdf">thinking routines</a>: what do you see? What do you think about that? What does it make you wonder? This stimulates curiosity and encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. </p>
<p>Some galleries use <a href="https://vtshome.org/">Visual Thinking Strategies</a>, which also consists of three questions: what’s going on in this picture? What makes you say that? What else can we find?</p>
<p>You don’t have to like what you see. This can even be a great stimulus for discussions with your child: does art have to be beautiful to be good? Why do people make art? What was that exhibition about?</p>
<h2>Interact with the art</h2>
<p>You are allowed to take pencil and paper into most galleries and drawing is a great way of looking and slowing down your experience. </p>
<p>Most galleries have seating where you can sit and draw. Try taking a sketchbook for you and one for your child. Role model drawing, taking your time. You are not aiming to make a masterpiece but to use drawing to map out what you see. </p>
<p>Compare drawings and swap notes. Ask your child what they noticed and share what you found.</p>
<p>Another fun game in a gallery is to pose like the sculptures and paintings.</p>
<p>Most galleries offer programs for children and families. By attending tours you can pick up excellent tips from the educators who are experts at engaging children. They use simple and effective methods such as rolling a piece of paper up into a telescope to look at a work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children on the floor drawing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559020/original/file-20231113-29-y77vl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most galleries offer programs for children and families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some galleries also have children’s trails especially designed for engaging children. And if they don’t, you can make things up like how many trees can you see? Or can you find any animals in this exhibition?</p>
<h2>After the visit</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-help-an-art-expert-suggests-screen-free-things-to-do-in-every-room-of-the-house-202947">previous article</a> I talked about extending your child’s experience after a gallery visit and how a comic my son made gave me an insight into his feeling about what he had seen at the gallery.</p>
<p>Make it a special day out together. At the end of the day you want your child to enjoy the experience and foster a love of art.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/holiday-help-an-art-expert-suggests-screen-free-things-to-do-in-every-room-of-the-house-202947">Holiday help! An art expert suggests screen-free things to do in every room of the house</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Zouwer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Give children credit, agency and listen to them and you will have a successful visit.
Naomi Zouwer, Visual Artist and Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215295
2023-12-01T16:05:53Z
2023-12-01T16:05:53Z
Exhibition explores how the Victorians are being reimagined in contemporary art
<p>As you enter <a href="https://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibitions/event/5856/reimagining-the-victorians.html#:%7E:text=From%20taxidermy%20and%20photography%20to,the%20Victorians%20in%20their%20work.">Reimag(in)ing the Victorians</a>, a <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/887/887-h/887-h.htm">quote from Oscar Wilde</a> faces you from across the room: “The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.” Wilde’s statement draws the attention of visitors to two things. First, the fact that history is an ever-changing form of representation. And second, that it is form of representation produced by us.</p>
<p>One of the most significant – and perhaps unexpected – impacts of the Black Lives Matter movement has been an increased public understanding of history as a subjective representation of the past. The “contested history” debates that have raged over the past few years <a href="https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/suzannah-lipscomb/what-is-history-now/9781474622455/">are evidence of this</a>. And the vicious antagonism that they have provoked gives credence to the work of late 20th century writers like <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Rethinking-History/Jenkins/p/book/9780415304436">Keith Jenkins</a>, who argues that there is no such thing as an entirely “objective” version of the past.</p>
<p>Reimag(in)ing the Victorians, which is showing at <a href="https://www.lakesidearts.org.uk">Lakeside Arts in Nottingham</a>, explores how recent artists have engaged with 19th-century historical accounts, media and crafts. From hand-tinted colonial photography to contemporary taxidermy, the exhibition celebrates and interrogates the cultural afterlives of Victorian Britain. But by examining how we “remember” the Victorians, the exhibition also probes into how and why the past is visualised and represented in the present. </p>
<p>The first room of the exhibition explores how the colonial past is remembered, and what impact it continues to have on identities around the world today. Sculptures by British Nigerian artist <a href="https://yinkashonibare.com">Yinka Shonibare</a>, swaddled in brightly-coloured Ankara fabric (synonymous with west African fashion), stand alongside Andrew Gilbert’s <a href="https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/reimagining-the-victorians-in-contemporary-art-review-djanogly-gallery-nottingham">2020 installation</a>, Major General Andrew Gilbert Calls a Drone Strike on His Leek Phone, Magersfontein, 11th December 1899, Southern Africa.</p>
<p>A carnivalesque parody of how imperial events are “remembered” in fictional accounts such as the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058777/">Zulu</a> (1964), Gilbert’s work draws attention to how colonial actions have been lionised in popular British culture. It also explores how deeply embedded this imagery has become in our collective historical imagination. </p>
<h2>An era of change</h2>
<p>Of course, the Victorians were not one thing or another. They may have overseen the largest empire in the world has ever seen, but activists including <a href="https://afropean.com/the-adventures-of-a-victorian-troublemaker-henry-sylvester-williams/">Henry Sylvester Williams</a> and <a href="https://blackplaqueproject.com/biography/alice-kinloch/">Alice Kinloch</a> also founded the Africa Association and fought for the civil rights of colonised people from the streets of London – the heart of the empire. In this way the Victorian era is composed of multiple generations and viewpoints. And it was an era that oversaw huge social and political change.</p>
<p>One of the furthest reaching of these changes was the industrial revolution, which not only led to the urbanisation of British society but also mass production and consumerism. But rather than stimulating creative interest in mechanised forms of production, this technological turn encouraged a rise in artisanal practices and a passion for the handmade. </p>
<p>From the <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/arts-and-crafts-an-introduction">arts and crafts movement</a> to amateur decoupage and experiments with the photographic plate, late-Victorian creativity demonstrates a collective yearning for unique objects produced from tactile processes of making.</p>
<p>In the early-2000s, a similar return to handmade processes could be seen in the work of artists such as <a href="https://pollymorgan.co.uk">Polly Morgan</a>, <a href="http://www.tessafarmer.com">Tessa Farmer</a> and <a href="https://katemccgwire.com">Kate MccGwire</a>. Emerging alongside the rise of social media and an increasingly sophisticated digital landscape, their sculptures are meticulously constructed from animal body parts and found natural objects such as feathers and insect bodies.</p>
<h2>A moment in time</h2>
<p>Farmer’s 2007 installation <a href="http://www.tessafarmer.com/little-savages">Little Savages</a> depicts the destruction of an English fox by a swarm of skeleton fairies. These beings are microscopically composed from fern roots, insect wings and soil, and colonise their victim’s soft tissue to harvest their species’ eggs. In this way, her work subverts taxidermy’s most important function: to preserve the animal body from defilement and mutilation from parasitic organisms.</p>
<p>As a key 19th-century form of preservation, taxidermy has sometimes been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41552477">compared to photography</a>. Both media operate by freeze framing their subject – by stopping time. Invented in 1839, photography runs through every room of this exhibition and includes the hand-tinted Valentine Days prints by <a href="http://www.ingridpollard.com">Ingrid Pollard</a> (2017) and Mark Dion and J. Morgan Puett’s series <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dion-puett-ladies-field-club-of-york-87241">The Ladies’ Field Club of York</a> (1998-9). </p>
<p>Both works draw attention to overlooked accounts of history and their anonymous subjects. Pollard’s tender hand colouring of Black Jamaicans “captured” by the photographic lens in 1891, restores a sense of individuality and dignity to subjects originally photographed to sell a servile and idyllic Jamaica to British and American investors. And her approach to the medium echoes the work of Victorian works included in the exhibition, such as photographs by <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/julia-margaret-cameron">Julia Margaret Cameron</a>.</p>
<p>While it is crucial for us to agree that the past did exist – battles did occur, genocides were committed – how we represent it in “the present” is nevertheless a question of authorship. For the visual artists in this exhibition, the imagination and ideology involved in representing a past that no longer exists is embraced rather than denied: allowing them to explore the afterlives of the Victorians in original, powerful and poignant ways.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isobel Elstob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The exhibition celebrates and interrogates the cultural afterlives of Victorian Britain.
Isobel Elstob, Assistant Professor in Art History, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196290
2023-04-29T23:15:09Z
2023-04-29T23:15:09Z
How to buy authentic First Nations designs that benefit creators and communities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523366/original/file-20230428-20-ozwuvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C1196%2C614&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From souvenir shops to art galleries, First Nations designs are big business. Australia’s Productivity Commission estimates about <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/indigenous-arts/report">$250 million</a> of Indigenous-style art and consumer products are sold annually. But just 16% of that ends up in the hands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. </p>
<p>When it comes to Indigenous-style souvenirs, the commission says about 75% aren’t authentic. The art market is a little better, but fakes are prevalent enough for one to have appeared in comedian Ricky Gervais’ sit-com <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/ricky-gervais-fake-aboriginal-art-is-not-a-prop-its-cultural-theft/w5yvdkf70">Afterlife</a>.</p>
<p>To support First Nations artists and communities, here’s what you need to know, and need to ask, before buying.</p>
<h2>Home is where the art is</h2>
<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art is more than aesthetically pleasing shapes and colours. It is a cultural expression, a means of passing information from one generation to the next, of telling stories. </p>
<p>These stories may be about sacred knowledge and dreamings specific to an individual, a family or a community – stories not culturally permissible for others to tell. Those stories share commonalities but also differ according to place – plants, animals, customs and laws.</p>
<p>Each of Australia’s more than 200 Indigenous nation groups – comprised of clans that share a common language and kinship systems – will use designs, colours and materials related to place. </p>
<p>Dot painting, for example, is specific to the desert interior of Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512587/original/file-20230228-1629-rokusd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dot painting by an artist from Yuendumu, about 300 km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://warlu.com/">Warlukurlangu Artists</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cross-hatching and “x-ray” paintings come from Arnhem Land in north-east Northern Territory.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja at work in 2014." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523369/original/file-20230428-14-feaoqj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arnhem Land artist Glen Namundja at work in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Roy/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Depictions of “Wandjina” spirits come from the Kimberley coast in northern Western Australia. The Wandjina are the most <a href="https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/articles/wandjina/">powerful creation spirits</a>, symbolising rain. They are often depicted with bodies of dots, representing rainfall.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wandjina rock art near the Barnett River, in the Kimberley, north Western Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523373/original/file-20230428-24-c1r6yy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wandjina rock art near the Barnett River, in the Kimberley, north Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graeme Churchard/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ochre pigments, derived from soil, are used across the east Kimberley, Arnhem Land and central Northern Territory.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Art for sale at the Warmun Art Centre in the east Kimberley." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523370/original/file-20230428-22-yp04fn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Art for sale at the Warmun Art Centre in the east Kimberley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bo Wong/West Australian Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any authentic piece of Indigenous art tells a story. Before you buy, get to know that story.</p>
<h2>What’s the story?</h2>
<p>There’s one simple rule when buying First Nations art or crafts: the more information the better. </p>
<p>Artists have two main ways to sell their art. For original art, it’s through a gallery, which takes a hefty commission. If it’s a design on a product, licensing is more common: the artist gives permission for the reproduction of their work in exchange for a one-off payment or an ongoing commission, usually linked to sales.</p>
<p>In either case, a legitimate gallery or licensee has a vested interest in assuring you of the authenticity of what they are selling, and that the artist is benefiting from your purchase. </p>
<p>They should be able to provide you with:</p>
<ul>
<li>the artist’s name and biography, including their language or nations group </li>
<li>evidence of the work’s authenticity, such as photographs of the artist at work</li>
<li>how they pay the artist, and how much</li>
<li>evidence of commitment to efforts to improve the industry, such as the <a href="https://indigenousartcode.org/">Indigenous Art Code</a>.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hilda Nakamarra Rogers, a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523135/original/file-20230427-14-62qetl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hilda Nakamarra Rogers, a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If there’s no information on who created an artwork and where they’re from, it is most likely fake. </p>
<p>In short: buy from sellers with transparent policies. On their website and in person they should provide clear information on all of the above. Reluctance to share this information is a red flag. </p>
<h2>Look for community connections</h2>
<p>Galleries and other intermediaries may be Indigenous or non-Indigenous-owned. They may be private for-profit businesses or community-owned. </p>
<p>Private businesses can be highly ethical and reinvest in their community, but there is greater assurance of this happening with collectively owned businesses established specifically for the benefit of local artists, to employ local people and fund community projects.</p>
<p>An example is the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, a not-for-profit company owned by artists from the Yuendumu community in the Northern Territory, about 300 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs. Founded in 1985, the company uses its surpluses to fund community <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/">projects</a> such as <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/health-projects/">a health program</a> and a <a href="https://warlu.com/community-projects/dog-program/">dog program</a>, which cares for the local dog population.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="At work at the Warlukurlangu Artists art centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502514/original/file-20221222-21-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At work at the Warlukurlangu Artists art centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warlukurlangu Artists</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/indigenousarts/report/c04">more than 100</a> such independently governed First Nations art and craft centres in Australia, including umbrella organisations in the following areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>Western Australia: the <a href="https://aachwa.com.au/art-and-art-centres/">Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia</a></li>
<li>Central Australia: <a href="https://desart.com.au/member-art-centres/">Desart</a>. </li>
<li>Northern Australia from the Kimberley to Arnhem land: <a href="https://anka.org.au/art-centres/anka-art-centres">Arnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists</a>. </li>
<li>Far-north Queenland: <a href="https://iaca.com.au/">Indigenous Art Centre Alliance</a>. </li>
<li>APY lands of north-west South Australia: <a href="https://www.apyartcentrecollective.com/about">APY Art Centre Collective</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-white-staff-do-in-remote-indigenous-art-centres-204746">What do white staff do in remote Indigenous art centres?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Art centres sell online. They may have arrangements to sell artwork through commercial galleries nearer population hotspots. They may also license art for use on <a href="https://www.alpersteindesigns.com.au/blogs/news/alperstein-designs-x-ngarga-warendj-ip-and-collaborations">homeware and souvenirs</a>.</p>
<p>In the wider market for First Nations designs and products, look for evidence of Indigenous ownership, commitment to compensate artists, and other evidence of community engagement. Most First Nations-run businesses are proud to acknowledge their heritage. </p>
<p>There is a federal scheme, called <a href="https://supplynation.org.au/">Supply Nation</a>, that verifies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. But because it is focused on government and commercial procurement it has few listings for arts, craft and design business. </p>
<p>So use your best judgement. Ask the right questions, expect full answers.</p>
<h2>What about product certification?</h2>
<p>What about certifying products? This is done for <a href="https://australianmade.com.au/?gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZTKV0kbaLgQvNGKBhXNkoX2PhKf8IkpuvIMccdHa5ijSWjUQMDrTixoCIYQQAvD_BwE">Australian Made</a> goods. Why not for First Nations-made products?</p>
<p>The problem, according to the Productivity Commission, is that certification schemes need high producer take-up and high consumer recognition to succeed. That would require resources the artists don’t have. </p>
<p>The commission has recommended an alternative approach: mandatory labelling of inauthentic products, through amending the <a href="https://consumer.gov.au/">Australian Consumer Law</a>.</p>
<p>It <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/indigenous-arts/report">has also recommended</a> new “cultural rights” legislation, giving traditional owners control over cultural assets such as stories, symbols and motifs, with power to take legal action over the infringement of their rights.</p>
<p>So far, however, the federal government has given no indication of if and when it will act on these recommendations.</p>
<p>Until it does, and there are more legal protections and clear labelling – of fake or authentic good – take the time to ask the right questions and get the right answers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labelling-fake-art-isnt-enough-australia-needs-to-recognise-and-protect-first-nations-cultural-and-intellectual-property-187426">Labelling 'fake art' isn't enough. Australia needs to recognise and protect First Nations cultural and intellectual property</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola St John receives funding from The Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's principal arts investment, development and advisory body. She also consults to Solid Lines, Australia's only First Nations led illustration agency. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emrhan Sultan has received funding from The Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's principal arts investment, development, and advisory body. Emrhan is the co-founder and manager of Solid Lines, Australia's only First Nations led illustration agency.</span></em></p>
There’s one simple rule when buying First Nations art or crafts: the more information the better.
Nicola St John, Lecturer, Communication Design, RMIT University
Emrhan Sultan, Researcher, RMIT School of Design, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203254
2023-04-04T15:06:04Z
2023-04-04T15:06:04Z
Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender exhibition – a glittering testament to a fashion genius
<p>The first retrospective exhibition of the fashion designer <a href="https://ashish.co.uk/">Ashish Gupta</a> has opened at London’s <a href="https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/">William Morris Gallery</a>.</p>
<p>As an expert in fashion marketing (and a proud owner of a number of Ashish’s renowned shimmering <a href="https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions-43/ashish-fall-in-love-and-be-more-tender">sequined skirts</a>) I was greatly excited by the prospect of the show.</p>
<p>When the day of my visit came, not only was I was able to immerse myself in Ashish’s wonderful creations, but I had a chance encounter with the designer himself. He told me that the skirt I had chosen to wear that day (a sparkling green fish print fabric, covered in iridescent sequins) was from one of his earliest collections.</p>
<p>It was in 2021, 20 years after Gupta founded his label eponymous label, Ashish, that the Morris Gallery’s curators Roisin Ingleby and Joe Scotland conceived the exhibition. Ingleby told me of the hours of joy they had spent in Ashish’s London design archive, selecting the 60 designs that would eventually be showcased through the exhibition.</p>
<p>As a designer, Gupta is celebrated for colourful, glamourous, extravagant designs realised through detailed craftsmanship. Up to 30 garments are handmade each season. They are <a href="https://bricksmagazine.co.uk/2022/11/13/ashish-gupta-on-expressing-identity-through-art/">made to order</a>, with a limited run on designs, ensuring exclusivity and longevity. </p>
<h2>From a Delhi boy to the king of sequins</h2>
<p>Ashish Gupta was born in Delhi to GP parents. His first exposure to fashion was through a copy of Vogue magazine that his mother had “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/07/ashish-gupta-colour-and-sequins-are-my-response-to-our-terrifying-world-">smuggled into the house</a>”.</p>
<p>At his strict Catholic school, <a href="https://www.lampoonmagazine.com/article/2021/11/04/ashish-gupta-designer-indian-manufacturing/">Gupta was bullied</a> and fashion and cinema became his escapism. </p>
<p>Having initially studied fine art in India, he moved to London to study fashion design at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2000. He remembers the then course director, <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/louise-wilson">Louise Wilson</a>, giving him the best possible advice: to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/07/ashish-gupta-colour-and-sequins-are-my-response-to-our-terrifying-world-">dream</a>. </p>
<p>The colour, sparkle and sequins which have come to define his work ever since are the realisation of that dream.</p>
<p>When Gupta’s eponymous label was discovered by the famous <a href="https://www.brownsfashion.com/uk/sets/browns-focus">Browns Focus boutique</a> on London’s South Molton Street, he was launched from making clothes for friends into the <a href="https://showstudio.com/contributors/ashish_gupta">international fashion industry</a>.</p>
<p>Gupta is now considered a pioneer in the way his designs challenge heterosexual, masculine stereotypes and explore the role of clothing in <a href="https://bricksmagazine.co.uk/2022/11/13/ashish-gupta-on-expressing-identity-through-art/">making political and social statements</a>. </p>
<p>This exhibition focuses on the stories told by his creations, demonstrating fashion’s power as a form of cultural commentary.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A colourful shirt dress hangs on a mannequin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519261/original/file-20230404-28-iuma7c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ashish’s Wax Print Dress on display at the exhibition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the earlier pieces on display is a Dutch Wax Print Dress (2005), a celebration of London’s multicultural heritage. The dress is made from African wax print fabric – a material with a complex colonial history – and embellished with sequins.</p>
<p>In the same room is Ashish’s <a href="https://www.brownsfashion.com/uk/shopping/ashish-immigrant-t-shirt-11786702">Immigrant T-shirt</a> combined with a more traditional South Asian embroidered red skirt and veil from his 2017 spring/summer collection. </p>
<p>This collection was the first to explicitly reference his experience as an emigrant by combining elements of western dress and eastern influences.</p>
<p>Designed during the time of Brexit and the <a href="https://www.jcwi.org.uk/the-hostile-environment-explained">British Home Office’s hostile environment policy</a>, this collection explored the emotional impact of leaving home and beginning life elsewhere. Throughout the exhibition are designs that pay testament to Gupta’s belief in equality and inclusive representation.</p>
<h2>Crafting cultural commentaries</h2>
<p>The cultural and political narratives that define Ashish’s creative storytelling are on show through the combinations of craft skill, materials, sequins and hand embroidery, throughout the exhibition.</p>
<p>Sequins have become Ashish’s signature style and far from <a href="https://www.fashionabc.org/wiki/ashish-gupta/">cheap embellishments</a>, they represent a technical art form, enabling a different way of working with fabric.</p>
<p>Ashish’s garments are hand made in India using <a href="https://www.lampoonmagazine.com/article/2021/11/04/ashish-gupta-designer-indian-manufacturing/">traditional artisinal craft skills</a>.</p>
<p>Many of the garments on display highlight Ashish’s play on traditional craft through the embellishment of sequins, including crochet and Fair Isle knitwear. </p>
<p>On display in the centre of the opening room is the designer’s adaptation of a high vis jacket, with a lumberjack shirt and jeans from the 2010 autumn/winter collection. Here, the addition of sequins play with heterosexual norms.</p>
<p>The second section of the exhibition centres on the <a href="https://10magazine.com/ashish-ready-to-wear-aw17/">Yellow Brick Road</a> collection from autumn/winter 2017, which was inspired by the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. </p>
<p>These pieces feature multiple versions of the Rainbow pride flag, to form a collection that celebrates people of colour and queer communities.</p>
<p>The final section of the exhibition showcases the skill of hand embroidery on display in Ashish designs. </p>
<p>A highlight for me was the dressing gown created using <a href="https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-crafts/zardozi.html">Zardozi</a> – a south Asian embroidery technique using gold thread.</p>
<p>This fascinating exhibition presents the wonder of Ashish’s creativity and highlights the power of garments to convey stories and meanings. The glittering genius of combining sequins with traditional craftmanship has Gupta firmly on fashion’s catwalk of fame.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions-43/ashish-fall-in-love-and-be-more-tender/">Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender</a> is a free exhibition, on now at the William Morris Gallery, London, until 10 September.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Braithwaite does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new exhibition pays homage to the king of sequins, who combines detailed, traditional techniques with unconventional materials.
Naomi Braithwaite, Associate Professor in Fashion Marketing and Branding, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194451
2022-11-30T00:54:22Z
2022-11-30T00:54:22Z
‘A three-storey, luminous birdcage with suspended hanging gardens and an extensive crypt below’: Sydney Modern is open at last
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498091/original/file-20221129-13475-4rvz7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C8100%2C5359&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aerial view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Sydney Modern Project had the odds stacked against it since its inception in 2013. It has surely been the most controversial state gallery extension to be built in Australia. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/people/art-gallery-of-nsw-executive/dr-michael-brand/">Michael Brand</a> – a Canberra-born, ANU and Harvard trained art historian with an outstanding museum career in Australia and America – was appointed as director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2012. This was on the retirement of Edmund Capon, who held the post for the preceding 33 years. </p>
<p>Brand <a href="https://www.thecultureconcept.com/sydney-modern-designing-an-art-museum-for-the-21st-century">launched</a> the unfunded plan for a new building in 2013, the Tokyo firm SANAA <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/tokyos-sanaa-architects-win-art-gallery-of-nsw-sydney-modern-design-competition-20150527-ghamun.html">won</a> the architectural competition in 2015 and construction commenced in 2019 with a budget of A$344 million. The knives were quickly out for Brand and his project. </p>
<p>Some, like Paul Keating, did not like the location and called it a “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/paul-keating-slams-art-gallery-of-nsw-expansion-as-land-grab-masquerading-as-art-20151124-gl6xuz.html">gigantic spoof</a>”. </p>
<p>Others did not like the design; a <a href="https://www.cultureheist.com.au">book</a> was published by a former gallery employee attacking the project; and the new culture at the gallery. Prominent people in the Sydney art scene lined up to attack the project and the director.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>There were some people who simply did not like Brand. He is a reserved, scholarly individual with a brilliant eye, in total contrast with the flamboyant, media savvy Capon. </p>
<p>There were faults with the original architectural design and significant modifications were implemented before construction commenced.</p>
<p>There were also external circumstances that impacted on the project: the murky world of NSW state government politics, bush fires that shrouded Sydney in smoke, COVID-19. </p>
<p>However, Sydney Modern, now that it is open, is a spectacular achievement. The floorspace of the gallery has almost doubled, creating a gallery precinct (Brand prefers to call it a “gallery campus”) with two buildings connected by an art garden. </p>
<p>On one side we have the stately neo-classical building that looks like a traditional 19th century art gallery with a series of extensions by Andrew Anderson, on the other side, a new 21st century structure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498093/original/file-20221129-18-puyzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interior view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building , featuring Takashi Murakami Japan Supernatural: Vertiginous After Staring at the Empty World Too Intensely, I Found Myself Trapped in the Realm of Lurking Ghosts and Monsters 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved, 2022, photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-walking-into-a-crystal-our-first-preview-of-the-art-gallery-of-nsws-new-sydney-modern-190746">'Like walking into a crystal': our first preview of the Art Gallery of NSW's new Sydney Modern</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>A luminous birdcage</h2>
<p>The new building may be described as a three-storey, luminous birdcage with suspended hanging gardens and an extensive crypt below. The main architectural concept is that of three limestone-clad, cascading pavilions leading down towards the water with a huge supporting rammed earth wall. </p>
<p>Below is the crypt, locally called the “tank”, in recognition of its origins as a fuel storage reservoir secretly and speedily constructed at the start of the second world war to store fuel for Allied shipping. </p>
<p>It reminds me of the huge water cisterns in Istanbul constructed by the Byzantines to store water for the city. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498095/original/file-20221129-24-y45tp4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Adrián Villar Rojas The End of Imagination 2022 in the Tank at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Adrián Villar Rojas, photo © Jörg Baumann</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The tank is presently occupied by Adrián Villar Rojas’ “time-travelling sculptural forms” dramatically lit by constantly changing light
sources. The smoke and mirrors display is deliberately disorientating, evoking more of a mood than a visual assessment of the artwork.</p>
<p>In the upstairs birdcage, it is very easy to orient yourself and be aware of your location and the various possible exits. In the crypt all is murky and unpredictable as you gradually negotiate the spaces and dodge the pillars and protruding sharp edges of the sculptures.</p>
<h2>Indigenous art at the heart</h2>
<p>Although there is an emphasis on Indigenous art with the transfer of the Yiribana Gallery from the basement of the old building to the entry gallery of the new one, this is more than simply a symbolic gesture to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the heart of the gallery. </p>
<p>Indigenous art is found at all levels of the new building and is integrated into the display of non-Indigenous Australian and international art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498096/original/file-20221129-17498-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Making Worlds exhibition in the new building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales , featuring Shireen Taweel tracing transcendence 2018-21 (foreground) and Mabel Juli Garnkiny Ngarrangkarni 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Zan Wimberley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the highlights for me are the newly commissioned woven metal pieces by Lorraine Connelly-Northey. Her huge metal handbags made from discarded, well-weathered metal sheets from the outback have a stark sense of presence and are laced with wit. </p>
<p>Her work looks out onto the most ambitious project, the sprawling art garden by Jonathan Jones scheduled to open mid-2023.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498099/original/file-20221129-12-th5lxf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Yiribana Gallery featuring Lorraine Connelly - Northey Narrbong - galang (many bags) 2022 © Lorraine Connelly-Northey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Zan Wimberley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Less a deliberate policy and more as part of the process of what Brand describes as selecting the most interesting new art, women artists make up 53% of the 900 exhibitors in the new building. </p>
<p>The major thematic groupings, or exhibitions, in the new building are Dreamhome: Stories of art and shelter, Making worlds, Outlaw and Rojas’s The end of imagination in the crypt. These will remain in place for the next six months before there is a new set of exhibitions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498100/original/file-20221129-17547-34khkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Dreamhome: Stories of Art and Shelter exhibition in the new building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring Samara Golden Guts 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Samara Golden, photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An elegant build</h2>
<p>Despite the slings and arrows, Sydney Modern (now known somewhat unimaginatively as the North Building of the Art Gallery of NSW) has come to fruition. </p>
<p>Possibly not the most magnificent art gallery in the world, as the NSW premier and his arts minister spruiked at the opening, but an elegant, formidable and very functional new building. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498101/original/file-20221129-13745-sev6lr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exterior view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new SANAA - designed building.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Iwan Baan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Politicians in Australia have always been very good at throwing money at new buildings, the true test will come if this doubling in size of the gallery will be accompanied by a substantial increase to the operating budget of the institution. </p>
<p>With new gallery spaces projected for Melbourne, Adelaide and possibly Canberra, funding is required for more than rammed earth, glass, bricks and mortar. Australia does not need a stampede of white elephants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eco-activist-attacks-on-museum-artwork-ask-us-to-figure-out-what-we-value-193575">Eco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Sydney Modern at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is a spectacular achievement – but going forward, funding is required for more than rammed earth, glass, bricks and mortar.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193575
2022-11-03T20:01:39Z
2022-11-03T20:01:39Z
Eco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493366/original/file-20221103-22-dkueq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C342%2C5452%2C3142&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police officers patrol the entrance of the Tate Modern gallery, in London, Oct. 15, 2022, after climate protesters threw soup over glass covering Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' in London's National Gallery. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the last few weeks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/23/arts/claude-monet-mashed-potatoes-climate-activists.html">climate change activists have perpetrated various acts</a> of reversible vandalism <a href="https://twitter.com/artnews/status/1585745905512169473">against famous works of art in public galleries</a>. </p>
<p>In the latest incident on Oct. 27, two men entered <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/girl-with-a-pearl-earring-vermeer-just-stop-oil-protest-mauritshuis-the-hague">the Mauritshuis gallery in the Hague</a>. After taking off their jackets to reveal t-shirts printed with anti-oil slogans, one proceeded to glue his head to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/famed-girl-with-pearl-earring-painting-targeted-by-climate-activists-nos-2022-10-27/">glass overtop</a> <a href="https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/artworks/670-girl-with-a-pearl-earring/">Johannes Vermeer’s <em>Girl with a Pearl Earring</em></a>, while the other bathed the head of his partner-in-crime with what appeared to be tinned tomatoes before gluing his own hand to the wall adjacent to the painting.</p>
<p>This was just the latest in a series of similar art attacks that have peppered the news. </p>
<p>The motivation of the eco-activists involved is to draw attention to the crisis of climate change, the role of big oil in hastening the deterioration of the environment and the necessity to save our planet. </p>
<p>By attacking a famous and high-value cultural target like Vermeer’s <em>Girl with a Pearl Earring</em> — it <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/">even starred in its own movie</a> — the protesters are asking us to examine our values. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gold-framed photo of a girl with a pearl earring against a green wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C194%2C4710%2C2770&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492852/original/file-20221101-28522-jen7ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ c. 1665, was recently targeted by climate activists in a protest at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Big oil protests</h2>
<p>The first Vermeer painting to come to auction for almost 80 years <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vermeer-fetches-record-price-1.506190">sold for almost $40 million in 2004</a>. Today a Vermeer (<a href="http://www.essentialvermeer.com/how_many_vermeers.html">there are not that many)</a> could easily be valued at twice that. Whether you like Vermeer or not, the monetary value of the targets under attack enhances the sheer audacity and shock value of the current art attacks.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1585745905512169473"}"></div></p>
<p>The eco-activists want to appear to desecrate something that people associate with value and with culture. Their point is that if we don’t have a planet, we’ll lose all the things in it that we seem to value more. </p>
<p>As activist Phoebe Plummer of Just Stop Oil <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/just-stop-oil-protestor-van-gogh-sunflowers-why-video-1234643678">told NPR after being involved in the attack on Van Gogh’s <em>Sunflowers</em> at London’s National Gallery</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Since October, we have been engaging in disruptive acts all around London because right now what is missing to make this change is political will. So our action in particular <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133041550/the-activist-who-threw-soup-on-a-van-gogh-explains-why-they-did-it">was a media-grabbing action to get people talking, not just about what we did, but why we did it</a>.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note, the idea is disruption, not destruction. As acts designed for shock value, the activists did draw immediate public attention. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1551641192617676800"}"></div></p>
<h2>Attacking art</h2>
<p>By staging their attacks in public galleries, where the majority of visitors carry cell phones, activists could be assured film and photos of the incidents would draw immediate attention. By sticking to non-corrosive substances and mitigating damage to the works under attack, they don’t draw the kind of public ire that wilful destruction would evoke. </p>
<p>In recent news, attacking art as a form of public protest has largely been limited to public monuments outside the gallery space, like the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/us/confederate-monuments-removed-2021-whose-heritage/index.html">destruction and removal of Confederate</a> or colonial statues. </p>
<p>But it’s also true that works of museum art have come under attack before. Over the course of its history, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/02/19/trimmed-splashed-and-slashed-the-anatomy-of-rembrandts-the-night-watch">Rembrandt’s <em>Night Watch</em> in the Rijksmuseum</a> in Amsterdam was stabbed in two separate incidents in 1911 and 1975; in 1990, it was sprayed with acid; but all of those attacks were ascribed to individuals with unclear and less clearly rational motives. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign seen dripping with red soup and police arresting a protestor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492851/original/file-20221101-28436-fe2lsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just Stop Oil protesters throw tomato soup over an outdoor sign at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in London, Oct. 17, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I see a few issues at stake with assessing what these recent art attacks could mean.</p>
<h2>1. How effective is the messaging?</h2>
<p>The activists have been articulate about their objectives, but those objectives haven’t been <a href="https://twitter.com/BrydonRobert/status/1587587106997960705">obvious to everyone who sees</a> via social media, but doesn’t stick around to hear the explanation. When a broad <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-are-climate-activists-throwing-food-at-million-dollar-paintings-180981024/">range of media</a> <a href="https://time.com/6224760/climate-activists-throw-food-at-art/">outlets all</a> perceive <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccahughes/2022/08/05/why-are-climate-activists-gluing-themselves-to-art-in-italy/?sh=1e2e8a6a246a">the need to publish</a> editorials on why eco activists are targeting art, something is getting lost in translation.</p>
<p>People see the endangerment of the works of art, but may ascribe that to the activists, not to the planetary erosion wrought by climate change. I don’t think everyone is getting the message.</p>
<h2>2. Possible misplaced outrage</h2>
<p>The incidents up until now have been pretty effective and harmless acts. But what if something is irreparably damaged? People will be outraged, but they’ll still be outraged about the art, not about the planet. </p>
<p>And while there will be a call for stiff prison sentences, precedent suggests that’s an unlikely outcome. </p>
<p>A man who damaged a Picasso valued at $26 million USD at the Tate Modern <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/tate-modern-picasso-damaged-man-sentenced-1234569349">in London in 2020 was sentenced to 18 months in jail</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Violation of public trust</h2>
<p>The third effect is what I consider a violation of the public trust, and this gives me pause. Works of art, even the most famous ones, lead precarious lives of constant endangerment; war, weather, fire, floods. The protesters are destabilizing the idea that public galleries are “safe” spaces for works of art, held in public trust. </p>
<p>As fari nzinga, inaugural curator of academic engagement and special projects at the <a href="https://www.speedmuseum.org/">Speed Art Museum</a> in Louisville, KY, pointed out in a 2016 paper: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The museum doesn’t serve the public trust simply by displaying art for its members, <a href="https://incluseum.com/2016/11/29/public-trust-and-art-museums">it does so by keeping and caring for the art on behalf of a greater community of members and non¬members alike</a>, preserving it for future generations to study and enjoy.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Right now these acts, no matter how well-intentioned, could lead to increased security and more limited access, making galleries prisons for art rather than places for people. </p>
<p>At the same time, part of the activsts’ point is that economy that sustains <a href="https://grist.org/climate/can-art-museums-survive-without-oil-money/">big oil is entwined with arts infrastructure</a> and the art market.</p>
<h2>The thing that saves us?</h2>
<p>The pandemic taught us, I think, that art could be the thing we share that saves us; think of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q734VN0N7hw">people during quarantine in Italy singing opera together from their balconies</a>. </p>
<p>Eco-activists engaged in performance protests ask us to question our public institutions and make us accountable for what they, and we, value. Their climate activism is dedicated to our shared fate.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to fight for the protection of art, maybe you’re willing to fight to protect the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Hickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Climate protesters are destabilizing the idea that public galleries are safe spaces for works of art, held in public trust.
Sally Hickson, Associate Professor, Art History, University of Guelph
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190746
2022-09-25T20:03:28Z
2022-09-25T20:03:28Z
‘Like walking into a crystal’: our first preview of the Art Gallery of NSW’s new Sydney Modern
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486217/original/file-20220923-18-u3iw96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aerial photograph of the Sydney Modern Project construction site, taken on September 7 2022.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Craig Willoughby</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1972, when the Art Gallery of New South Wales opened its first modern building, it was rightly praised for its innovative design. </p>
<p>Architect <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/canberra/programs/afternoons/andrew-andersons-architecture-and-the-public-realm/13778436">Andrew Andersons</a> incorporated the latest aspects of museum architecture. The egg crate ceilings were designed to reduce noise for people walking on its marble floors. There were moveable screens that looked like walls and adjustable light levels for fragile art. </p>
<p>But where the building faced Sydney Harbour, Andersons placed a giant window. The intrusion of reality into art connected visitors to the world outside. </p>
<p>It was revolutionary for the time, a marked contrast to the giant granite box of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/flashback-1968-the-new-ngv-and-the-quest-for-perfection-20180820-p4zyle.html">National Gallery of Victoria</a>, opening in 1968. The Melbourne building had followed the standard model of museum design of eliminating windows to maximise hanging space.</p>
<p>Just over 50 years later, the Sydney Modern expansion under architecture firm <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2020/10/14/sanaa-reveals-sydney-modern-art-gallery-expansion/">SANAA</a> could be described as putting Andersons’ approach on steroids. It will open in December but in recent weeks small groups of visitors have been given preview tours, while installation crews make the finishing touches.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-library-victoria-proves-libraries-arent-just-about-books-theyre-about-community-128116">State Library Victoria proves libraries aren't just about books: they're about community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A gallery for Indigenous art</h2>
<p>The relationship of Sydney Modern to the older building echoes Andersons’ uncompromising but sympathetic linking of his <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/history/illustrated-history/">1972 construction</a> to the original Grand Courts designed by Walter Liberty Vernon.</p>
<p>The new link between the two buildings includes an installation honouring the history of Country by Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones.</p>
<p>This new building is very aware of its physical and spiritual location. It is dominated by the light from its soaring glass walls. The ground floor entrance feels like walking into a crystal. </p>
<p>In a nod to Andersons’ first glorious window, the Yiribana gallery of Indigenous art has a window facing the harbour so visitors can see where the Gadigal ancestors first witnessed the arrival of convicts in 1788.</p>
<p>The relocation of Yiribana from the basement of the older building is a physical manifestation of the significant shift in Australia’s understanding of its culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486198/original/file-20220922-40997-qz6r34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Yiribana Gallery featuring (left to right) Ronnie Tjampitjinpa ‘Tingari fire dreaming at Wilkinkarra’ 2008, Willy Tjungurrayi ‘Tingari story’ 1986, Yhonnie Scarce ‘Death zephyr’ 2017 (top), Rusty Peters ‘Waterbrain’ 2002 and Vernon Ah Kee ‘Unwritten #9’ 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1958, the gallery’s deputy director Tony Tuckson facilitated collector and surgeon <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1962/17586/">Stuart Scougall</a>’s gift of Tiwi Pukumani grave posts. For the first time Indigenous work was shown as art and not anthropological artefact.</p>
<p>In 1972 there was a temporary exhibit of Yirrkala bark paintings and figures, but this was soon replaced with another temporary exhibition. </p>
<p>In late 1973, funding from the arts programs associated with the opening of the Sydney Opera House enabled a permanent installation of Melanesian art, another gift from Scougall. It was accompanied by what the trustees thought would be a temporary exhibition of Aboriginal art. </p>
<p>Tuckson died while the exhibition was being installed and it remained on view, in a dark little space at the bottom of the gallery’s marble stairs, until about 1980. </p>
<p>In 1983, Djon Mundine curated a temporary exhibition of bark paintings and the following year was appointed as part-time curator, but there was little official interest in Aboriginal art by the gallery. </p>
<p>The big shift came in 1991 when Hetti Perkins curated another temporary exhibition, this time of previously little-known Aboriginal women artists. </p>
<p>Perkins’ achievement was especially appreciated by <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/mollie-gowing-leaves-a-bonanza-for-nsw-20101125-188ph.html">Mollie Gowing</a>, one of the volunteer guides. </p>
<p>Starting in 1992, Gowing collaborated with Perkins to privately fund the gallery’s major collection of contemporary Indigenous art. </p>
<p>In 1994, on the initiative of then NSW Minister for the Arts Peter Collins, the gallery opened Yiribana, its first permanent dedicated exhibition space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. </p>
<p>This basement had previously been the offices and working area for the public programs department and was not an especially sympathetic space for art. It was well over a decade before Indigenous art began to be integrated into other exhibits of Australian art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486199/original/file-20220922-47801-cyzxmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of the Yiribana Gallery featuring (left) Ned Grant, Fred Grant, Patju Presley, Lawrence Pennington and Simon Hogan ‘Wati Kutjara’ 2019 and (right) Richard Bell, Emory Douglas ‘We can be heroes’ 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The relocation of Yiribana to Sydney Modern can be seen as the gallery’s affirmation of the importance of Indigenous cultures to any understanding of what Australia may be.</p>
<h2>Cultural exchange</h2>
<p>In 1972 when the newly opened gallery wanted to show its best art to the world, the main gallery was dominated by art from the United States. All eyes were drawn to Morris Louis’ <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OO2.1967/">Ayin</a>. </p>
<p>That same space now has work by <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/sol-lewitt/">Sol LeWitt</a> in visual conversation with <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/kngwarreye-emily-kame/">Emily Kame Kngwarreye</a> and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/petyarre-gloria-tamerre/">Gloria Tamerre Petyarre</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486200/original/file-20220922-15282-t7h1j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sol LeWitt ‘Wall drawing #955, Loopy Doopy (red and purple)’ 2000 in the John Kaldor Family Hall at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, first drawn by Paolo Arao, Nicole Awai, Hidemi Nomura, Jean Shin, Frankie Woodruff at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 2000; current installation drawn by Kit Bylett, Andrew Colbert, Troy Donaghy, Szymon Dorabialski, Gabriel Hurier, Rachel Levine, Owen Lewis, Nadia Odlum, Tim Silver, Alexis Wildman at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, August 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Estate of Sol LeWitt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The integration of Australian art with art from the rest of the world is a reflection of historic reality. Last century was a time of mass travel and cultural exchange, when many national barriers were breached, especially in the arts. </p>
<p>Sydney Modern, combined with the reconfiguring of the 20th century exhibits in the older building, is a quiet repudiation of that cultural cringe which persists in seeing Australian culture as some kind of backwater.</p>
<p>Although most of Sydney Modern is filled with light, its most surprising space is buried in dark. </p>
<p>During the second world war, when the navy fleet needed to refuel at Garden Island, the Australian government secretly built a giant underground fuel storage tank, its true depth hidden below the water line. </p>
<p>Now a spiral staircase leads the visitor to the Tank, a magical space of oil-stained columns and echoing sounds. Right now it is empty, but within weeks the Argentine-Peruvian artist, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adri%C3%A1n_Villar_Rojas">Adrián Villar Rojas</a> will begin to create a new work, The End of Imagination. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C3970%2C2970&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C3970%2C2970&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486197/original/file-20220922-34750-a308e5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tank space in the new building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are two meanings to the title. One suggests imagination is now dead. However, by being placed at the core of such an inspirational space it seems Rojas may be suggesting a culmination of imagination, a questioning of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/nava-visualarts/episode-40-adrian-villar-rojas-in-conversation-with-coby-edgar">what imagination may be</a> in these days of the Anthropocene.</p>
<p>The work is not yet made. As with the rest of the art that will fill this magical space, we will have to wait and see.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-are-made-from-more-than-buildings-and-roads-they-are-also-made-by-ambiences-how-a-city-makes-you-feel-173429">Cities are made from more than buildings and roads. They are also made by ambiences – how a city makes you feel</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn began her professional career at the Art Gallery of NSW and has been a reader for some of its publications. She has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
The ‘Sydney Modern expansion’ seems a fitting description of a building that effectively doubles the size of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/164973
2021-07-24T08:08:29Z
2021-07-24T08:08:29Z
Building an art gallery in the midst of war in Zimbabwe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412876/original/file-20210723-19-12podes.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hope Masike performs at Gallery Delta in the documentary Art for Art's Sake.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screengrab/Granadilla Films</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After being disenchanted with his work as a detective inspector in Rhodesia’s <a href="https://bsap.org/history.html">British South Africa Police</a>, Derek Huggins quit his job and in 1975 decided to open an art gallery. The venture, <a href="https://gallerydelta.com">Gallery Delta</a>, is now an important institution in Zimbabwe’s art history. His partner and collaborator was his wife, Helen Lieros, a talented <a href="http://zimbosinlimbo.blogspot.com/2014/04/helen-leiros-zimbabwean-artist.html">artist</a> in her own right.</p>
<p>In a documentary, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMCppR8OGw"><em>Art for Art’s Sake: The Story of Gallery Delta</em></a>, released in June 2020, Huggins explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>While we knew that a tiny gallery of three rooms in the midst of conflict and war and sanctions would not make a living for us … in those years it was run as a voluntary, part-time, weekends, nights occupation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After running the gallery for 46 years, the couple <a href="https://artreview.com/derek-huggins-and-helen-leiros-central-to-the-zimbabwe-art-scene-for-five-decades-1940-2021/">have died</a> in Harare, a week apart, but their legacy will live on. </p>
<p>In the four decades of their stewardship of the gallery they were involved in the curation, organisation, presentation and promotion of approximately 500 exhibitions. Their art magazine, placed in schools, became a vital resource for artists and art historians in Zimbabwe.</p>
<h2>A love story</h2>
<p>Huggins, born in Kent, England, moved to Rhodesia when he was 19 to join the British South Africa Police. He writes of his experiences in his 2004 book, <a href="https://readingzimbabwe.com/books/stained-earth"><em>Stained Earth</em></a>. And <a href="http://enthusemag.com/obituary/visual-artist-helen-lieros-obituary/">Lieros</a>, who was of Greek parentage, was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe, where she was a school teacher. </p>
<p>They met at a police station where Huggins was based, while Lieros was engaged as a composite artist who drew images of suspects. Their romance blossomed and they married in July 1966. As a union they extended their influence, amplified everything they achieved and uplifted everyone they interacted with. </p>
<p>I first met them in the early 2000s when I worked as a publishing assistant at Weaver Press, a small publishing house in Harare. Gallery Delta, their enterprise, has always been a favourite venue for book launches in the city. People would congregate there to hear authors read and for the free wine. </p>
<p>In 2018, as an academic researcher, I found a collection of letters between Huggins and the celebrated writer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/apr/27/guardianobituaries.books">Yvonne Vera</a> deposited at <a href="http://www.nelm.org.za">Amazwi South African Museum of Literature</a>. For the past three years we have been exchanging emails, or if I am in Harare, drinking and bonding over tea while we discussed this book of letters I am editing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man and a woman, grey-haired and animated as they talk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412899/original/file-20210723-27-ofrrq7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Lieros, left, with her husband Derek Huggins, in the 2020 documentary Art for Art’s Sake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screengrab/Granadilla Films</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The First Act</h2>
<p>Gallery Delta’s formative years were at Strachan’s building in Manica Road (now Robert Mugabe Road) in downtown Salisbury (now Harare). It was a new, radical space in a city whose art world revolved around the National Gallery of Rhodesia (now the <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.co.zw/index.php/inspire/history/the-gallery-history">National Gallery of Zimbabwe</a>) under Frank McEwen, who was at the time invested in promoting the country’s <a href="https://mg.co.za/friday/2021-06-04-in-praise-of-african-art-how-shona-sculpting-emerged/">Shona stone sculpture</a> tradition while neglecting other art forms. There were small art organisations and societies but no art schools or other exhibition galleries to talk about.</p>
<p>Huggins <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMCppR8OGw">said</a> of the time: “Consequently, we looked for young, talented and aspiring Africans who would rather be painters than sculptors. They were almost non-existent. There were few facilities for serious art study. It meant commencing at the beginning to encourage and promote a new movement in painting. One of the ways in which we undertook this was to promote a <em>Young Artists</em> exhibition at the beginning of every year but nonetheless few, if any, good African painters emerged at this time.”</p>
<p>For Huggins and Lieros, building a community was at the core of their work. Before opening the gallery they had been members of The Circle – a radical group of 12 painters. The group was responding to the political chaos of the decade – as a <a href="https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/21/zimbabwes-struggle-for-liberation/">liberation war</a> was being fought by Zimbabweans against white minority rule – but it also became a collective means to deal with the unrest. It was this spirit the new Gallery Delta fostered.</p>
<p>From its inception The Gallery also served as an alternative venue for art exhibitions, multiracial theatre and jazz performances during this tense environment prior to independence in 1980. But when the owners of the Strachan building decided to sell, they were forced out and had to look for a new home.</p>
<h2>The Second Act</h2>
<p>In 1991, Colette Wiles, daughter of the painter <a href="https://gallerydelta.com/artist/robert-paul/">Robert Paul</a>, offered Gallery Delta the old, dilapidated house at <a href="http://www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/history-and-restoration-harares-oldest-house">110 Livingstone Avenue</a> in Harare, which had been his home for nearly 40 years until his death. Built in 1894, it lays claim to being one of the oldest surviving buildings in Harare. From 1991 to 1993, Gallery Delta – with the help of architect Peter Jackson, and many others – repaired and restored the house to its original appearance, and built an adjoining amphitheatre.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A house with palm tree, old red zinc roof and old facade, church-like on green lawns" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412901/original/file-20210723-27-vapa9a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gallery Delta today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screengrab/Granadilla Films</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Besides teaching, mentoring and supporting the production of new art, Gallery Delta also produced and published a visual art magazine under the title of <a href="https://gallerydelta.com/magazine/"><em>Gallery</em></a>. This was a 32 page, glossy quarterly publication, edited by art critic Barbara Murray, and for a short time by the publisher Murray McCartney, which ran to 31 issues. Each edition of the magazine had a print run of 1,000 copies. </p>
<p>Copies of <em>Gallery</em> were distributed free to schools and libraries, and it has become a vital research tool for students and collectors interested in the development of contemporary painting in Zimbabwe in the 1990s. The magazine is <a href="https://gallerydelta.com/magazine/">fully digitised</a> and freely available.</p>
<p>Several contemporary Zimbabwean artists have passed through Gallery Delta, as students or exhibitors. These include Berry Bickle, Andy Roberts, Greg Shaw, Lovemore Kambudzi, Cosmas Shiridzinonwa, Gina Maxim, Misheck Masamvu, Chiko Chazunguza, Masimba Hwati, Hilary Kashiri, Portia Zvavahera, Rashid Jogee, Admire Kamudzengerere, Richard Mudariki and many others.</p>
<h2>The Third Act</h2>
<p>What does the future hold for Gallery Delta? In 2008, in response to the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe at the time, the privately owned gallery was given over by deed of donation into trust to create the Gallery Delta Foundation for Art and the Humanities, governed by an independent board of trustees. </p>
<p>A new generation of stewards will now have to carry forward the work that Derek Huggins and Helen Lieros started. As their late friend Friedbert Lutz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMCppR8OGw">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Gallery Delta is a bit like a lighthouse which stands there quietly and flickers its light in spite of all the storms we have gone through, yesterday, today and maybe tomorrow.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tinashe Mushakavanhu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Gallerist and writer Robert Huggins and his wife, the artist Helen Lieros, have passed away. But their lives are a testament to what kind of impact one African art gallery can have.
Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/160087
2021-05-11T19:48:46Z
2021-05-11T19:48:46Z
Inspired by organic cells, with some marvellous art on show, the Gold Coast’s new HOTA Gallery is a triumph
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399676/original/file-20210510-5525-17jnurj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C3952%2C2598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new $60.5 million <a href="https://hota.com.au/new-hota-gallery/">HOTA Gallery</a> opened its doors on the weekend, updating ageing infrastructure and marking an exciting chapter for the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>HOTA, or Home of the Arts, has been developed as part of a <a href="http://goldcoastculturalprecinct.info/masterplan">masterplan</a> begun almost a decade ago by the Gold Coast Council to rework a 17-hectare site into a vibrant arts and entertainment precinct. Nestled just in front of the gallery is a $37.5 million outdoor stage. </p>
<p>Designed by <a href="https://armarchitecture.com.au/projects/hota/">Melbourne-based architects ARM</a>, the HOTA Gallery signals a democratic and inclusive vision for both residents and visiting tourists. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The building at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399677/original/file-20210510-17-16rh34j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The architecture takes inspiration from Voronoi tessellations which occur throughout nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The architecture firm used the cellular structure of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronoi_diagram">Voronoi diagram</a> as an organisational and visual metaphor for the precinct. Voronoi tessellations occur <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/voronoi-tessellations-and-scutoids-are-everywhere/">throughout nature</a> and are a puzzle-like collection of cells fitting together: imagine honeycomb; veins on a dragonfly’s wings and the natural patterns of a giraffe’s fur. </p>
<p>Eschewing the vertical lines of nearby apartment buildings and hotels — the popular images of the Gold Coast — HOTA’s facade instead resembles a colourful clumping of organic cells. </p>
<p>It is welcoming and playful, reflecting the relaxed ethos of inclusivity underpinning the council’s vision for the precinct. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A children's gallery" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399678/original/file-20210510-5598-1ho6o5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The space is welcoming and playful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The gallery itself is six floors high, and the top floor flaunts views to the east of the Gold Coast skyline. To the west is the dramatic hinterland and scenic rim; with riverside parklands below. Cleverly, the cell-like windows yield an abundance of natural light without compromising the exhibition spaces. </p>
<p>Walking around the gallery, I am reminded of the critical role <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">local councils</a> play in creating arts spaces for their communities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-arts-funding-in-australia-is-falling-and-local-governments-are-picking-up-the-slack-124160">Federal arts funding in Australia is falling, and local governments are picking up the slack</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Looking beneath the surface</h2>
<p>The inaugural exhibition, SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, is a testament to this role, with a diverse selection of new works commissioned from both emerging and established artists who share a connection to the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>The Gold Coast is often perceived with a flashy, and slightly tawdry, image. This show happily refutes this stereotype. What emerges is a rich and diverse exhibition deeply engaged at both local and national levels with themes pertaining to place, space and environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399909/original/file-20210511-24-vnzfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Libby Harward, BLOODLETTING (water-ways) 2021. 3-channel digital video, sound.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist. Photo Jo Driessens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quandamooka artist Libby Harward’s BLOODLETTING (water-ways) (2021) is a three-channel video installation lying horizontally on the floor. In an extraordinary self-portrait, Harward is lying in a life-sized trench (or shallow grave) and surrounded by PVC plumbing pipes. </p>
<p>The work is vaguely menacing: it is not clear to the spectator looking down at her how Harward is breathing through the apparatus duct taped to her mouth. </p>
<p>Harward’s work is both a timely and necessary contribution to a national conversation on First Nations’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-an-ugly-legacy-of-denying-water-rights-to-aboriginal-people-not-much-has-changed-141743">water sovereignty</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399681/original/file-20210510-16-1l675w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pictured L-R: Front: Michael Candy, Steal the Sunshine 2021; Samuel Leighton-Dore Cloud-Drive 2021. SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, HOTA Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Paul Harris Photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Michael Candy’s Steal the Sunshine (2021) is a testament to the artist’s skills in mechanical engineering, manufacturing and programming. Candy converts the sun’s natural light to artificial LED by simulating the sun’s daily path across a towering grid of lights.</p>
<p>The lights behave akin to a time-lapse video as the work responds to the changing light conditions outside the gallery. </p>
<p>Ali Bezer’s commanding floor sculpture, I Can Hear Water (2021), is formed by ripples and folds of aluminium and bitumen. Simultaneously a nod back to 1960s minimalist sculptures by artists such <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andre-144-magnesium-square-t01767">Carl Andre</a>, as well as evoking the sights and sound of the Gold Coast’s beaches, Bezer’s work is both global in outlook while resolutely committed to its local environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399680/original/file-20210510-5469-1ckvl6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Back wall: Nicola Moss Local Air 2021; Kirsty Bruce Wonderwall 2021; Aaron Chapman The Towers Project 2021; Back right: Michael Candy, Steal the Sunshine 202; Front: Ali Bezer I Can Hear Water 2021; SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise, HOTA Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Paul Harris Photography</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An ambitious space</h2>
<p>The gallery is the new home to the Gold Coast council’s $32 million art collection. This permanent collection, on display in the upper levels, showcases key works by leading Australian artists. It reveals a variety of surprises and underscores a decades-long ambitious and forward-looking acquisition strategy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/home-of-the-arts-inside-an-arts-centre-keeping-body-and-soul-together-138801">Home of the Arts – inside an arts centre keeping body and soul together</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Early, hard-edged abstractions by <a href="https://www.artistprofile.com.au/michael-johnson/">Michael Johnson</a> from the 1970s are juxtaposed with feminist artist Julie Rrap’s <a href="https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibition/persona-and-shadow/rzzn8">Persona and Shadow: Virago</a> (1984). </p>
<p>Tracey Moffatt’s important series <a href="https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibition/pet-thang/vlvzq">Pet Thang</a> (1991) is brought into dialogue with William Robinson’s <a href="https://hota.com.au/stories/the-rainforest-comes-home-to-hota-gallery/">The Rainforest</a> (1990). Landscapes by Albert Tucker and Fred Williams are combined with Vernon Ah Kee’s <a href="https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=194721">wegrewhere</a> (2009) series. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=221&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399670/original/file-20210510-5598-kr3jyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Robinson’s The Rainforest, c 1900, is a centrepiece of the collection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These conversations feel fresh and highlight the depth in the gallery’s collection — offering visitors new and unexpected connections, without feeling remotely regional or nostalgic. </p>
<p>For a city under constant renewal, from the new HOTA Gallery emerges a complex and dynamic negotiation of place. </p>
<p><em>SOLID GOLD: Artists from Paradise is showing at HOTA until 4 July.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chari Larsson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The new HOTA Gallery, with its colourful organic facade and exciting exhibitions, happily refutes popular images of the Gold Coast.
Chari Larsson, Lecturer of art history, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/153920
2021-02-08T15:00:34Z
2021-02-08T15:00:34Z
#GallerySoWhite: a digital exhibition exposing racism in contemporary art spaces
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382465/original/file-20210204-16-xlf7wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C0%2C6720%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anonymous accounts of racism in gallery spaces criticise the industry for failing to tackle systemic discrimination</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/back-view-portrait-two-art-gallery-1831863697">SeventyFour/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Art institutions are facing a reckoning over colonial histories and racist legacies. Though the issues aren’t new, calls to unpack the British art museum and heritage sector’s <a href="https://gal-dem.com/you-can-only-hide-the-histories-of-stolen-art-for-so-long/">ties to colonialism</a> have increased significantly over the past decade. As a result, institutions like the <a href="https://www.museumsassociation.org/campaigns/decolonising-museums/">Museum Association</a>, <a href="https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/critical-changes">Pitts Rivers</a> and <a href="https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/tag/decolonisation/">Bristol Museums</a> have begun to explore what it means to “decolonise” – the practise of exposing and undoing systems that reproduce colonial legacies – a museum.</p>
<p>Many of these projects include investigations into how items in museum collections were acquired and how they are interpreted and displayed. In some cases, this involves reviewing the processes of returning looted artefacts from the <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/demands-to-restitute-artefacts-plundered-from-africa-blm">colonial era</a>. </p>
<p>Contemporary art galleries, however, appear to be absent from these discussions and actions. My research aims to tackle racism within English public contemporary art galleries. As part of it, I asked artists, curators and gallery workers to share their experiences with me for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gallerysowhite/">#GallerySoWhite</a>, a <a href="https://www.blackgallerina.com/gallerysowhite">digital exhibition</a> highlighting people’s experiences of institutional racism in English contemporary art galleries. What I found was alarming. </p>
<h2>Dismantling the white cube</h2>
<p>If you asked someone living in the west to imagine the inside of a contemporary art gallery, most would picture a timeless, minimalist, white-walled, cube-shaped space with no historical context. The concept of “decolonisation” might not seem relevant at first. </p>
<p>However, if you look at <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-white-cube-dominate-art">the history</a> of these white cube galleries, you will find that the overwhelming whiteness of these spaces – both in terms of the walls themselves and the people they are catered towards – is not something that has occurred by chance. Many of them rely on approaches that specifically elevate western art and culture <a href="https://www.on-curating.org/issue-22-43/the-global-white-cube.html#.YBfNmS2cY_W">above others</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-africa-to-peckham-how-we-decolonise-culture-by-rehumanising-people-126860">From Africa to Peckham: how we decolonise culture by rehumanising people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Over the last few decades contemporary galleries have attempted to address cultural diversity issues through surface-level diversity and inclusion initiatives that <a href="https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/workforce-diversity-wont-be-factor-arts-council-ratings">focus on programming</a> and <a href="https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment/arts-culture/2020/06/16/tate-making-a-statement-isnt-enough/">optics</a>. Projects like these have been around for decades, yet they have not helped to majorly improve the <a href="https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/we-need-collectivity-against-structural-and-institutional-racism-cultural-sector">representation and treatment</a> of people of colour. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black text on pink background reads: ‘There is absolutely no understanding of the steps to improving racial diversity at team level, just empty rhetoric in mission statements and visioning strategy reports’" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382459/original/file-20210204-22-rwj49a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">According to many employees, not enough is being done to tackle structural racism in contemporary art spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/gallerysowhite/">@gallerysowhite</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Amplifying marginalised voices</h2>
<p>One anonymous testimony I received as part of my research, from a gallery employee in the south-east of England, shows how challenging it can be to work in these environments:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I tried to help create relationships with local communities and organisations from marginalised backgrounds, but the efforts were not welcomed by the director and it was all seen as secondary to the hobnobbing with the white rich potential benefactors, artists and arts sector.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another anonymous submission from a person who worked in a London gallery reads: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where interacting with galleries becomes exploitative is when you look at the number of Black and brown people on zero hours contracts or working freelance. From curators to gallery assistants, being Black in the art world means that you would have to come to terms with, and participate in, your own precarity. It is demoralising.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These are just a few of many testimonies I received that provide a glimpse into the hostile environments within many white cubes across the country. Participants completed an anonymous online survey where they were asked to share information about their experiences. It’s fascinating to see how many similar stories have been submitted. Overall, they show how urgently contemporary galleries need to confront the legacies of discrimination and racism.</p>
<p>The inspiration behind using social media to collect and present research came from observing how the art world responded to 2020 <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com">Black Lives Matter</a> protests. In attempts to show their commitment to anti-racism, a number of galleries posted black squares and <a href="https://www.thetetley.org/whats-on/black-lives-matter">statements</a> on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTIB_GFMrs/">social media</a>.</p>
<p>Not long after, people took to social media to <a href="https://twitter.com/ifeanyiawachie/status/1272503482633895937">share examples of racism</a> that they had experienced within these galleries. These online exchanges revealed how easily institutions can perform diversity while maintaining discrimination. </p>
<p>Social media plays an important role in providing platforms for marginalised communities, but working in the arts can be precarious. More people may be speaking up, yet going public about racism is not something that everyone can do without facing repercussions. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CKuC0O2hCgy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>That’s why some people prefer to share through anonymous platforms like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/changethemuseum/">@changethemusuem</a>, an Instagram account that shares insider stories about museums in the US. In a similar respect, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gallerysowhite/">#GallerySoWhite</a> aims to give people who have worked in these spaces in England a chance to share their experiences with the world.</p>
<p>Public spaces like galleries shouldn’t simply provide for small, privileged pools of people. To tackle institutional racism, they need to look beyond tokenism and diversity projects and embrace conversations about decolonisation. Only once these issues have been addressed can we experience the kind of long-lasting change that the art sector needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susuana Amoah is affiliated with Black Curators Collective and Free Black University. </span></em></p>
Anonymous accounts show how urgently contemporary galleries need to confront legacies of discrimination
Susuana Amoah, PhD Candidate in Art, Goldsmiths, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/141401
2020-06-24T15:30:22Z
2020-06-24T15:30:22Z
Coronavirus: how museums and galleries are preparing for the ‘new normal’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343770/original/file-20200624-132972-1x5xc8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5917%2C3938&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Institutions such as the Natural History Museum in London are preparing to open their doors to the public once again. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">elRoce via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement by UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, that a range of public spaces in England, including museums and art galleries, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/22/museums-galleries-and-cinemas-to-reopen-in-england-from-4-july">will be allowed to open on July 4</a> has everyone in the cultural sector working furiously to create a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment to entice people back in. </p>
<p>But they face many challenges. On top of the swingeing <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/libraries-museums-arts-galleries-funding-recourses-county-council-network-cnn-social-care-a8741271.html">cuts to arts funding across the nations</a> against which cultural providers have battled for decades, there is now the imperative to provide more inclusive and stimulating content to persuade audiences to return. </p>
<p>We’re lucky in Scotland in that we have a <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-framework-decision-making-scotlands-route-map-through-out-crisis-phase-2-update">bit longer to work on this</a> than our counterparts in England, but the issues remain the same. How can we make spaces as safe as possible while maintaining a welcoming atmosphere? And who is going to pay for these adjustments? How can we maintain the quality of our offerings and create content that is so compelling and engaging and inclusive that people will flock to see it despite the inconvenience of safety restrictions?</p>
<p>Social media has been vital to the way many people are navigating their way through lockdown, and the cultural sector – populated as it is with innovative and creative people – has risen to the occasion. One of the most successful and widely emulated initiatives was the <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/recreate-art-history-challenge/">Getty Museum’s online challenge</a> to people to create their own copy of an artwork using easily reached objects and members of their household. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1242845952974544896"}"></div></p>
<p>When the lockdown started, many museums, galleries and theatres moved quickly to get huge swaths of activity online. The <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> in New York, for example, has really <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2020/coronavirus-response-president-director">finessed its online offering</a>. At my university in Dundee, the world-renowned <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/aboutus/cooper-gallery/">Cooper Gallery</a> at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design had programmed a cutting-edge exhibition project with <a href="https://www.anothergaze.com/suddenly-woman-spectator-conversation-interview-feminism-laura-mulvey/">Laura Mulvey</a>. The plan was to examine
her work with her collaborator, the <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/exhibitions/aisforavant-gardezisforzerolauramulveypeterwollen/?utm_content=buffer4ed5d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">avant-garde filmmaker Peter Wollen</a>, who passed away in December 2019 at the age of 81. We were unable to open the exhibition because of lockdown. Principal curator <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/sophia-hao">Sophia Hao</a> developed an <a href="https://sites.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery-inbetween/">online programme of events</a> that has explored the work in an immersive and participatory way including live-streamed talks and writing projects.</p>
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<h2>Engaging in the virtual space</h2>
<p>Online access to vast collections of artworks and magnificent performances has been a genuine joy to many people for whom the loss of access to culture would otherwise have been depressing. The fact that this work is now available to a much wider audience than can actually physically go to the galleries has meant that many non-traditional audiences are now able to engage with work that they would otherwise never have come across. I hope that this taster has encouraged many more people to really explore a new range of artistic and cultural offerings that they previously considered not to be for them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343801/original/file-20200624-132982-td0o42.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Whistler’s Aubergine’ : a new take on the classic painting Whistler’s Mother.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cate Newton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Of course, those without access to fast broadband and up-to-date technology are still out in the cold. Access to free, inclusive, location-based engagement projects that are such an important part of the work of all museums and galleries has been cut off.</p>
<h2>Safe – and sound</h2>
<p>At the top of everyone’s agenda is of course safety. Maintaining physical restrictions with clear, accessible signage outlining lanes and one-way systems should be simple enough for creative exhibition designers. But it’s going to take a lot more to earn audience confidence. </p>
<p>In Dundee, the main players in the cultural sector including V&A Dundee, Dundee Contemporary Arts, both universities and the city council are working collaboratively to create strategic plans for the reopening of venues.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343748/original/file-20200624-132982-288z9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The V&A in Dundee is working with other institutions in the city on a post-lockdown strategy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DigitalNatureScotland via Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>As well as developing clear messages about the value of culture to society and the economy as well as public health and communities, we are working on practical solutions to some of the issues. For example, building on a University of Dundee initiative to engage the local crafting community to create <a href="https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/stitch-time-saves-ninewells">scrubs and masks for NHS workers</a> a project is in development to commission local craft makers and small businesses to make masks for the cultural and tourist venues in the city. This will not only support self-employed practitioners to earn, but it will hopefully normalise the wearing of masks and facilitate a caring and community focused atmosphere in arts spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343756/original/file-20200624-133002-1o6dhe7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘Scrubs Project’ has engaged local crafters to create masks and safety equipment for NHS workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Helen Healy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Building audience confidence is a huge part of the equation, but it must be complemented by a renewed and innovative sense of purpose among curators and producers. There is an imperative to <a href="https://theconversation.com/director-of-science-at-kew-its-time-to-decolonise-botanical-collections-141070">decolonise</a> the way we display museum collections and programme exhibitions and theatrical productions and we must focus far more on accessibility, inclusion, equality and diversity. Alongside this, there is a need to create genuinely engaging content that will be strong, exciting and relevant enough to make it worthwhile coming out of lockdown bubbles.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/director-of-science-at-kew-its-time-to-decolonise-botanical-collections-141070">Director of science at Kew: it's time to decolonise botanical collections</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Let’s just hope that funding is allocated to make this transition possible and that the multifaceted benefits of engagement with the arts are recognised as the essential element of the human experience that we know it to be. If anyone can come up with innovative designs to deal with these issues, it’s a sector that is populated by some of the most creative people in the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Aitken is a trustee of Dundee Women's Aid, Tin Roof Artists collective, the Duncan of Jordanstone Centenary Trust.</span></em></p>
Cultural institutions are puzzling out to to make their buildings exciting and safe at the same time.
Janice Aitken, Reader in Art and Design, University of Dundee
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/134153
2020-03-25T18:43:22Z
2020-03-25T18:43:22Z
Virtual zoos, museums and galleries: 14 sites with great free art and entertainment
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322802/original/file-20200325-181239-myebk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C80%2C6659%2C4335&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/O7kjKKuUyCA">Kerensa Pickett/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the coronavirus outbreak forces the closure of museums, art galleries, libraries and theatres around the word, the concept of “on demand culture” is gaining momentum. </p>
<p>Institutions – museums, galleries and concert halls, which by their very nature rely on in-person visits – are seeking out digital solutions in the form of live-streamed performances, virtual tours and searches of online collections. The Sydney Biennale announced a <a href="https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/?gclid=CjwKCAjw3-bzBRBhEiwAgnnLCh7Dci4zUp2TZ2UWAdSHNyu4crESwT52p0og5UA-FouEesZ8lzZ_7xoCD3AQAvD_BwE">shift to digital</a> display this week and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has streamed a <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/culture/music/online-and-on-song-mso-keep-the-music-going-20200322-p54cm2.html">performance</a> of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony to a live audience that peaked at 4500 and gathered thousands of subsequent viewers. </p>
<p>The current pandemic is dragging cultural institutions into the 21st century, forcing them to catch up with technological solutions to replace on-site experiences. But many institutions are already well down this path. They have already found the shift online has benefits and dangers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322799/original/file-20200325-181239-1y93ctg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wandering Netherlands’ Museum Voorlinden will have to wait.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1525067445930-5968dc619dfb?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=765&q=80">Christian Fregnan/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Crossing technical boundaries</h2>
<p>From as early as the 1920s, museums have been using the technologies of the day. Back then, it was presenting <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=XDZ7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT78&lpg=PT78&dq=1920s+museum+lectures+on+public+radio&source=bl&ots=gD-dFO6UN8&sig=ACfU3U2pXdZIo3UGAnTODDW7VUcvtJvjbA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDreuvu7ToAhX-zzgGHb-3CfMQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=1920s%20museum%20lectures%20on%20public%20radio&f=false">public lectures on broadcast radio</a>. </p>
<p>From the early to mid-1950s, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology collaborated with CBS to produce <a href="https://www.penn.museum/collections/videos/playlist/list.php?id=7">What in the World</a>, a program that presented storeroom objects to a panel of industry specialists who had to figure out what in the world the objects were and who made them. </p>
<p>A more recent turn is towards cultural institutions partnering with digital media organisations to deliver access to mediated cultural content. <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/">Google Arts & Culture</a>, a digital platform, makes the collections of over 12,000 museums available online. Web portal <a href="https://www.europeana.eu/en">Europeana</a>, created by the European Union, hosts over 3,000 museums and libraries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322803/original/file-20200325-181185-1q0v6i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can visit The British Museum via Google Arts & Culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1577729507926-78897cc4de05?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80">Nicolas Lysandrou/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Well before the coronavirus closed ticket desks and moved some experiences onto digital media platforms, virtual gateways had become an important means of generating awareness and engagement with culture. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.annefrank.org/en/">Anne Frank House</a> has illustrated how online visitors can take part in holocaust remembrance without travelling to Amsterdam. Anne Frank House now uses a chatbot to create personalised conversations with users globally via Facebook messenger. Similarly, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/eva.stories/?hl=en">Eva.Stories</a> is an Instagram page that recounts, via a series of 15 second videos, the diary of a 13-year-old girl killed in a concentration camp.</p>
<h2>Doors shut</h2>
<p>The forced closures as a result of coronavirus will accelerate and amplify this shift towards digital transformation. </p>
<p>At a time of social distancing, individual artists, small private companies and major public cultural institutions are quickly re-purposing technology in creative ways. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/festival-and-series/morning-melodies">Morning Melodies</a> is an online broadcast of the usually popular live performances offered by the Victoria Arts Centre. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/isol-aid-festival-review-2020-covid-19-julia-jacklin-spacey-jane/12082228">Isol-Aid</a> live streamed a music festival over the weekend, with 72 musicians across Australia each playing a 20-minute set on Instagram. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/events/melbourne-cinematheque/">Australian Centre for the Moving Image</a> has set up an online weekly film nights, while acknowledging it “can’t replace the joy of being in the cinema”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322805/original/file-20200325-181185-1nshnab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has opened its doors online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1514905552197-0610a4d8fd73?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80">Ståle Grut/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What might be lost</h2>
<p>Despite the benefits of this mediated content, social media scholars Jose Van Dijck and Thomas Poell <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2309065">point out</a> digital technologies come with a set of core logics or rules that shape users, economic structures and institutions. These underlying rules of online engagement have long-term implications for how we engage with culture. For future generations, it’s conceivable that a visit to the library, museum, theatre or art gallery won’t be something experienced in person but rather through a digital media platform. </p>
<p>With the “on demand culture” comes a dispersal of audiences into online spaces. In those spaces, their private contemplation of art and culture can become fodder for data mining and analysis. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"952726132377509889"}"></div></p>
<p>This data then feeds into the repurposing of cultural content according to the priorities of social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. In 2018, Google Culture launched a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/15/578151195/google-app-goes-viral-making-an-art-out-of-matching-faces-to-paintings">face match app</a> that matched user selfies to images drawn from cultural collections. It expanded access for new global audiences, but questions remain about the extent to which phone camera images were used to train Google’s facial recognition algorithm. Some users were critical of the collection’s <a href="https://twitter.com/KaraBTweets/status/952572084076646400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E952572084076646400&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Fsections%2Fthetwo-way%2F2018%2F01%2F15%2F578151195%2Fgoogle-app-goes-viral-making-an-art-out-of-matching-faces-to-paintings">lack of diversity</a>.</p>
<p>The mediation of culture highlights a new set of ethical dilemmas as content goes online. </p>
<h2>What we gain</h2>
<p>This isn’t to say the availability of “on demand” cultural content isn’t a good thing. At “normal” times it can allow people to virtually visit exhibitions or enjoy performances they can’t access in real life. Online presentations can enhance understanding with “explore more” links or additional information. </p>
<p>During times of crisis, online cultural experiences can be a <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90478442/for-artists-the-show-must-go-on-and-zoom-is-their-venue">lifeline for both art audiences and creators</a>. It is vital that we create avenues through which the community can access culture and seek out technological solutions to keep artists and cultural workers employed during what could be a long hiatus. </p>
<h2>14 art & culture links</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://abiawards.com.au/">Australian Book Industry Awards</a> will be awarded online, as will the <a href="https://thestellaprize.com.au/prize/2020-prize/">Stella Prize</a> for female authors.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1143946145941832/">Born to Boogie Dance Connection</a> is hosting a much-needed online groove this week. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/dnice/">Club Quarantine</a> is where DJ D-Nice or Derrick Jones from 90s hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions is spinning tracks for 100,000+ viewers. Guest appearances include Michelle Obama, Naomi Campbell, Chaka Khan, Halle Berry, Rihanna, and Diddy.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en">Europeana Collections</a> are celebrating Women’s History Month.</li>
<li><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/">Google Art and Culture</a>
Explore collections from around the world, from the British Museum to Macchu Pichu.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/">Guggenheim Museum Bilbao</a> in Spain is the place for Mark Rothco, Jeff Koons and Richard Serra. </li>
<li><a href="https://karaoke.camp/">Karaoke Camp</a> uses Zoom to connect singers worldwide.</li>
<li><a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/at-home/">Melbourne Museum</a> has virtual tours of the Phar Lap, dinosaur and First Peoples displays. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.mmca.go.kr/eng/">National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art</a>, South Korea is showing meet the curators chats on YouTube. </li>
<li><a href="https://nowadays.nyc/">Nowadays</a> live music lounge in New York is streaming DJs online. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en">Rijksmuseum</a> is home to Dutch masters: Vermeer’s Milkmaid, Van Gogh’s Self-portrait and Rembrandt’s most well-known painting: the Night Watch. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/">Social Distancing Festival</a> is drawing live streaming performances together in one place.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/animal-house">Zoos Victoria’s Animal House</a> is livestreaming lions, giraffes, snow leopard cubs, penguins and the occasional <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/52000441/coronavirus-melbourne-zookeeper-s-livestream-dance-goes-viral">dancing zoo keeper</a>.</li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
COVID-19 is dragging some arts institutions into the 21st century. Others are already well down this path. What we win and lose when culture goes online and a bunch of links you can enjoy today.
Dr Caroline Wilson-Barnao, Lecturer, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/133632
2020-03-19T00:53:12Z
2020-03-19T00:53:12Z
Couch culture - six months’ worth of expert picks for what to watch, read and listen to in isolation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321253/original/file-20200318-37392-1a2ic8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C176%2C5793%2C3668&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1541919833074-a92ca380fa4b?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80">Mitchell Gaiser/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We need ways of getting our culture hit from home - whether we’re sick, caring for others, playing it safe or just facing limited external options. </p>
<p>We asked our experts for recommendations to help arts lovers stay connected. </p>
<h2>Listen</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321233/original/file-20200318-37429-z6nyc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51c-viG87kL._SL500_.jpg">Audible</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I switch between big audio books I’ll struggle to find time to read (hello <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Middlemarch-Audiobook/B00FEZKJ5M">Middlemarch</a>) and new titles. Rachel Cusk’s collection of essays, <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Coventry-Audiobook/0571360610?qid=1584500317&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=Q3SSQV28CHTEZE21837M">Coventry</a>, shows she is one of the most interesting writers around. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/">The Music Show</a> on Radio National and podcast is hosted by Andrew Ford. The show’s range and eclecticism is matched by the wit and expertise of its incomparable host. - <strong><em>David McCooey, Deakin University</em></strong></p>
<p>Chill on the couch and listen to songs in Indigenous languages – the Australian Indigenous <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1AGsr7ME2iID9e2b6sBJU0?nd=1">playlist</a> compiled by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321234/original/file-20200318-37382-7k78x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xskc-1t6L._SL500_.jpg">Audible</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are some great audiobooks by Indigenous authors. Claire Coleman’s <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Old-Lie-Audiobook/0733643132?qid=1584500364&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=VM2HAW7HSXKGNHY61FX8">The Old Lie</a> is a great start or the award winning novel by Melissa Lucashenko, <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Too-Much-Lip-Audiobook/1528885678?qid=1584500469&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=8470PYBNQ824M1GYXBBD">Too Much Lip</a>. To learn more about what it is like to be an Aboriginal person in contemporary Australia listen to the short stories compiled by Anita Heiss, <a href="https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Growing-up-Aboriginal-in-Australia-Audiobook/1528815084?qid=1584500575&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=771c6463-05d7-4981-9b47-920dc34a70f1&pf_rd_r=SX3BKK34YCEA4X111890">Growing up Aboriginal</a>. (Meanwhile, let <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/jarjums">Little J and Big Cuzz</a> occupy the kids.)
- <strong><em>Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University</em></strong></p>
<h2>Read</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321235/original/file-20200318-37441-enx57v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51WOhxFpieL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg">Amazon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Disquiet-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/024120013X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WYAUSM0AG2YL&keywords=the+book+of+disquiet&qid=1584076892&s=books&sprefix=the+book+of+dis%2Caps%2C427&sr=1-1">The Book of Disquiet</a> is written as a fragmentary diary, tracing the struggle of an office worker to find meaning and beauty in his life.
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Discourses-Fragments-Handbook-Oxford-Classics/dp/0199595186/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=epictetus&qid=1584076909&s=books&sr=1-6">The Handbook of Epictetus</a>, written by a former slave in Ancient Rome, is a short, powerful example of our capacity to resist life’s difficulties. For Epictetus, we shouldn’t waste time and energy on that which we can’t significantly control, a wise approach indeed. - <strong><em>Jamie Parr, Australian Catholic University</em></strong></p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321241/original/file-20200318-37387-3ut8aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1218&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568307771l/19089.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In George Eliot’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19089.Middlemarch">Middlemarch</a> (1871), Dorothea Brooke is young, charismatic, and intense. She wants to make the world a better place for everyone around her, and to devote her life to a great man. Unfortunately, she chooses the deeply mediocre Edward Casaubon, a clergyman who has been battling on into dusty middle age while not finishing his Key to All Mythologies. Dorothea’s moral and intellectual trajectory is compelling, but is only part of the wider tapestry of the middle English town of Middlemarch. - <strong><em>Robert Phiddian, Flinders University</em></strong></p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321242/original/file-20200318-37387-1yan85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760292010.jpg">Allen & Unwin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.charlottewood.com.au/">Charlotte Wood</a> is one of Australia’s best novelists (I am resisting that horrifying urge to put the qualifier “best female” in, because she is one of our best novelists full stop). Her cunning new novel <a href="https://www.charlottewood.com.au/the-weekend.html">The Weekend</a> will tell you things about yourself and your friendships that you’d probably prefer not to know! Wood also launched <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-writers-room-with-charlotte-wood/id1489223383">The Writers Room</a> podcast in December. She talks to a bunch of intriguing writers and readers about their life and work.
- <strong><em>Camilla Nelson, The University of Notre Dame Australia</em></strong></p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321243/original/file-20200318-37382-q70f8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357027589l/14201._SY475_.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell">Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell</a>, by Susanna Clarke, is a sweeping tale of two magicians aiming to bring magic back into the modern world. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, with a beautiful languid style, the compelling plotlines are suited to a slow read. Also good preparation for Clarke’s next novel, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/piranesi-9781526622426/">Piranesi</a>, due out later this year. </p>
<p>For something different, <a href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/lore-olympus/list?title_no=1320&page=1">Lore Olympus</a> is a web comic based on the story of Persephone and Hades, with more than 100 episodes. Dreamy, funny, powerful – read in snippets, or dive in for a while.
- <strong><em>Elizabeth Hale, University of New England</em></strong></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321245/original/file-20200318-37392-zndgf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536376800l/9712.jpg">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9712.Love_in_the_Time_of_Cholera">Love in the Time of Cholera</a> (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) – a tale of obsessive love that lasts a lifetime – is not really about being sick, at least not with cholera. The disease metaphor draws together the lovesick central character Florentino Ariza and his elusive childhood sweetheart, Fermina Daza. It’s a charming escape into the old world of Latin America with plenty of irrational behaviour, such as Florentino eating flowers and drinking cologne so he can be surrounded by the scent of Fermina. By the end of the novel, the lovers are trapped on a riverboat bearing the yellow flag signalling the “plague” of cholera. Truly, a story for our times.
- <strong><em>Donna Mazza, Edith Cowan University</em></strong></p>
<h2>Look</h2>
<p>Even though the Louvre has closed, it is possible to take a <a href="https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne">virtual tour</a> of some of its exhibitions. Closer to home, Newcastle Art Gallery in the Hunter Valley also has a virtual tours of the collection and an exhibition of the work of <a href="https://www.nag.org.au/virtual-tour">Tim Maguire</a>.</p>
<p>Galleries like the <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/">Art Gallery of New South Wales</a> suggest both thematic views and artist searches. Online visitors can create their own <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artsets/">virtual exhibitions</a> and see what others have made. And <a href="https://artuk.org">Art UK</a> includes the digitalised art from 3200 British public collections.
- <strong><em>Joanna Mendelssohn, University of Melbourne</em></strong></p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XOgCQu0pNHQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Curate your own exhibition with AGNSW Art Sets.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the Google Cultural Institute introduced its <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com">Arts & Culture App</a> in 2016, it became possible to visit Ivan Durrant’s portrait of Johnny O’Keefe, A little bit louder now, in the National Portrait Gallery, and examine it in extraordinary detail through the Art Projector function. Using the Art Zoom feature you could even engage with the entire life work of Johannes Vermeer in a virtual museum or take a selfie and check for your doppelganger in museums and galleries around the world. It’s a technology now used by many museums, including the <a href="http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/exhibitions/past/2019-exhibitions-archive/nikulinskynaturally">Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery</a> at the University of Western Australia, enabling visits to past exhibitions like Nikulinsky Naturally and <a href="http://www.lwgallery.uwa.edu.au/exhibitions/past/2019-exhibitions-archive/sculpturalsilver">Philip Noakes: Sculptural Silver</a> or current exhibitions through our website.
- <strong><em>Professor Ted Snell, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery UWA</em></strong></p>
<h2>Watch</h2>
<p>I’ve been recommending <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4378376/">Babylon Berlin</a> to everyone who will listen since the first season was released on Netflix in 2018. If you’re impatient with formulaic “golden age of TV” American productions, this, one of the most lavish non-English productions ever made, provides something quite different while still satiating that moreish television appetite. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321246/original/file-20200318-37441-19zcw9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Babylon Berlin streams on Netflix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BY2Q1NTUyYzUtMjhjYy00MjIxLTlkNzUtOTAxNjVmNzUxMGU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDk0ODI3OA@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,1500,1000_AL_.jpg">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Set in a similar period, but a very different geopolitical context, is Park Chan-wook’s film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4016934/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Handmaiden</a>. Parasite has drawn interest to South Korean film but I’m not sure this 2016 film gets enough love. Sex, betrayal, con men, and a beautiful soundtrack.
- <strong><em>Dan Golding, Swinburne University of Technology</em></strong></p>
<p>Watching <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7660850/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Succession</a>, I am so thrilled not to be irrationally rich. This stunning work connects the disease of a society with those inherent in family structures. With every episode, I think of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321247/original/file-20200318-37441-16eka7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">HBO’s Succession deals with society’s ills and family dysfunction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmRhMGE1YzUtMzc0ZS00Y2I1LTkzM2EtMWJhYjg2OTFmYWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTM3MDMyMDQ@._V1_.jpg">IMDB</a></span>
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<p>And go buy the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hammer-Horror-Box-Set-Blu-ray/dp/B0193749RA">Hammer Horror</a> Blu-Ray Collection. The polished horror of 80s and 90s started with Hammer’s weirdly gothic hijinks.
- <strong><em>Bruce Isaacs, University of Sydney</em></strong></p>
<p>The BBC’s 26-part epic 1974 TV costume drama <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075557/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Pallisers</a> is the perfect escape from our distraught present. Based on Anthony Trollope’s six novels, this is all about sex, ambition, and greed among the grandees of Victorian England. The costumes are fabulous and the acting is glorious. Here are classic English luvvies <em>acting</em>. A glittering Susan Hampshire fills the screen as Lady Glencora while Philip Latham’s Plantagenet Palliser oozes Victorian repression while hinting at explosive passion with a raised eyebrow.
- <strong><em>Peter Hoar, Auckland University of Technology</em></strong></p>
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<span class="caption">26 episodes of The Pallisiers should keep you busy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODBjNjNhZDAtNTE1My00YmI0LWJkNGItMzlkMGUxOWQ5MzAyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzE3OTU5Mg@@._V1_.jpg">IMDB</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/channels/sbs-world-movies">SBS World Movies</a> is a treasure trove of world cinema with a high concentration of French, Japanese, Australian and American cult classics plus some quirky fresh(ish) offerings. The revolving door format means it’s worth checking regularly to see what’s new. My current picks are Martin Provost’s biopic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2976920/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Violette</a> on French author Violette Leduc and David Lynch’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Straight Story</a> about a man who crosses the US on a lawnmower. The ultimate coronavirus film could be Patricia’s Rozema’s end-of-the-world survival guide <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2625810/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Into the Forest</a> with Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_TRSvK-Omwc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Empty shelves? Tick. All we have is each other.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, one cannot survive on streaming alone. You can’t run from the zombies with a face full of Doritos and blue light. The husband and wife team behind <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiP6wD_tYlYLYh3agzbByWQ">Fitness Blender</a> on YouTube are refreshingly normal - no high tech tights or steroid-induced bulk - just real and able to get you moving.
- <strong><em>Sally Breen, Griffith University</em></strong></p>
<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0ypRouzcfsM2JhPmqjef8K" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133632/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Whether you’re home sick or sick of being at home, our 13 experts have picked excellent things you can read, watch, look at or listen to.
Lucy Beaumont, Health + Disability Editor
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124507
2019-10-13T19:01:39Z
2019-10-13T19:01:39Z
No god but God: A breathtaking exhibition bringing Islamic art out of the shadows
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295116/original/file-20191001-173387-kebptg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C1976%2C1173&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The biggest ever display of Islamic art at the Art Gallery of South Australia holds breathtaking masterpieces, and important lessons for all. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of South Australia/Saul Steed</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2005, the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) opened Australia’s first permanent galleries of Islamic art. In the media release, gallery director Christopher Menz proclaimed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Art is universal – it is a great educator and a bridge between cultures, religion and time. Now, more than ever, it is vitally important for Australian collecting institutions to embrace the art and culture of the Islamic world, to encourage understanding and respect within our own country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nearly 15 years later, following a string of mostly modest exhibitions towards this aim, AGSA presents its most expansive and ambitious exhibition of Islamic art yet: <a href="https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/no-god-god-art-islam/">No god but God: The art of Islam</a>.</p>
<p>Usually, objects from AGSA’s Islamic art collection are displayed in a single small hall nestled between European and Asian art and rotated relatively infrequently so only a few highlights are ever seen. In No god but God, curator James Bennett has taken over adjacent halls in a magnificently broad exploration of objects produced from one side of the Islamic world to the other and spanning over 1,000 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295954/original/file-20191008-128644-163yc3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cobalt walls create a meditative atmosphere in the exhibition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery South Australia/Saul Steed</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a subtle evocation of Islamic architecture, the four gallery spaces are connected by portals fashioned into pointed arches. Inside, cobalt walls and soft lighting create a meditative atmosphere, enhanced by a melodic recitation of the Quran and devotional music.</p>
<p>Each space is loosely devoted to the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orna/hd_orna.htm">major accepted tenets of Islamic art</a>: endlessly expandable patterns representing the infinity of God; flowers evoking gardens of Paradise; calligraphy expressing the word of God; and the depiction of human and animal figures – contrary to popular belief, these are <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/figs/hd_figs.htm">common in secular contexts</a>, but avoided in religious contexts.</p>
<p>The title references the most basic principle of Islam: the declaration of faith in the one God. As a rule, objects of Islamic art – even those with mundane utilitarian functions – are highly decorated in a demonstration of religious exaltation (according to the Prophet Muhammad, “God is beautiful and He loves beauty”).</p>
<p>There are masterpieces on display here, breathtaking in their craftsmanship.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295118/original/file-20191001-173342-dk1dpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 20th century Quran ‘evokes awe.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Indonesia, Quran, c.1900, Bangkalan, Madura, East Java, Indonesia, paper, ink, pigment, gold leaf, leather, 43.0 x 29.0 x 3.0 cm (two volumes each); d'Auvergne Boxall Bequest Fund 2011, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A small Quran from Indonesia at the turn of the 20th century evokes awe in the precision of the calligrapher’s pen in the measured and level script and the intricately gilded, minutely detailed floral and geometric patterns filling the pages’ frames.</p>
<p>From Morocco, a <a href="https://indaily.com.au/arts-and-culture/2019/09/10/off-the-wall-a-pair-of-doors-with-special-significance/">pair of 19th century doors</a> are covered in interlaced geometric patterns, evidence of Muslim artisans’ mastery of complex mathematical concepts. Banal in their everyday function, their striking ornamentation commands notice.</p>
<p>On a ceramic bowl from 14th century Iran, a dynamic school of fish is painted swimming just out of reach beneath the cool, teal surface.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295119/original/file-20191001-173407-1g96o2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fish on this ceramic bowl from 14th century Iran seem ‘just out of reach.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iran, Bowl, with fishes, 14th century, Kashan or Sultanabad, Iran, stone-paste earthenware, decorated earthenware, 20.8 cm; (diam.) Gift of William Bowmore AO OBE through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2003, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just as important as the objects are the labels. Extended text appears next to most objects. It is enlightening, imparting insight into original function and significance, historical context, and meanings that might be derived from their artistic content.</p>
<p>The sensitivity and thought Bennett has given to the labels shows a deep respect for visitors’ interest in learning more about the Islamic world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/islamic-art-at-the-national-museum-is-spectacular-but-misses-opportunities-to-bridge-a-cultural-gap-99364">Islamic art at the National Museum is spectacular, but misses opportunities to bridge a cultural gap</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In preempting visitor questions, he doesn’t leave them hanging, hoping but struggling to learn more. And by giving a glimpse into the lives of these objects and their roles in the lives of the people who used them, he humanises Muslim people. </p>
<p>Despite having their own sets of rituals, traditions and understanding of the world, this is a diverse group who share with everyone the same basic human wants and needs: a place among family, esteem and recognition in public life, and enjoyment of food, drink, and – above all – beauty.</p>
<p>This is important. As AGSA’s former director pointed out, art has a role to play beyond the merely aesthetic. For Islamic art, this role is inherently political. After the tragedy of September 11, Islam and its adherents have been under scrutiny in an ever-brighter spotlight.</p>
<h2>Countering harmful myths</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-is-still-raising-its-ugly-head-in-australia-80682">Islamophobia is rife in Australia</a>. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-10/hijab-wearing-women-most-at-risk-of-islamophobic-attacks/8688856">Attacks</a> on members of Australian Muslim communities have increased. In 2017, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/why-do-25-per-cent-of-australians-feel-negativity-towards-muslims">25% of Australians had negative views of Muslims</a>. </p>
<p>Through the display and sensitive curation of Islamic art, galleries have the opportunity to change the dominant rhetoric and counter prevailing, damaging myths.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-is-still-raising-its-ugly-head-in-australia-80682">Islamophobia is still raising its ugly head in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many hold the idea Islam is monolithic: all Muslims are from the Middle East, look the same, and hold the same interpretations of their religion with the same fortitude. </p>
<p>Displays of Islamic art such as this quickly expose the lie in this presumption: Muslim people historically formed large communities from Spain to Indonesia, their religious practice as varied as the countries they inhabit.</p>
<p>Many believe there is no place for tolerance of others in Islam, either in the present day or in history. Countless objects can show this to be false, evidencing peaceful coexistence of people with different beliefs. </p>
<p>On display in this exhibition is a tile from 19th century Iran depicting Jesus crucified, surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. In Islamic understanding, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/dec/23/religion-islam">Jesus was a prophet</a>, granted the same respect as Muhammad, but did not die on the cross. This is evidently a tile made for or by the Christian community in Persia under Islamic rule. </p>
<p>Myth-breaking is important for the Muslim community as well. The multitudes of human and animal figures in art produced by or for Muslims show this depiction was <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/figs/hd_figs.htm">acceptable for a long period of history</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295120/original/file-20191001-173393-1hmhvh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portraits of the Prophet Muhammad are widely believed to be forbidden, but are actually part of a rich historical tradition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">India, Portrait of the Prophet Muhammad riding the Buraq, 1820-30, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, or Dehli, India, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 17.7 x 10.9 x 6.6 cm; Gift of Barrie and Judith Heaven 2009, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most striking is a 17th century illuminated manuscript folio on display featuring a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Widely believed to be forbidden across the modern Islamic world, this object is representative of a <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=809205">rich historical tradition</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-theres-opposition-to-images-of-muhammad-36402">Why there's opposition to images of Muhammad</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While some institutions have <a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/object-lessons-how-a-new-exhibition-challenges-old-cliches-about-islamic-art-and-people">shied away</a> from showing objects like this, this is <a href="http://www.artandaustralia.com/online/discursions/review-%E2%80%98ilm-art-and-knowledge-islam">not the first time it has been displayed in this gallery</a>.</p>
<h2>Islamic art refutes misconceptions about Islam</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-islam/beginners-guide-islamic-art/a/arts-of-the-islamic-world">Islamic art</a>” is used as shorthand to describe objects produced across parts of the world where Islam was a dominant religion, even if they were created by or for non-Muslims. Aesthetic styles are influenced by religious teachings and local cultural tastes. </p>
<p>Although “Islamic” suggests art was principally religious, many objects had utilitarian functions, more to do with everyday life than religious context. </p>
<p>Objects of Islamic art generally have an aesthetic value transcending cultural understanding, their motifs harmonious, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151021-paisley-behind-rocks-favourite-fashion">recognisable</a> and even <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/east.aspx">common in our globalised world</a> today.</p>
<p>In 2015, Sam Bowker wrote for The Conversation Islamic art tends to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-invisibility-of-islamic-art-in-australia-44714">invisible and inaccessible in Australia</a>. To this day, Islamic art is rarely seen outside Adelaide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-invisibility-of-islamic-art-in-australia-44714">The invisibility of Islamic art in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Particularly remarkable in this show is the number of objects that are either new donations from private collectors around Australia or on loan from them. </p>
<p>Islamic art is not a strong point of Australian collecting institutions, and, as Bowker notes, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/art/art-sales-islamic-art-to-raise-25-million/">exorbitant market prices</a> of Islamic art objects render it impossible to begin large collections now. </p>
<p>This community of private collectors is a significant resource that could be harnessed to bring Islamic art out of the shadows. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295721/original/file-20191007-121065-1pk0y88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The display of Islamic art in Australia gives us opportunities for learning and understanding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">India, Religious standard (alam), in the form of the Hand of Fatima , 18th century, Deccan Region, India, gilt silver, 63.0 x 33.0 cm; Gift of Geoffrey Hackett-Jones in memory of his brother Frank through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2007</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Art by itself may not be the solution to all social ills, but the display of Islamic art creates opportunities for learning and cross-cultural understanding where few currently exist. </p>
<p>In response to Islamophobia on our streets and in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-media-needs-to-be-more-responsible-for-how-it-links-islam-and-islamist-terrorism-103170">media</a>, collecting institutions have a duty to show a counter-narrative based on historical evidence. </p>
<p>Constructive interpretation and the facilitation of dialogue is critical. Australian galleries should put historical Islamic art on display for the advantage of all. </p>
<p>No god but God shows how it should be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Silkatcheva does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
No god but God at the Art Gallery of South Australia looks at over 1000 years of Islamic art, from Indonesia to Spain. It is a magnificent and necessary exhibition.
Ana Silkatcheva, Doctoral Candidate (Oriental Studies - Islamic Art and Archaeology), University of Oxford; Curatorial Researcher, Nicholson Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116031
2019-05-24T10:52:00Z
2019-05-24T10:52:00Z
Banksy: graffiti has become more valuable for what it is than what it says
<p>On the side of a garage in Port Talbot, south Wales, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/19/banksy-port-talbot-mural-south-wales">new Banksy artwork appeared</a>. The piece, titled “Season’s Greetings”, very quickly brought thousands of visitors to the town. And by January 2019 there was so much interest in it that art dealer John Brandler paid a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46910294">six-figure sum</a>” for the graffiti. </p>
<p>The decision to sell the Banksy sparked some controversy, with the most prominent concern being that Brandler <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/30/banksy-artwork-port-talbot-seasons-greeetings-welsh-steel-town">would take the work away</a> from Port Talbot, removing a valuable tourist draw. But Brandler has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48184287">moved the work</a> to a new Street Art Museum (SAM) in the town, alongside works by other famous street artists such as Blek le Rat and Pure Evil. He has guaranteed its exhibition there for the next three years and even promised locals free entry. </p>
<p>Residents were happy, but a few still wondered if graffiti or street art belongs in a museum at all. Some say that privatising street art is counter to the nature of the form, that graffiti in a museum is like a tiger in a cage. </p>
<p>Sure, street art can still be powerful and beautiful in a gallery, but an essential piece of it is lost by disconnecting it from its natural setting and locking it in a confined and controlled space. But Brandler owned the work, and wanted it as a centrepiece for SAM, which will attract visitors, so in it went. </p>
<p>Season’s Greetings depicts a small boy with a sledge dressed in winter attire looking up sticking his tongue out to catch what appear to be falling snowflakes. The other half of the image – painted around a corner – depicts a dumpster fire emitting smoke and ash. The corner is the key, asserting on the viewer how unaware the boy is of his predicament. </p>
<p>It has been photographed and posted hundreds of times since it was painted, but most tellingly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR/">on Banksy’s Instagram feed</a>. There it’s pictured with the <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/truth-behind-port-talbot-banksy-15608628">local steelworks looming behind</a>, making an allusion that the piece is a commentary on Port Talbot’s air pollution. The town’s levels of one type of particulate matter (PM10) are among the <a href="https://airqualitynews.com/2018/05/08/who-amends-figures-after-port-talbot-pm2-5-data-error/">highest in the country</a>, and this has been <a href="http://www.procurement.wales.nhs.uk/40330.file.dld">largely attributed</a> to emissions from the steelworks. Although it must be noted that in recent months owner Tata Steel has pledged to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47145258">introduce new measures</a> to reduce emissions from the site.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Spectacle value</h2>
<p>The debate over whether artworks like this should be moved and placed in museums is overshadowed by the prestige and prosperity that possessing a Banksy can bring to a city, and the associated tourism money that comes with it. But sociologically speaking Banksy’s work is valuable for two reasons. First, because people pay attention to it. French philosopher Guy Debord wrote about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/guy-debord-society-spectacle">the “society of the spectacle”</a> in 1967 but his ideas are very relevant to Banksy today. Debord would say Banksy’s value is achieved through the attention his work receives, and how that collective attention reflects off his art and back onto the audience as evidence that the work is inherently valuable. Simply put, people paying sufficient attention to a Banksy (or indeed any artwork) makes it a spectacle, which grants it legitimate commercial value. </p>
<p>But Banksy’s work also has value because of something essential – what sociologist Howard Becker would call its “maverick” qualities. Mavericks, Becker says, are those who push the boundaries of their forms and expand conventions. Banksy is a maverick in both the graffiti and conventional art worlds, expanding what graffiti can be and say, and pushing the boundaries of what conventional art can look like. As such his work has intrinsic, innovative value as well as commercial value. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The value of Banksy’s work comes in part from people paying attention to it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/port-talbot-west-wales-december-20th-1263167128?src=2PqdHzfMdYyuCgmFI4wigw-1-0">i shootstock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this is valid motivation for privately exhibiting the work, using the Banksy as a tourist draw does little more than commodify it and reduce its value to who produced it. Commodifying it says “this is a Banksy, it is important and valuable because it is a Banksy, and as such it is worth you paying to see it in person”. But this framing of the work imposes itself in a way that obscures the graffiti’s unambiguous and conspicuous message. The commercial value of the Banksy, its privileged place in a museum, and the security protecting it all tell the observer that it is precious for what it is and who produced it, not what it says. Its legitimacy and authority are byproducts of its exchange value and not its social commentary. </p>
<p>The Port Talbot Banksy’s commentary, though open to interpretation, is that the harms of pollution are suffered the most by those who are the least responsible for the conditions, the most vulnerable to them, and the least aware of them – children. If the town’s pollution is not dealt with the town’s children will be the ones who suffer its effects. But promoting this message is not in the town’s financial interests. It is shrewder to promote the fact that there is an exclusive and expensive work by counterculture icon and provocateur Banksy on display; come and pay to see it. But how many visitors will think much about what Banksy may be saying, or about why it showed up specifically in Port Talbot?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As the Port Talbot Banksy is moved to a new street art museum, the very reason it was created is being ignored.
Tyson Mitman, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116680
2019-05-14T20:13:29Z
2019-05-14T20:13:29Z
With commercial galleries an endangered species, are art fairs a necessary evil?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273243/original/file-20190508-183077-10wnyhy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An installation view of Vivian Gallery's stand at Auckland Art Fair.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although record numbers of people are flocking to exhibitions in the major public art galleries, foot traffic into commercial art galleries is dwindling at an alarming rate. Embarrassed gallery directors of well-established and well-known commercial art galleries will quietly confess that frequently they scarcely get more than a dozen visitors a day. Outside the flurry of activity on the day of the opening, very little happens for the duration of the show.</p>
<p>This is not a peculiarity of the Australian art scene, I have heard similar accounts in London, Manhattan and Paris. The art public has largely ceased visiting commercial art galleries as a regular social activity and art collectors are frequently buying over the internet or through art fairs. In fact, many galleries admit that most of their sales occur via their websites, through commissions or at art fairs, with a shrinking proportion from exhibitions or their stockroom by actual walk-in customers.</p>
<p>The commercial art galleries have become an endangered species and their numbers are shrinking before our eyes. Leaving aside China and its urban arts precincts, such as <a href="http://www.798district.com">798 Art Zone in Beijing</a>, again this is a trend that can be noted in much of Europe, America and Australasia.</p>
<p>At the same time, the art market is relatively buoyant, albeit somewhat differently configured from the traditional one. The art auction market in many quarters is thriving and, as persistent rumours have it, not infrequently auction houses leave their role as purely a secondary market and increasingly source work directly from artists’ studios. This seeps into their lavish catalogues.</p>
<p>The other booming part of the art trade is the art fairs. Here I will pause on a case study of the <a href="http://www.artfair.co.nz">Auckland Art Fair 2019</a>. Started by a charitable trust about a dozen years ago and run as a biennial, in 2016 the fair, with new sponsorship and a new management team of Stephanie Post and Hayley White, was reorientated. As of 2018, it has become an annual art fair with a focus on the Pacific Rim region. It remains the only major art fair in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Situated in The Cloud, a scenic setting on Queens Wharf in central Auckland, this location also limits its size to create an intimate, friendly, human-scale fair, unlike the vast expanses of the <a href="http://www.expochicago.com">Chicago Art Fair</a> or even <a href="http://www.sydneycontemporary.com.au">Sydney Contemporary</a> in the Carriageworks.</p>
<p>The nuts and bolts of the Auckland Art Fair is that galleries from the Pacific Rim region can apply to exhibit and a curatorial committee of four curators, two from public galleries and two from commercial ones, select about 40 galleries for participation. The event, which is held over five days, attracts about 10,000 visitors and generates between $6-7 million in art sales.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273244/original/file-20190508-183080-jvuwym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gow Langsford Gallery stand at the Auckland Art Fair featuring art by Karl Maughan, Paul Dibble, Max Gimblett and Dale Frank.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Tobias Kraus</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fair costs about $1 million to stage with 90% of this sum raised from sponsorship, ticket sales and gallery fees and the rest a grant from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development. The public pays an admission fee of between $25-30, depending on when they book.</p>
<p>Art fairs are popular with local governments as they invariably attract people and businesses into the city. In Auckland Art Fair 2019, held in the first week in May, there were 41 galleries participating, almost 30 from various parts of NZ, the rest from Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Shanghai, Jakarta, Rarotonga (Cook Islands) and Santiago.</p>
<p>According to Stephanie Post, a major purpose of the fair is to build a new art audience and, by extension, a new generation of art collectors. The fair is designed to fill the gap between the primary and secondary art markets. For this reason, there is a whole series of “projects” that generally promote new art, frequently by emerging artists, many currently without representation by a commercial art gallery. In 2019 there were ten of these non-commercial projects at the fair. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273242/original/file-20190508-183093-at2ahs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Auckland Art Fair co-directors Stephanie Post and Hayley White at the fair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Josef Scott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These projects, for the past three art fairs, have been curated by Francis McWhannell, who now plans to step aside to be replaced by a new set of curatorial eyes. There are also various lectures, talks, panel discussions and related exhibitions. This year, most notably, there is “China Import Direct”, a curated cross-section of digital and video art from across China with some stunning and quite edgy material by Yuan Keru, Wang Newone and Lu Yang, amongst others.</p>
<h2>A mixed bag</h2>
<p>Predictably, art at the Auckland Art Fair 2019 is a mixed bag, but the stronger works do outnumber those that are best passed over in silence. In terms of sales, within the first couple of hours quite a number of the big-ticket items were sold, such as work by the Australians Patricia Piccinini and Dale Frank.</p>
<p>Looking around this year’s fair, some of the highlights included Seraphine Pick at Michael Lett; Robert Ellis at Bowerbank Ninow; Max Gimblett at Gow Longsford Gallery; Anne Wallace and Juan Davila at Kalli Rolfe; Christine Webster at Trish Clark; Daniel Unverricht and Richard Lewer at Suite, Toss Woollaston at Page Blackie Gallery, Dame Robin White and Gretchen Albrecht at Two Rooms; Robyn Kahukiwa at Warwick Henderson Gallery; Geoff Thornley at Fox Jensen McCrory; Simon Kaan at Sanderson; James Ormsby at Paulnache and Kai Wasikowski at the Michael Bugelli Gallery.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274284/original/file-20190514-60570-13gkkq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Behaviour VIII, 2019, oil on linen, 600 x 500mm, Seraphine Pick, Michael Lett Gallery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This selective list of names, to which many others can be added, indicates something of the spread and diversity of the artists being presented at the fair – not only in style and medium, but in the whole range of languages of visualisation and conceptualisation. Although there are a few deceased artists included, like Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori and Colin McCahon (neither represented by a particularly strong work), like most art fairs there is a predominance of well-established blue chip artists, a scattering of art market darlings plus a few unexpected newcomers.</p>
<p>A criticism of art fairs is that they are an expensive market place with high overhead costs, which discourage too much experimentation with “untested” emerging artists. Despite the welcome initiatives of the “projects”, Auckland in this respect falls into line with the pattern of most fairs. </p>
<p>The oft-repeated claim that they create a new art audience is also difficult to quantify. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that many who go to fairs may not have ever entered a commercial art gallery before, this does not appear to be followed up by a conversion of this audience into regular gallery goers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274283/original/file-20190514-60545-yzzs32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Ormsby at Paulnache.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josef Scott.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A spectacle</h2>
<p>Art fairs and blockbuster exhibitions in public art galleries have become popular people magnet events. They are a form of entertainment that is becoming more of a surrogate for consuming art than some sort of conduit for a return to more traditional patterns of art appreciation and acquisition. They are noisy, crowded and colourful spectacles – more like a party than a quiet arena for the contemplation of art.</p>
<p>Is this such a bad thing? Observing the spectacle in Auckland, I was struck by the youthfulness of the thousands of visitors. For many, it seemed the idea that they could afford to purchase an original artwork came as a revelation. Perhaps this was not a $100,000 painting by a major artist, but something more modest and frequently more to their tastes. Nevertheless, new buyers are being introduced to original art and this in itself has to be a positive development.</p>
<p>Art fairs globally are breeding a cult of dependency with some “commercial” art galleries increasingly divesting themselves of a physical existence and living from fair to fair. For a while, this was a complete no-no and fairs insisted that participant galleries had a bricks-and-mortar existence, but in many instances the borders are fudged and to be a gallery you need only be an established art trading entity.</p>
<p>Art fairs are here to stay; the future of commercial art galleries is far more problematic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Embarrassed directors of well-established commercial art galleries will quietly confess that often they scarcely get more than a dozen visitors a day. Can art fairs help fill the void?
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98003
2018-06-17T18:54:24Z
2018-06-17T18:54:24Z
Hobart’s poorer suburbs are missing out on the ‘MONA effect’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223299/original/file-20180615-32339-1924s2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most of MONA's interstate visitors go to the museum without stopping in the nearby suburbs. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ozmark17/33952082140/in/photolist-TJei9y-aG4KBv-AHszaG-b3uaHT-aFmEdR-aWGDPt-BEZhnn-UK8arY-9w9hoS-AHt3CY-aWGzHT-iRwody-aFPE5r-dc8ZxR-aWGBXi-dJ4zgj-bB9wZX-boeDHm-boeDLU-depywd-BCFhkC-aWGCSg-ghfA7t-iRuX61-dJ4B8J-aWGESc-9RNRTN-AHsAa7-aG3V6a-25kP8Aj-BxGpTX-VkoRhv-nkktGq-bB9F8e-AHsNKs-dc9dqJ-dNo4B2-aG1Zpg-bB9wAc-eaVCdd-depzks-BxGseP-9w69AB-iRtpx1-aWGzf2-B7tcB6-dJ4BZo-aG35jD-aG5u52-9RNRTG">Mark Pegrum/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Popular opinion has it that MONA, Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art, is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-08/mona-effect-ripples-out-to-regional-tasmania/9837626">transforming Tasmania</a>. That the state is no longer the poor and backward cousin, the economy is booming, and we are leaders in contemporary culture. </p>
<p>The buzz on the streets of Hobart during <a href="https://darkmofo.net.au/">this year’s Dark Mofo</a> is unwaning, despite being in its sixth iteration. A tendency to hibernate through Tasmania’s cold midwinter is now a time for vibrancy and a skinny dip – at least for tourists. </p>
<p>However contrary to hype around this “MONA effect”, the museum’s benefits do not seem to be being shared with <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/glenorchy/home">Glenorchy</a>, the municipality it is located in. Glenorchy is ranked eighth most disadvantaged out of 29 municipalities in the state and includes some of the most disadvantaged suburbs nationwide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-goes-to-mona-peering-behind-the-flannelette-curtain-73369">Who goes to MONA? Peering behind the 'flannelette curtain'</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>More generally, some local artists are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-09/mona-dark-mofo-seen-as-blessing-and-curse-for-local-creatives/9770904">struggling to maintain a place</a> as the MONA juggernaut rolls out its festivals, and its power and influence. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-03/home-prices-fall-in-cities-rise-in-the-regions/9612534">Hobart’s house prices</a> are rising faster than any other capital city, with increasing scrutiny on how <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-07/hobart-suburb-battery-point-quarantined-from-airbnb/9845976">visitor housing</a>, such as Airbnb, might be affecting prices. Tasmania is already <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1055693/Tasmania-Report-Saul-Eslake-2017.pdf">economically polarised</a>. </p>
<p>Taking a snapshot of <a href="https://tourismtracer.com">tracking data</a> from 472 interstate and overseas tourists in 2016, we analysed where and how tourists travelled before and after they visited MONA. Most of the visitors to MONA were from New South Wales and Victoria. They also had <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-goes-to-mona-peering-behind-the-flannelette-curtain-73369">higher incomes and levels of education</a>. We found that these visitors tend to take the MONA ferry to and from the museum, or drive straight there and back with no stops. Without shopping in Glenorchy or visiting other parts of the municipality, almost no benefits are passed on to this area, whether these are direct economic benefits from shopping or accommodation, or indirect benefits from social interactions and cultural exchange.</p>
<p>In some respects, this is unsurprising. Tourists go to places that have amenities for tourists – such as Hobart’s waterfront. Tourism and art also tends to drive gentrification – an escalation of real estate prices as poor inner city suburbs and post-industrial sites are transformed into creative chic. This wouldn’t be a good outcome for places like Glenorchy, which many of Tasmania’s low income earners call home. These are places imbued with a sense of community that supports many in non-financial ways. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/incarceration-and-times-passing-are-eloquently-explored-at-dark-mofo-98164">Incarceration and time's passing are eloquently explored at Dark Mofo</a>
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</p>
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<p>Not all of MONA’s visitors are high income earners with a university education. We also found that it is MONA’s lower socio-economic visitors who are most likely to stop in Glenorchy, to shop and visit family and friends. These are the tourists who could help extend MONA’s benefits into the places most in need, without destroying these communities. To boost the numbers of lower socio-economic tourists, Mona could extend its free museum entry for Tasmanians to all visitors with government concession cards. </p>
<p>But the limited responsibilities of private bodies such as MONA, means that it is governments’ role to distribute the benefits of tourism and economic growth. Tourism Tasmania spends <a href="https://www.themercury.com.au/news/politics/tourism-tasmania-chief-james-cretan-says-marketing-spend-yields-sensational-results/news-story/a72685b7d5c72ec6c8f94d65b7b08e73">millions of dollars on marketing</a>. Directing this towards the lower socioeconomic tourist market could boost visitation to tourism icons and local shopping centres and communities. </p>
<p>More broadly, the government urgently needs to plan for how tourism growth translates into improved health care, education and job prospects. Tourism only matters if it sustains all Tasmanians, and without demonstrated overall improvement, the value of tourism is questionable. </p>
<p>MONA is held in high regard by most Tasmanians. The museum and biannual festivals are described as unprecedented acts of generosity on behalf of owner David Walsh. There is widespread support for MONA initiatives: it’s vision for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-11/mona-waterfront-vision-to-take-three-decades/8109566">Macquarie Point</a> and <a href="https://mona.net.au/in-the-works/hotel">Hotel Mona</a>. </p>
<p>This goodwill is likely to fade if the MONA effect simply reinforces existing iniquities. To remain relevant, MONA’s presence in Tasmania needs go beyond development proposals and sensationalist art. Government must harness tourism for the benefit of all. High tourist numbers and spending are not ends in and of themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Booth receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP170100096) and collaborates on Tourism Tracer, partly funded by Tasmanian Government (State Growth), Tourism Industry Council Tasmania and Federal Group. She previously worked on the 'Mona Effect' ARC Linkage (LP120200302 ). Kate is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia and sat on its Tasmanian Committee until December 2017. She also donates to planning- and environment-related non-government organisations.</span></em></p>
MONA could encourage more low-income visitors by making entry free for all concession card owners.
Kate Booth, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Planning, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97782
2018-06-11T20:36:40Z
2018-06-11T20:36:40Z
To fix gender inequity in arts leadership we need more women in politics and chairing boards
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221894/original/file-20180606-119870-15j3miu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancers rehearse at a 2016 media call for The Australian Ballet's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Of our 28 major performing arts organisations, only three have female artistic leaders.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women are the major consumers as well as the largest percentage of employees in the arts. Yet their presence as artistic leaders remains low or, in some sectors, non-existent.</p>
<p>Of the 28 organisations presently funded under the Australia Council framework of the major performing arts, only three, Black Swan Theatre Company, Orchestra Victoria and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, have female artistic leaders. </p>
<p>These 28 organisations include ballet, dance, theatre, opera, orchestras and a circus. In practice this means that almost 90% of the artistic leaders of our major performing organisations are male. These organisations receive the majority (<a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about/annual-report-2016-17/">at least 62%</a>) of arts funding allocated by the Australia Council.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-major-dance-companies-need-to-step-up-on-gender-equality-97464">recent Australian study</a> found the role of women as artistic leaders and choreographers of dance and ballet companies is minimal – despite the fact that they dominate the industry. The findings are consistent with international studies of the role of women in dance and ballet. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-major-dance-companies-need-to-step-up-on-gender-equality-97464">Australia's major dance companies need to step up on gender equality</a>
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<p>Another <a href="http://nyti.ms/2egaaaM4">recent international study</a> considered the leadership of the top 12 art museums in the world. At the time of the study, all were led by men. </p>
<p>If we then look at the leadership of the six major state art galleries in Australia as well as our national gallery, a similar picture emerges. Only one state art gallery (the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery) has a female leader, although the Art Gallery of South Australia has a woman in the “co-acting” directorial role while a new leader is being sought.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221888/original/file-20180605-119885-lcswuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The late Betty Churcher: a rare example of a woman running a major cultural institution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Tsiavis/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historically, the picture is not much better. A woman has occasionally been the leader of a major Australian cultural institution (for instance, Betty Churcher at the National Gallery from 1990-1997, or Paula Latos-Valier at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 1990-1997), but examples of women as leaders are the exception, not the rule.</p>
<p>These figures might not be so shocking in traditionally male-dominated fields such as mining or manufacturing. But the arts sector is one where women represent the majority of consumers and participants. Evidence that Australian women in senior roles in the arts earn <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/what-arts-bosses-in-australia-earn-and-how-women-get-less-20160603-gpahfn.html">38% less</a> than male colleagues who occupy similar positions further compounds this inequality.</p>
<p>There are big issues that need to be tackled by agencies involved in leading, supporting, training and funding the arts in this country. It has been noted already in gender research that to change an existing homogeneous model of leadership, attention needs to be paid to ensuring <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37882461-arts-leadership-in-contemporary-contexts">different values and cultures</a> are represented in any selection process. Selection panels are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/joe.21413">more likely to choose a candidate who reflects the values that they believe in or exemplify</a>, even if a male candidate is less qualified or less experienced than the female equivalent.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-wider-in-the-arts-than-in-other-industries-87080">The gender pay gap is wider in the arts than in other industries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this country, as in many others, the leadership of art institutions is determined by a board of management or, in the case of government agencies, by the minister concerned. If the chair of the board or the politician is male, then they may be less likely to associate leadership with a woman.</p>
<p>At present across the country, seven ministers are responsible for arts, culture or creative industries in their portfolio. Five of the current ministers are male. </p>
<p>If we look at who chairs the 28 major performing arts organisations, 20 are male. If we look at the chairs of the six state art galleries and the national gallery, five are male. Thus, the decision-makers for senior arts appointments are predominantly male.</p>
<p>If the present demographic of arts leadership is to change, then gender equity at every level needs to be addressed. In a sector where women represent the majority audience as well as the majority of its participants, the low level of female artistic leadership is significantly out of tune with contemporary expectations.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Jo Caust’s book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37882461-arts-leadership-in-contemporary-contexts">Arts Leadership in Contemporary Contexts</a> has just been released.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Caust has received funding from the Australia Council. She is a member of the Arts Industry Council in South Australia and the National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA). </span></em></p>
Women make up the majority of arts consumers and employees, but men dominate at every level of arts leadership.
Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/93427
2018-04-04T01:19:04Z
2018-04-04T01:19:04Z
Private collectors are saving Australian art, but they can’t do it on their own
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212075/original/file-20180326-188619-1elnekx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">‘The shape of things to come’, installation view at Buxton Contemporary, the University of Melbourne, March 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Christian Capurro.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within the year, Melbourne will have two new contemporary art spaces. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-09/buxton-contemporary-melbournes-newest-art-gallery/9531494">Buxton Contemporary</a> opened in early March and the new wing of <a href="http://lyonhousemuseum.com.au/">Lyon Housemuseum</a> will launch in 2019. </p>
<p>These are just two of many acts of largesse that have made substantial private collections available to the Australian public over the past two decades. Since the Besen family established Tarra Warra Museum of Art in the Yarra Valley in 2003, there has been a steady flow of new galleries, including Sydney’s White Rabbit (2009) and Hobart’s MONA (2011). But will these gifts sustain contemporary art development in Australia as funding for artists continues to shrink?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212074/original/file-20180326-188616-6m0v4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Howard Arkely’s Fabricated Rooms 1997-99 in first floor dining room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Dianna Snape courtesy Lyon Housemuseum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of these now public collections are housed in converted warehouses; others dwell in purpose-built museums designed by architects (Buxton Contemporary’s space, like MONA, was designed by Fender Katsaldis). The benefactors of these projects are not only establishing new spaces to present their collections. They are also providing the funds to keep the museums operational into the future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-the-catalyst-arts-funding-mess-many-questions-remain-74848">After the Catalyst arts funding mess, many questions remain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The back stories of these private collectors often combine a shared love of contemporary art, a wish to provide ongoing support to practising artists and a desire to share their collections with a wider audience. The how and the why diverge — the various players have differing interests and approaches to collecting. Eva and Marc Besen collect artworks they love; David Walsh acquires antiquities and contemporary work relating to sex and death; Judith Neilson’s White Rabbit is dedicated to contemporary Chinese art. </p>
<h2>Melbourne’s two new art spaces</h2>
<p>“The shape of things to come”, the inaugural survey exhibition at Buxton Contemporary, uses artworks from property developer Michael Buxton to bring into view the ways that artists reflect on and respond to society and politics. Curator Melissa Keys’ intention is to show how artists such as Mikala Dwyer, Mark Fusinato, Hany Armanious and Emily Floyd can be visionaries, storytellers, dissenters, seers, alchemists.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212071/original/file-20180326-188604-18xpb6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The shape of things to come’, installation view at Buxton Contemporary, the University of Melbourne, March 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Christian Capurro.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Buxton’s generous gift to the University of Melbourne, which consists of a contemporary art collection, a new museum and operational funding, has been years in the making. In order to develop a holding of artworks of critical significance, Buxton moved beyond his own aesthetic knowledge and preferences and employed a committee of academics, historians and art experts to advise him. The university has been provided with an important educational resource thanks to the rigour with which Buxton conceived the space. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212078/original/file-20180326-188616-13r2p5w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The shape of things to come’, installation view at Buxton Contemporary, the University of Melbourne, March 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Christian Capurro.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Strategically situated between the NGV and the Victorian College of the Arts (which is being redeveloped), the Buxton project links Southbank cultural venues such as the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212073/original/file-20180326-188607-141lzat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rear sculpture garden with Emily Floyd’s WORKSHOP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by John Gollings courtesy Lyon Housemuseum.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By contrast, Lyon Housemuseum is located in a quiet suburban street in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, and has a strong lineage to similar spaces like the Soane in London and Donald Judd’s house museum in New York. Architect Corbett Lyon and his wife Yueji still live in the house and are adding a new gallery space. Access to the purpose-built home is only on designated days via pre-booked tours. </p>
<p>Artworks by Howard Arkley, Brook Andrews, Callum Morton, Anne Zahalka, Rose Nolan, Caroline Rothwell and Patricia Piccinini can be found in the hallway, the living room, behind the dining room table, next to the kitchen and out in the garden. In some rooms, you feel like a guest in a private home, while others assert the formality and authority of a gallery. </p>
<p>Every room has a private and public function — Corbett’s home office is both a personal work space and living work space. The Housemuseum’s new dedicated public galleries will be adjacent to the Lyon’s existing home, an entirely different proposition that will be open to visitors six days a week.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212119/original/file-20180327-188628-1tl2bso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Entry hall and dining room stair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Diane Snape courtesy Lyon Housemuseum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a bold exploration of subterranean histories, the Lyons commissioned Reko Rennie to <a href="http://www.art-almanac.com.au/reko-rennies-colossal-artwork-for-lyon-housemuseum/">paint the entire foundation of the new gallery</a>. Rennie characterises VISIBLE INVISIBLE as reverse camouflage intended to amplify his Aboriginal identity. This monumentally-scaled horizontal mural could (briefly) be seen from the road and passing trams. In a paradoxical gesture, two days after completion, it was engulfed by the footprint of the new building. When the museum is complete, only a small section of the painting will be visible from inside the gallery.</p>
<h2>Can philanthropists fix the funding gap?</h2>
<p>While the commitment private collectors make to support individual artists is substantial, new and old philanthropic projects do not ameliorate the deficit left by declining <a href="https://theconversation.com/election-factcheck-did-the-coalition-cut-105-million-from-australia-council-funding-59531">government funding</a>. </p>
<p>In a relatively small country like Australia, funding for arts and cultural development is critical. But a large share of the public purse is committed to maintaining existing institutions. It leaves little for those actually engaged in the production of contemporary art.</p>
<p>The losers in the recent budget shakedown are individual artists. While generous tax deductions are available for collectors who donate art to public institutions through the Cultural Gift Program, this strategy is no substitute for government funding aimed at supporting innovation. </p>
<p>Private collectors continue to transform how Australians experience art. But their eyes can’t be everywhere, nor can their aesthetic knowledge and values encompass all contemporary innovation.</p>
<p>To maintain an exciting visual arts scene in this country, we also need to support emerging and established artists who are yet to capture the collectors’ attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Shiels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Philanthropists are creating new galleries to share their private collections with the Australian public. But these gifts do not ameliorate the deficit left by declining government arts fundings.
Julie Shiels, Lecturer - School of Art, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90232
2018-01-31T19:04:41Z
2018-01-31T19:04:41Z
Instagram is changing the way we experience art, and that’s a good thing
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204144/original/file-20180131-38229-mca5k5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Instagram post from Gerhard Richter's exhibition at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BcMe2A6FKEC/?taken-by=gracie_yu">Instagram/@gracie_yu </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With 800 million users and growing, it was perhaps inevitable that Instagram would shake up the art world. The social photo platform has been accused by the media of fanning a narcissistic selfie culture. But in galleries, research is showing that the negative aspects are far outweighed by the positive. Instagram is changing the way we experience and share our visits to exhibitions, and how we perceive art. </p>
<p>In fact, arts institutions are now actively courting Instagram users. The <a href="https://www.museumoficecream.com/about/">Museum of Ice Cream</a> in the US is considered one of the most Instagrammed exhibitions, with over <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/museumoficecream/">125,000 hashtagged posts</a>. The show included such Insta-friendly displays as giant cherries, suspended bananas, and a rainbow sprinkle pool, inviting the visitor into a colourful space of neatly guided photo opportunities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Bek9d5uHrVX","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Closer to home, the current Triennial at the <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/ngv-triennial/">National Gallery of Victoria</a> features several large, Insta-friendly installations. Visitors are invited to lie on Alexandra Kehayoglou’s carpet work, <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/multimedia/alexandra-kehayoglou/">Santa Cruz River</a> (which depicts a river in Argentina that is at the centre of a contentious damming proposal), and take their photo in a mirror on the ceiling.</p>
<p>Artist <a href="http://yayoi-kusama.jp/e/information/">Yayoi Kusama</a>, also at the Triennial, uses light, space, colour and patterns and attracts a strong Instagram fanbase to her exhibitions. Kusama’s <a href="https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/kids/yayoi-kusama-the-obliteration-room">obliteration room</a>, currently being exhibited in Queensland, is another <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/obliterationroom/">popular, Instagrammed experience</a>, which invites visitors to stick colourful dots all over a white room. A similar work at the NGV covers the interior of a house with flowers. </p>
<h2>Perils and possibilities</h2>
<p>Increased visitor photography at galleries and museums has proved controversial at times. Recently a visitor to Los Angeles pop-up art gallery <a href="http://the14thfactory.com/">The 14th Factory</a> destroyed <a href="http://time.com/4858769/selfie-museum-damage/">$200,000 worth of crown sculptures</a>. The sculptures rested on top of a series of plinths, and while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsKyxf12QVo">attempting a selfie</a> the visitor fell, knocking the plinths down in a domino style chain reaction.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SsKyxf12QVo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In another instance visitors damaged an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/arts/museum-coffin-kid-photo.html">800-year-old coffin</a> at the <a href="http://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/">Prittlewell Priory Museum</a> in the UK. The visitors had lifted a child over a protective barrier into the coffin in pursuit of the perfect photo. Their actions caused the ancient artefact to be knocked off its stand resulting in a large piece of the coffin breaking off.</p>
<p>Many exhibitions still place restrictions on photography, and most galleries still prohibit <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-02/tatz-the-scourge-of-the-selfie-stick/5997032">selfie sticks</a>. Reasons often cited for these restrictions include <a href="https://nga.gov.au/Visiting/Photography.cfm">copyright considerations</a>, concerns over the visitor experience, and potential for damage to works caused by manoeuvring selfie sticks and flash lighting (although it is debatable whether <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0964777594900418">flashes do damage art</a>).</p>
<p>Banning photography on the basis that it interferes with the visitor’s experience could be seen as cultural elitism; expressing a view that art can only be appreciated in an orthodox manner. It also ignores the potential of Instagram to bring a new dimension to artists, curators, exhibition designers and visitors.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BekmLDJAite","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Recent research at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art <a href="https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/gerhard-richter-life-images-opens/">Gerhard Richter exhibition</a> showed that visitors use Instagram as part of their aesthetic experience. A number of participants <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/richtergoma/">posted Richter’s art works</a> on Instagram creatively immersing themselves in the image, wearing clothes matching the art, and copying Richter’s signature blurred style. </p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cura.12183/abstract">Another study</a> at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences’ <a href="https://maas.museum/event/recollect-shoes/gallery/">Recollect: Shoes exhibition</a> in Sydney found that audiences used Instagram primarily to engage with exhibition content; not by taking selfies. Visitors mostly photographed the intricate details of the shoes’ design.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BeaATGtlhGo","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>This finding was echoed <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2017.1337079">in a larger study</a> that focused on Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Far from the narcissistic selfie-obsessive behaviour that much media coverage insists is occurring, Instagram offers visitors authority and agency in sharing their experience.</p>
<p>This connects audiences with museum content in a way that they can control and is meaningful to them. <a href="https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=25383/">New research</a> shows how this activity is also tied to place - the museum, and the city beyond it. </p>
<p>Using Instagram in public spaces like museums and galleries is complex. It’s tied to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jho-2IZ_tnE">broader research</a> that shows how social media use in public spaces is challenging a range of social norms. </p>
<p>As researchers working in this emerging area, we see much value in curators and exhibition designers making use of Instagram to inform how they plan exhibitions. It could help build new audiences and strengthen connections with existing visitors. While removing all visitor photography restrictions is not possible, it is our view that visitor expectations and experiences have now changed. The future of cultural institutions needs to include Instagram.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While it may have a reputation for narcissism, Instagram is being embraced by the art world, with Insta-friendly works and exhibitions.
Adam Suess, PhD candidate in Education, Griffith University
Kylie Budge, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Living & Society, Western Sydney University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80594
2017-08-11T13:53:08Z
2017-08-11T13:53:08Z
Public vs private art collections: who controls our cultural heritage?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181787/original/file-20170811-13476-1ce133a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/art-gallery-blank-picture-frames-on-213959596">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.bmw-art-guide.com/who-we-are">BMW Art Guide</a> 2016 lists 256 private collections worldwide that are currently open to the public. But this figure omits the swiftly increasing number of multi-million dollar, independently operated gallery spaces that are stimulating audiences’ enthusiasm for art. Privately owned museums are on the rise and they’re dramatically changing the cultural landscape. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thebroad.org/">Eli and Edythe Broad</a>’s eponymous museum in Los Angeles, the <a href="http://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en/la-fondation.html">Louis Vuitton Foundation</a> in Paris, Budi Tek’s <a href="http://www.yuzmshanghai.org/about-yuz-museum-shanghai/">Yuz Museum</a> in Shanghai, and Venetian palaces operated by <a href="http://www.palazzograssi.it/en/about/collection/">François Pinault</a>, <a href="http://www.fondazioneprada.org/mission-en/?lang=en">Miuccia Prada</a> and, most recently, Russian petrochemical billionaire <a href="http://theartnewspaper.com/news/museums/russian-billionaire-s-v-a-c-foundation-opens-space-in-venice/">Leonid Mikhelson</a>, are just a few of the institutions that rival, and often outstrip, public museums in their buying power, influence, and blockbuster exhibitions.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181789/original/file-20170811-13459-1q67zl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2015 fashion designer Miuccia Prada opened a gallery complex in Milan dedicated to contemporary art and culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cannes-france-may-22-miuccia-prada-666699685">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Private patronage of the arts is nothing new – Solomon R. Guggenheim established a foundation for his art collection in 1937 and opened a museum two years later. Many good things flow from this kind of philanthropic investment. Developing and housing an art collection can involve the regeneration of urban environments and the commissioning of innovative new architecture. The proposed transformation of Paris’s former Commodities Exchange by Japanese architect <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/13-examples-of-modern-architecture-by-tadao-ando/all">Tadao Ando</a> into an exhibition space for the personal collection of luxury brand billionaire François Pinault is a case in point.</p>
<p>Employment opportunities and initiatives for artists will undoubtedly follow. Previously inaccessible works will be made available to the public – a socially oriented step that a private collector is not under any obligation to take. In the absence of adequate state funding for the arts, the generosity of individuals can fill a significant gap in the cultural life of a city. So is there anything to worry about?</p>
<h2>Privatising public heritage</h2>
<p>Museum culture’s “drift” into private ownership seems part of a familiar pattern. The state rolls back provision and individuals pick up the slack. The question is, who then calls the shots? In the case of the arts, collectors’ personal tastes are increasingly influencing the kind of art that is commissioned, exhibited and ultimately written into history. We now need to ask who collects what and for whom? </p>
<p>We think of museums as trustees of a nation’s cultural capital. Curators choose and preserve artefacts for the benefit of future generations. They shape lasting impressions of communities and their aesthetic values and creativity.</p>
<p>These are weighty responsibilities – and public museums have often been judged harshly for the selective legacies crafted by their key decision-makers. Since the mid-1980s, the feminist activist <a href="https://www.guerrillagirls.com/">Guerilla Girls</a> have brought into focus significant gender and ethnic biases in museums around the world through a series of high-profile interventions, poster campaigns and exhibitions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=242&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181792/original/file-20170811-13490-f7bylc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feminist art activists the Guerilla Girls draw attention to discrimininatory practices on the part of museums.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/41634028@N07/8144240315/">Ryohei Noda/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stakes are higher when the burden of public accountability is removed. Free from the demands of representing a wider community, private collectors are able to pursue and exhibit works that reflect their own interests. What art histories will they forge? Will newly self-fashioned museums track the changing patterns of the market, display the idiosyncrasies of the individual, or give voice to the unfamiliar, the politically challenging, the historically neglected?</p>
<h2>The new now</h2>
<p>These questions attach not just to the acquisition, but also to the sale of art. Publicly funded museums adhere to rules about selling works in their collection (“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/arts/design/berkshire-museum-art-auction-criticized.html">deaccessioning</a>”). Such regulation is important for artists whose reputations may depend on the grant of museum endorsement. In contrast to public institutions, private collectors enjoy the prerogative of selling works when it suits them. </p>
<p>Consider the evolution of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jul/10/charles-saatchi-british-art-yba">Charles Saatchi</a>’s collection. Saatchi forged the <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/y/young-british-artists-ybas">Young British Art</a> brand in the 1990s, making <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/damien-hirst-2308">Damien Hirst</a>, <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/tracey-emin-2590">Tracey Emin</a>, <a href="http://marcquinn.com/read/bio-and-key-works">Marc Quinn</a> and others familiar to audiences around the world.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181791/original/file-20170811-13463-1d0vefr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1061&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Saatchi Gallery in London’s Chelsea is devoted to new works and popular culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-april-28-2016-poster-outside-423015796">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While works by that group were once a cornerstone of Saatchi’s Gallery, they no longer figure significantly in his collection. The gallery, housed at the <a href="https://www.saatchigallery.com/">Duke of York’s HQ</a> in Chelsea, is dedicated to the “new” and understands that mission as requiring regular disposal of the past whether by way of gift or sale. </p>
<p>This is not unprecedented in the case of museums that provide snapshots of the “contemporary”. But it does raise questions about the ways in which we expect art institutions to meet the needs of audiences through time.</p>
<p>Museums are lasting repositories of collective memory, spaces that debate the past and contest urgent issues in the present. That means we need to keep a watchful eye on the ambitions and policies of institutions that shape our cultural landscape and consider how they impact on the public interest both now and in the future. </p>
<p>One thing that history has shown us is that the art world benefits from a diverse range of voices and perspectives. Models of public-private partnership that foster knowledge-sharing need to emerge, enabling new and established museums to learn from each other and from the past.</p>
<p>At the very least, art audiences need to be aware of shifts in the direction of collective heritage and not stand by as economic influence becomes a source of cultural domination. It is only by enhancing exchange between artists, institutions and their publics that we have a chance to secure a dynamic art “ecosystem” for the 21st century and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As museum culture increasingly drifts into private ownership, we need to keep a watchful eye on those shaping our cultural landscape
Kathryn Brown, Lecturer in Art History, Loughborough University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81073
2017-07-31T12:12:53Z
2017-07-31T12:12:53Z
Burn, break, bulldoze: is it ever okay to destroy a piece of art?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179994/original/file-20170727-8525-dcsq72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fate of <a href="http://www.samdurant.net/">US artist Sam Durant’s piece</a>, Scaffold, is currently in the balance. The art piece, a two-story wooden structure, which draws its form from gallows used in 1862 to kill 38 Dakota Indians, has been removed from Minnesota’s Walker Art Centre after protests from the Native American <a href="https://shakopeedakota.org/culture/our-native-american-tribe/">Dakota Sioux community</a>.</p>
<p>The artist, as a form of apology, has given over the rights of Scaffold to the Dakota people, who plan to have it <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/walker-sculpture-garden-to-remove-sam-durant-scaffold-977447">ceremoniously burnt</a>, overseen by Dakota tribal elders. </p>
<p>The work was created by the artist with the idea of “creating a zone of discomfort” for white people – not to trivialise or mock the history of the community. Because of this, some feel the work’s destruction is an <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/story/sam-durant-scaffold-artwork-walker-minneapolis-controversy">undeserved fate and a form of censorship</a>.</p>
<p>If Durant’s piece is burnt, it will be another in a long history of destruction that form part of an artefact’s story.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179977/original/file-20170727-8529-1xwyar0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sam Durant’s Scaffold, which is based on the gallows used in high-profile executions has caused outcry in the US.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.samdurant.net/">Via samdurant.net</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Art under attack</h2>
<p>There have been many recent and historical examples of pieces of art being destroyed by people – whether deliberately <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4692544/Woman-knocks-pillar-art-exhibit-destroys-200-000.html">or by accident</a>. A relatively recent exhibition, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23198478">Art under Attack</a> at the Tate Britain in London, drew attention to the theme of sacred and secular image destruction in the UK over a 500 year period. </p>
<p>It included artefacts like a 16th century statue of a dead Christ which had been brutally attacked by religious reformers. Declared “too topical almost” by then director Penelope Curtis, the exhibition drew attention to how confusion between the “real” and the “represented” can manifest itself as artefact destruction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179997/original/file-20170727-15183-1gtzv5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Statue of the Dead Christ was found damaged and hidden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.mercers.co.uk/history">The Mercers' company</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Art under Attack exhibition also showed how artists use destruction as part of the artistic process. The exhibition drew attention to an international group of artists, collectors and curators who attended the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lSodBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=DIAS+Metzger&source=bl&ots=l_07QN5Kfy&sig=BQBDmUYWDLHUc_MA167j1O68Mds&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir0LWUi97UAhWCF8AKHbBSAUIQ6AEIajAN#v=onepage&q=DIAS%20Metzger&f=false">Destruction in Art Symposium</a>, initiated by the artist and political activist <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gustav-metzger-7196">Gustav Metzger</a>, in London in 1966. </p>
<p>Metzger, himself a refugee from Nazi occupied Poland, thought destruction should be given a proper role – directed by artists themselves – rather than it acting as a suppression of artistic freedoms.</p>
<p>The Tate exhibition also showed more recent works like the Chapman Brothers’ <a href="https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11735/one-day-you-will-no-longer-be-loved-that-it-should-come-to-this-iii-jake-and-dinos-chapman">One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved II</a>, where the artists painted over another artist’s work to change the image and its meaning.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179996/original/file-20170727-8516-87thn4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raphael Montañez Ortiz and accomplice destroying a piano during the Destruction In Art Symposium, London, 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/news/27079/piano-destroyed-in-legendary-1966-symposium-to-go-on-display-at-tate">Wire</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Breaking to innovate</h2>
<p>But destruction as part of a process is not just the preserve of artists. At the University of Bradford we are working on a collaborative project between archaeologists and artists which has been underway since 2014. The project is simultaneously an art piece – conceived by myself – as well as a vehicle for scientific discovery. </p>
<p>The art piece takes the form of a story which involves the creation, destruction and reconstruction of a monumental sculpture of a human figure almost ten feet high. The figure is currently being completed in clay after three years in the making with the intention of it being cast in a specially engineered cement material. </p>
<p>Once complete, the sculpture will then be transported to a site where it will be deliberately broken, and the resulting fragments will be collected by the university’s archaeologists.</p>
<p>The aim is for the piece to require no inner metal framework – as this would affect the way it breaks. Archaeologists will then be able to use digital technologies to create a manual reconstruction, using the fragments they have been able to retrieve. The process will be filmed at each stage and presented in partnership with <a href="http://bradford-city-of-film.com/">Bradford UNESCO City of Film</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n3HWBo-HexA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Music by Jeremy Bradford and film photography by Jimi Lund.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An act of creation</h2>
<p>In this way, the act of destruction will simultaneously become an act of creation. The resulting work will bear witness to the action and illustrate a certain aesthetic of ruin. But given the ease with which the “real” can be confused with the “represented”, in the current climate of Brexit and the breaking down of both trade boundaries and country ties, it is with some trepidation that the project moves to the next stage. </p>
<p>The process also echoes the evolution of humankind’s story of technology – which is both brutal and wonderful. It begins with the artist manually grappling with one of the earliest materials to be used by the human hand, then moves on to the limestone based cement for manufacture, and finally, use of the latest digital innovations to inform reconstruction.</p>
<p>It is hoped the project will help to engage people both old and young with the varied conservation methods that are used to document, reconstruct and interpret fragmented objects. Beyond that, as a piece of art, it is hoped it will promote thought on what it is to be human in relation to the objects we make and destroy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Johnson is collaborating with Bradford UNESCO City of Film. She has previously received funding from Yorkshire Arts.</span></em></p>
How an act of destruction can simultaneously become an act of creation.
Kate Johnson, Lecturer in Design, University of Bradford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63596
2016-08-12T02:23:51Z
2016-08-12T02:23:51Z
The Dobell Drawing Biennial: modestly staged, impressively rendered
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133473/original/image-20160809-9267-6fdnx5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Halfway to the light, halfway through the night 2010-14, by Jumaadi</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a big difference between a biennale and a biennial. Although both words simply mean an event that’s held every two years, in an art world context they have very different connotations. </p>
<p>The former is the posh Italian word for a large-scale, high profile exhibition that’s preferably staged on an island such as in Venice, Italy – or even Cockatoo Island, Sydney. They have artistic directors drawn from a rarefied field of international curators and they come wrapped up in big ideas and a conceptual bow of intellectual credibility.</p>
<p>The latter, by contrast is a much more modest affair – in the art world the biennial is basically admitting that the exhibition – for that is what it is – eschews the razzamatazz of the biennale and has a much more modest aim, to simply create an bi-annual exhibition that has more credibility because of its modesty.</p>
<p>In that context, the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial has an interesting history. Between 1993 and 2012, it ran as a prize worth A$30,000 and for a time was staged alongside The Archibald Prize for Portraiture. It attracted entries from across the country and usually featured dozens of finalists. But in 2012, the Art Gallery of NSW decided to reinvent the Dobell as a curated exhibition.</p>
<p>It always seemed to me that in its final years the Dobell was repeating itself. While there was some welcome variation in the kinds of work being selected, it was a show of artists producing work that aspired to credibility that’s bestowed upon the art of drawing. Where was the raw, untutored stuff that was being produced out there in the world of artist run galleries? Where were the outer limits of the practice in performance or video?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133476/original/image-20160809-9267-1hql6o5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marwat 2014 by Nyapanyapa Yunupingu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AGNSW, Diana Panuccio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media-office/dobell-australian-drawing-biennial/">Drawing Out</a>, the first Biennial in 2014, was a much more modest affair than the former prize, featuring the work of just ten artists. Disappointingly the show included names familiar from the Dobell prize era but there were some pieces that challenged the very concept of what constitutes a drawing, works such as Gosia Wlodarczak’s performance drawing on the window of the gallery, Anna Pollack’s short video animation and Mary Tonkin’s 14-metre long panorama. Alongside the more traditional works, the 2014 Dobell had both substance and breadth.</p>
<p>So I went off to see <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media-office/dobell-australian-drawing-biennial-2016/">Close to home: a celebration of contemporary drawing in Australia</a> not expecting a massive biennale but a substantial and consequential biennial. There are just six artists in the show. Six. And all of them have exhibited work at the Art Gallery of NSW before. Three are from Sydney, two from Melbourne, one from the NT. </p>
<p>The artist Noel McKenna, whose work I love, has paintings and drawings in the gallery’s collection, as are paintings and sculptures by Nyapanyapa Yunupingu. An unkind person might take the show’s title as the curator brief – keep it small and cheap. </p>
<p>Sequestered in a small downstairs gallery space adjacent to Julian Rosenfeldt’s Manifesto video installation – a star-studded, feature-film level production and intellectual wank-fest that sprawls through three galleries – the Dobell Biennial looks modest in the extreme.</p>
<p>As much as I detest art critics who spend more time rubbishing the management of an art gallery rather than actually engaging with the art, this context is crucial in understanding the stakes of the art of drawing in the contemporary art world. As much as I have championed video art in the past, I would never have dreamed that a worthy show like the Dobell would be given such short shrift when it came to gallery space and resources. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133471/original/image-20160809-18030-1o1tlv2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Untitled 2015-16 from the series Animals I have known by Noel McKenna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You might even go so far as to argue that drawing is being shunted out in favour of the smoke and mirrors of new media, but I’ll leave that argument for another time. Happily, the quality of the work in Close to Home manages to shoulder much of the expectation of a show once described as “the most important” exhibition of its kind in Australia.</p>
<p>McKenna’s Animals I have known (2015) is another of the artist’s signature works that mix text and drawing, here a chart of dogs he has owned and other creatures he has encountered over the years such as possums in the trees around his Rose Bay home, and chickens in a friend’s yard in Darlinghurst. As curator Anne Ryan notes, the work – a collection of related drawings and the chart – is both acutely observational but also emotional, and utterly beguiling if you happen to like dogs, as McKenna’s economical line captures perfectly their attitude and profile.</p>
<p>An interesting connection between the nature of representation and the art of drawing connects a number of other works too. Nyapanyapa Yunupingu’s drawings are notable not only for their use of fibre-tipped pen, natural pigments, clay and acrylics, but their eschewal of strict narrative for the formal qualities of mark making. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=779&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133486/original/image-20160809-20932-1k7cqug.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inhabited Space 2015-16 by Catherine O'Donnell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The dense crosshatch abstract form of Larrani (2014) is an optically fascinating field of lines while the larger multi-panel work Djorra (paper) 1 (2014) relates a story of when the artist was gored by a wild buffalo. Where in one drawing the line is about the simple act of mark making, in the other it has a narrative quality. Catherine O’Donnell’s massive Inhabited Space (2015-16) is a wall drawing that depicts the simple lines of the suburban fibro house; its windows and screen doors hyper detailed charcoal on paper drawings. Together, the schematic outline and the detail coalesce, and like Yunupingu’s drawings, float between abstraction and figuration.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133478/original/image-20160809-11853-1xvaml8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We’re all going to die 2015 by Richard Lewer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Richard Lewer’s nine drawing series have titles that describe states of mind – Depression is like quicksand, you have to avoid panic to escape (2015), The distance is not what you measure, it’s what you create (2015), I’m fine, I’m just tired (2015) among them – and accompany head-and-shoulders portraits of friends and acquaintances who have experienced anxiety and depression.</p>
<p>With that knowledge the viewer scrutinizes the faces to see some trace of that condition being somehow represented in the drawing, but the realisation that these are drawings, not documentary photographs, only becomes obvious the longer you look. Lewer’s avoidance of expressionist illustration only makes the images more powerful. </p>
<p>Australian-Indonesian artist Jumaadi’s work explores another kind of subjectivity – his own, and the arrangement of drawings are a kind of diary of thoughts, feelings, and dreams, given form in monstrous figures mixed with odd observations – a bullock pulling a wagon, doll-like figures in embrace. Despite their darkness, there’s a beauty in their ambiguity.</p>
<p>The sixth artist in the Dobell Biennial is Maria Kontis whose work are painstakingly rendered pastel on paper drawings that reproduce certain elements of images from found photographs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133479/original/image-20160809-18053-12xcd3p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Icaria 1912, 2016 by Maria Kontis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Drawn at full scale but set adrift on much larger sheets of framed paper, the works have the studious air of a post photography project, finding in works such as Edmund Floating (2014) or Him or Me (2015) obscure details that are emphasised to enhance the ambiguous nature of the images. There’s stillness in these works that draw their power in part from the found image, but there’s also an undeniable aesthetic power in Kontis’s hand.</p>
<p>Despite the modest state of the show, and the limited number of works, Ryan should be acknowledged for bringing together such an impressive exhibition. Although biennial might suggest a bigger scale, it’s not limited in scope.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2016: <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media-office/dobell-australian-drawing-biennial-2016/">Close to home: a celebration of contemporary drawing in Australia</a> is showing at the AGNSW until 11 December. Admission is free.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Frost does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Dobell is a celebration of drawing. And the work in this year’s show, from Noel McKenna’s beautifully rendered drawings of dogs to Richard Lewer’s depictions of states of mind – is first rate.
Andrew Frost, Lecturer in Media, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/53775
2016-02-05T11:09:10Z
2016-02-05T11:09:10Z
The rise and fall of the Knoedler, New York’s most notorious art gallery
<p>In Manhattan Federal Court, there’s a trial taking place that has highlighted just how murky the business of art authentication has become. </p>
<p>After suddenly closing in 2011 in the wake of massive lawsuits, Knoedler Gallery and its former director, Ann Freedman, are finally having <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/arts/design/knoedler-gallery-heads-to-trial-in-sale-of-a-fake-rothko.html">their day in court</a>: they’re currently faced with a civil lawsuit leveled by collector and Sotheby’s chairman Domenico de Sole, who thought he had bought an US$8.3 million Rothko from the gallery. It was actually painted by Pei-Shen Qian, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/nyregion/struggling-immigrant-artist-tied-to-80-million-new-york-fraud.html">a Chinese immigrant living in Queens</a>. </p>
<p>But the collapse of the Knoedler, New York’s oldest art gallery, was much more protracted and complex than the <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/7-things-knoedler-trial-413285">forgery trial</a> taking place. The gallery’s fall has much to do with profound changes in the gallery business over the last century and the increasing scarcity of profitable secondary market material. </p>
<h2>A history of questionable dealings</h2>
<p>When Michael Knoedler arrived in New York in 1846 as a representative of the French lithographer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/20/arts/art-review-a-return-to-the-junction-of-art-and-commerce.html">Goupil & Cie</a>, the city had virtually no art dealers to speak of. </p>
<p>Because few Americans could afford to purchase one-of-a-kind oil paintings, Knoedler’s job was to sell customers <a href="http://www.getty.edu/research/special_collections/notable/knoedler.html">inexpensive prints from Paris</a>. </p>
<p>By the turn of the century, the gallery advanced boldly into the field of original old masters and – with <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/J-P-Morgan-Collection-Paintings-Exhibition-1943-Knoedler-Gallery-WWII-Benefit-/281901169854?hash=item41a29e7cbe:g:D8cAAOSw8-tWYTdm">J.P. Morgan</a> and <a href="http://www.frick.org/sites/default/files/archivedsite/exhibitions/vermeer/frick.htm">Henry Clay Frick</a> as clients – became a serious rival to the dominant dealer of the era, <a href="http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/treasures-from-the-vault-the-man-of-la-belle-ferroniere/">Joseph Duveen</a>. </p>
<p>But the ongoing court case isn’t the first time the gallery has been embroiled in nefarious dealings. In 1931, representatives of Knoedler <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/op30_dumping_oils_art_sales_williams_1977.pdf">purchased 21 masterpieces from Russia’s Hermitage Museum</a> for Andrew Mellon in a set of secret sales sanctioned by Joseph Stalin. The works included van Eyck’s <a href="http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/treasures-from-the-vault-knoedler-mellon-and-an-unlikely-sale/">Annunciation</a> and Botticelli’s <a href="http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.24.html">Adoration of the Magi</a>, which sold for roughly <a href="http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/files/2013/07/knoedler_hermitage.jpg">$900,000</a>. </p>
<p>The deal, brokered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Hammer">Armand Hammer</a>, an American with close business ties to the Soviet Union, began the gallery’s long, tragic involvement with the Hammer family.</p>
<p>Nor is the recent case their first brush with forgery. In the 1958 edition of <em>Art News Annual</em>, the gallery took out a full-page ad with a 1948 Matisse that turned out to be a fake by the notorious forger <a href="http://www.intenttodeceive.org/forger-profiles/elmyr-de-hory/the-artifice-of-elmyr-de-hory/">Elmyr de Hory</a>. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-secret-to-all-great-art-forgeries-50173">Elmyr’s forgeries</a> were exposed in 1968, Knoedler’s top dealer, E. Coe Kerr, <a href="http://ekonyvtar.sk-szeged.hu/JaDoX_Portlets/displayContent?docId=14200&secId=14236">conceded</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was a great painting. You would never dream it was a fake.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A gallery reborn</h2>
<p>Soon after the ignominy of the Elmyr affair, Knoedler found itself teetering on bankruptcy.</p>
<p>In 1971, the gallery <a href="http://blogs.artinfo.com/lacmonfire/2011/12/01/hammer-foundation-pulls-plug-on-knoedler/">was sold for $2.5 million</a> – to their old partner in the Hermitage deals: Armand Hammer.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110021/original/image-20160202-32231-1fcy7c5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Armand Hammer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Armand_Hammer_82.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hammer made the excellent choice of appointing his business partner <a href="http://holywar.org/jewishtr/26art.htm">Maury Leibovitz</a> to run the operation. Leibovitz, in turn, hired a well-connected art world figure, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=sPGdBxzaWj0C&pg=RA2-PA60&lpg=RA2-PA60&dq=lawrence+rubin+knoedler&source=bl&ots=qbhgGGyHyi&sig=3uZHFjrJmpCNhCJVt48WnfE52Z4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD8vXMpNfKAhVDdD4KHTB3AE84ChDoAQgjMAI#v=onepage&q=lawrence%20rubin%20knoedler&f=false">Lawrence Rubin</a>, as gallery director. </p>
<p>Leibovitz and Rubin reversed flagging revenues by switching up the business model. No longer did the gallery deal in old masters and classical modernists. They reoriented their focus, switching to midcentury and contemporary art and representing artists like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/arts/150-years-of-helping-shape-a-nation-s-taste.html?pagewanted=all">Frank Stella, Richard Diebenkorn and Robert Rauschenberg</a>.</p>
<p>Leibovitz also understood that galleries rarely survived on one revenue stream alone. He revived Knoedler’s original business model – printing and selling serial artworks – and featured the prints of the immensely popular expressionist painter <a href="http://www.leroyneiman.com/shop/">Leroy Neiman</a>. </p>
<p>As one former employee of Leibovitz’s explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The main reason the Knoedler Gallery stayed afloat before 1993 was because of the genius of the president, Maury Leibovitz, and his strong relationship with LeRoy Neiman. The revenues from the lucrative publishing and printing deal between Neiman and Knoedler allowed the gallery to stay in business. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Things fall apart</h2>
<p>Armand Hammer died in 1990, and his grandson, Michael A. Hammer, assumed control of the gallery. When Leibovitz died in 1992, the gallery’s relationship with Neiman deteriorated. Then, in 1994, Michael Hammer dismissed Rubin, ceding total control of the operation to his protégé Ann Freedman, which caused an exodus of artists led by Rauschenberg. </p>
<p>The gallery needed to find a source of income to replace their lost artists, especially a cash cow like Neiman. Furthermore, the big auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, were increasingly dominating the business of selling canonical artworks on the secondary market. </p>
<p>Enter: an obscure Long Island gallerist named Glafira Rosales, who represented a collection of undiscovered Abstract Expressionist works belonging to an anonymous “Mr. X.” Rosales was willing to sell the pieces to Knoedler at below-market prices. </p>
<p>Perhaps alarms should have immediately sounded in 1993. That year, the estate of Richard Diebenkorn <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/arts/design/knoedler-now-in-dispute-over-diebenkorn-drawings.html">claimed</a> two drawings from his Ocean Park series were fakes. Without the profits from these sales, however, Knoedler <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/arts/design/knoedler-made-huge-profits-on-fake-rothko-lawsuit-claims.html">would have likely collapsed</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, much of the argument for Ann Freedman’s culpability in the ongoing trial comes from the unlikely profitability of these sales. Many had achieved resale values <a href="http://www.artnews.com/2015/08/11/knoedler-gallery-settles-three-lawsuits-from-forgery-scandal/">five to eight times their purchase price</a> from Rosales. Any dealer would be thrilled to make that kind of opportunistic deal; but if it presents itself too often, then it’s likely the goods are fake, stolen work or were illegal exported. </p>
<p>Yet despite some more red flags – including a Pollock sold in 2002 that the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) <a href="http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/grant/the-knoedler-mess-4-2-12.asp">couldn’t find support for the claimed provenance</a> – Knoedler’s continued to sell works coming from the collection of Rosales’ mysterious Mr. X. </p>
<p>The full scale of the alleged conspiracy, however, became apparent only through two concurrent cases. </p>
<p>One was a Robert Motherwell painting from the artist’s <em>Elegy to the Spanish Republic</em> series sold by Julian Weissman, a former Knoedler employee (who also bought from Rosales). </p>
<p>The Dedalus Foundation (which publishes the authoritative compendium of Motherwell’s body of work) <a href="httP://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704608504576208622894968298">first wrote in 2007</a> that it would be included in the upcoming edition. However, it wrote back two years later to say it would not; in the intervening years, the piece had been tested and found to contain materials not yet patented at the time the painting was purported to have been made. </p>
<p>The other case involved another Pollock that Knoedler sold to hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange with an assurance, apparently, that it would be included in the updated edition of Pollock’s <em>catalogue raisonné</em>. In fact, the artist’s authentication board <a href="http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/28/a-matter-of-opinion/">had been disbanded since 1995</a>.
When Lagrange found that neither major auction house would not accept the painting for sale, he <a href="https://www.ifar.org/case_summary.php?docid=1375805580">filed suit</a> in 2011, and the gallery promptly closed. </p>
<p>The biggest indictment, however, may concern the abstract expressionist art movement. The current court case surrounds a Mark Rothko forgery that Art Basel founder Ernst Beyeler <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/knoedler-lawsuit-sublime-rothko-becomes-junk-without-changing-416162">described as</a> “sublime.” Perhaps those philistines who sneered at Rothko, Pollock and Motherwell – saying that anyone could do that type of abstraction – weren’t so far from the truth. </p>
<p>After all, if a Chinese immigrant in Queens could do them all quite convincingly, one has to wonder how many other abstract expressionist fakes have been bought and sold. </p>
<p>And if a high-profile gallery was willing to sell them, can anyone really trust the authentication process that’s in place – for abstract expressionist works and beyond?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53775/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
What, exactly, was going on at the Knoedler Gallery in the years leading up to a forgery indictment?
Jeffrey Taylor, Assistant Professor of Arts Management, Purchase College State University of New York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.