Interspecies: Artists Collaborating With Animals

If there was ever an event after my own heart, it’s one that marries concern for animals with creativity:

“Interspecies asks: Can artists work with animals as equals? If not, what is the current state of the human-animal relationship? It has recently been shown that humans are closer to the higher primates than previously thought, with chimpanzee and gorilla behaviour reflecting politics, deception and even possibly creativity. What does this mean to the way we see ourselves as one species inhabiting a planet in crisis? Interspecies uses artistic and participatory strategies to stimulate dialogue and debate, showing artists in contact with real animals and negotiating a new power relationship, questioning the way we view our interactions with animals during Darwin’s anniversary year.”

Interspecies has a whole shebang of London-based events planned for early October including: exhibitions, symposia, workshops and outings. Artists include: Nicolas Primat, Antony Hall, Kira O’Reilly, Ruth Maclennan, Beatriz da Costa, Rachel Mayeri + Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson.

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Open Call – New Life Happening

Propose a happening or event for 10.000 participants in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Conference. Your concept should involve collective action and will be implemented alongside New Life Happenings by artist groups Superflex (DK) and Signa (DK/A) among others. The Submission deadline is October 1st 2009. The official Opening of New Happenings is December 7th 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. To submit, please visit: www.wooloo.org.

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Artist Revisits Australian Television’s Biggest Kleenex Moment in ‘The Death of Molly Jones’.

Like many Australians, artist Jo Kerlogue vividly remembers mourning much loved Molly Jones from the popular Australian soap A Country Practice. Described as Australian television’s biggest ‘Kleenex moment’, the two episodes screened over two nights in 1985 are the subject of her latest solo exhibition ‘The Death of Molly Jones’.

Masquerading as alter-ego Nonchalant Sally, Jo Kerlogue will exhibit a camp, nostalgic re-evaluation of history. Armed with the tools of parody ‘The Death of Molly Jones’ will re-assess received wisdom and dominant Australian culture through the satirical vehicle of illustration montage. The Death of Molly from A Country Practice is both a vivid emotional memory shared by many Australians and a metaphor of the Australian contemporary condition.

“Impending homosexuality, detachment from extended family through immigration and living in suburban Adelaide altered my understanding of significant sentiment”, says Kerlogue. “Instances, regarded as meaningful, such as births, deaths and marriages were qualified through the characters from soap operas, who became ‘real family’ albeit, one made up of light and electronics”.

Possibly the only artist ever to undertake a Masters degree as an alter-ego, Kerlogue explains, “We have entered an age where fleshy analogue organisms intertwine with digital electronics and binary codes to create a new breed of bio-cybernetic creatures. In a world of images and simulations Nonchalant Sally is a cultural product, an attempt to answer the question; how does an artist compete in a world which is essentially a gigantic McFlurry of images?”

‘The Death of Molly Jones’ will combine a myriad of illustration montage with an installation of theatrical lighting, live classical music, recorded sound and moving image. The result is an unconventional and emotive, multi-media illustration experience, in the Old Port Adelaide Waterside Worker’s Hall, opening on Tuesday July 7th at 6.30pm until July 18, 2009 in conjunction with Vitalstatistix Theatre Company.

About Jo Kerlogue and Nonchalant Sally
Jo Kerlogue has exhibited work in Busan, Korea, Adelaide and Melbourne and is currently undertaking a Masters Degree in Illustration at the University of South Australia. Kerlogue and alter-ego Nonchalant Sally illustrate for a variety of formats including mobile phone, large scale digital projection, packaging, fabric printing, illustration performance, the world wide web as well as the traditional gallery setting. Nonchalant Sally Illustration and Art work are for the culture savvy consumer, always willing to remain one step ahead of the cultural zeitgeist.

Websites:
www.nonchalantsally.com
Also check out the Nonchalant Sally Blog as there will be a  ‘Death of Molly Jones’ video posting after the opening night and pics
www.nonchalantsallynews.blogspot.com/

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Ann Howie – Point Roadknight

One of Melbourne’s most respected painters Ann Howie, climbs the cliffs of Point Roadknight to present her awesome new exhibition. The work contains views and vistas from Anglesea, Victoria and displays her latest commission for one of her private collectors. Ann has also been busy creating her website as a point of info exchange about her work and career. Ann is currently encouraging comments and inquiries about sales of her work.

^{Across the Point
oil on linen 92×140 2009,© Ahowie 2009}

Visit the Ann Howie website

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Ballarat Cross Cultural Collaboration Exhibition

A coming together of Victoria’s visual artists, poets, writers, filmmakers and performers. A range of artists books, multi-media, 2D works and installations will be showcased across the University of Ballarat’s Post Office Gallery and the City of Ballarat’s Mining Exchange.

Collaborations include:
Elizabeth Presa with performance dancer Janette Hoe; Lauren Berkowitz with Fabrice Meliquot (France); poet Dominique Hecq with sound artist Catherine Clover; Bruno Leti with poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe;  as well as, installation artists Dr Domenico de Clario, Dr Colleen Morris and Jeanette Mc Whinney.
Until ­ Sat 27 June
Arts Academy, University of Ballarat
Cnr Sturt & Lydiard St Ballarat, VIC 3375

Check out the details at
<http://www.ballarat.edu.au/ard/artsacademy/pogallery/index.shtml>

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FamousWhenDead exhibitions in May

All in All is an exhibition aimed to bring together local artists and local residents alike. It presents artists from a variety of different ages and backgrounds living and working in 3003 and 3051. Expect a range of different mediums including painting, sculpture, photography and jewellery. Featured are works by Ted May, Eric Henshall, Catherine Mather, Theo Robinson, Bengamin, Noriko Nakamura, Sophie Black, Lehmann Smith, Sonja Hornung, Natalie Jeffcott, Mirian Mooney and Julie Parker.
Exhibition runs from 1 – 17 May.

What to do with the good old vinyl record when music comes from discs and pods these days? Throw some art on it and spin that thing! This exhibition will present unique works on 12inch records, and if you are luck you might be still able to  play the B-side. Collector’s feast…
Artists include: Ali J, El Moocho, ApeSeven, Kirsty Furnes (FR), Shayna Yasuhara (USA), Martin Whatson (NOR), Caitlin Rigby, Yuki Nakano, Adi, Fray, Hermlife (USA), Megan Dell, Simon Milligan (NL), A1one (IRAN), Laura McKellar, Maria Slovakova (UK), Papermonster (USA). More to be announced.
Exhibition runs 21 – 31 May.

FamousWhenDead Gallery | 207 Victoria St | West Melbourne VIC 3003 | melway ref 2B A11 | Australia

http://www.famouswhendead.com.au/

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Dorothy Berry retrospective – Tweet for real

Fancy Red Bird

Arts Project Australia surveys 20 years of work by artist Dorothy Berry.

Bird on a Wire – the exhibition runs from to Saturday 6th June, with an artist talk on Saturday 2nd May (2009) from 11-11.30am.

http://www.artsproject.org.au/

24 High Street
Northcote  Victoria  3070
Telephone: 03 9482 4484
Fax: 03 9482 1852
Email: info@artsproject.org.au

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Experimenta Playground at Bendigo Art Gallery

Philip Worthington
Shadow Monsters 2005
Still image from interactive installation
Courtesy of Experimenta
Photo by Andrew Lloyd

Ever wanted to play with puffer fish and electric eels without getting wet? How about watching your shadow take on monstrous features as it grows scales, teeth, eyes and horns?

Escape into Experimenta Playground, an exhibition of artworks that beg to be touched and invite your interaction.

Experience this exhibition of innovative and playful artworks and videos by over 30 Australian and international artists. With interactive artworks, video installations and extreme art on screen, this is art that steps out from the shadows of computer games and leaves mouse, keyboard and joystick behind.

Exhibition dates: 25 April – 7 June

Artist and Curator talk
11am Saturday 25 April

Join Tamera King, Curator, and Narinda Reeders, contemporary media artist, for an insightful discussion about the exhibition Experimenta Playground. This is a free event, all welcome.

Bendigo Art Gallery (03) 5434 6088

Open Daily 10am – 5pm (excluding 25 December)
Entry is by donation
Wheelchair access

Bendigo Art Gallery
42 View St
Bendigo VIC 3550

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Shadowless Summer: New Works By Liz McGrath

Los Angeles born self-taught artist Liz McGrath has been plundering the darker corners of the world from which to elicit her cavalcade of creatures; in her new works, she exposes the shadow-dwellers to the full effects of unrelenting sunshine. Inspired, perhaps, by the pervasive sense of exposure running rampant in the zeitgeist, McGrath apologetically illuminates that which our frail psyches prefer to keep in the dark, taking a much-needed closer look at our blind spots.

Heading up the exhibit is Boxer, a sad-eyed pony in the vein of Animal Farm’s betrayed proletariat hero. Neatly bisected  and perched atop two pedestals where snakes coil with indifferent menace, Boxer sports an impressive collection of Russian gang tattoos alongside the maxim fortes fortuna iuvat (fortune favors the bold). His exterior speaks to the hubris of a collapsed social and economic structure. Taking a closer look at his inside, however, tells a darker tale- a woe-begotten lighthouse facing an unheeded warning: Be careful what you wish for. In the face of our own economic collapse, Boxer’s plight is all too relatable.

A series of mounted animal heads makes up the series We Are All Ships in the Night; lonely figures with eerie apparitions reminiscent of ghost ships making up the tattered sails atop their antlers, unseeing eyes disconsolately speaking to their irreversible isolation.

…….Liz McGrath currently lives and works in Los Angeles with her husband Morgan Slade, with whom she plays in the band Miss Derringer, as well as her two tiny hairless dogs Blue and King Tut. Her work can be found in myriad publications,  including a published  collection of past works “Everything that Creeps”.  She has exhibited her work around the globe; this is her first solo show in NYC. 

For more works by Liz Mcgrath visit www.lizmcgrath.com

Sloan Fine Art
128 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
www.sloanfineart.com

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Go Font Urself art exhibition

SYDNEY
Where: Peer Gallery – 153 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037
Date: 25 February 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Website: www.gofonturself.com.au
About: Thirteen Australia artists showcase type based artworks that reinvent the uniqueness of the alphabet.

MELBOURNE
Where: Don’t Come Gallery – 314 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Date: 4 March 2009
Time: 6:30pm
RSVP: By sending an email to gofonturself@peergroupmedia.com along with your details.
About: Thirteen Australia artists showcase type based artworks that reinvent the uniqueness of the alphabet.

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