The Human Rights Arts & Film Festival Launches Full Program #HRAFF #Melbourne #geekgirl

FESTIVAL OPENS WITH PAUL SIMON DOCO UNDER THE AFRICAN SKIES
15 – 27 May 2012

The fifth Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) will open on Tuesday 15 May with the highly anticipated documentary Under African Skies by award winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger.

Twenty-five years have passed since Paul Simon broke a UN cultural ban and entered South Africa to make the album Graceland. The album would go on to be a global phenomenon, salvaging his career while also polarising audiences. To mark this anniversary, Simon returns to South Africa to reunite with the Graceland musicians, and clear the air with his greatest critic, Artists Against Apartheid founder Dali Tambo. Under African Skies pays homage to this time.

Eleven days later, Jon Shenk’s The Island President will close the Festival. This is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced. Having brought democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge. As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable. The Island President captures Nasheed’s first year of office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. At the screening there will be a live video Q&A with the former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed.

With 15 Australian premieres, other highlights of the 19 film program include: award-winning documentary At Night They Dance which sheds light on the chaotic world of Egyptian belly dancers working in downtown Cairo;  based on the award-winning comic novel (Paco Roca, 2007), Wrinkles is an animated feature film about Emilio, who, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is sent by his son to live in an aged-care facility; Beer is Cheaper Than Therapy is a poignant documentary which examines the psychological distress suffered by numerous soldiers, offering a voice to those who are all too often lost in the discourse of war, the veterans themselves; and Australian feature film Fantome Island by Sean Gilligan which looks at Joe Eggmolesse, who at the age of seven was taken from his family, put on a train, and sent to a leprosarium on Fantome Island, located off the Queensland coast. Many years later, he returns to confront the memory of his childhood on the island, to pay tribute to those who lived and died there and to inscribe his own unique story into official Australian history.

FORUM - Extreme Reactions to Creative Expression
Sat 19 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
Facilitator Richard Watts (3RRR) along with Ajak Kwai (singer/songwriter), Jeff Daniels (filmmaker) and Khadim Ali (artist) will discuss the cultural politics of extreme governmental responses towards creative expression.

FORUM – Off the Wall: Is Street Art an Appropriate Medium to Voice Human Rights Issues?
Wed 23 May, 5.30pm – Kaleide Theatre, RMIT. Free Entry
Public discourse surrounding street art is dominated by the continuing debate about cultural legitimacy and notions of ownership of public space. Yet, such discussions conceal one of the most important functions of street art, the creative freedom to be powerfully political and socially current. Partake in a lively discussion with facilitator Fiona Hillary along with Lachlan Macdowall (artist), Boo (stencil artist), Tom Civil (graffiti artist) and Kate Shaw.

FORUM - Flights of Fancy: the Ethics of Travel
Sat 26 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
For many Australians, travel has become cheap and accessible. Yet, as the world keeps shrinking, and our mobility increasing, the decisions we make, be it as a high-flyer, a backpacker, or even a volunteer, have consequences on the world around us. Hear what facilitator Jeff Jarvis (International Research Unit Monash), and a panel including Jane Crouch (Intrepid), Andrew Abel (Surfing Assoc. of Papua New Guinea), Adam Pesce (filmmaker) and Dimity Fifer (Australian Volunteers International) have to say.

MUSIC – Rhythm & Rights
Sun 20 May, 1.30pm–7pm – Abbotsford Convent.
Move your feet, shake your body and feel the beat at HRAFF’s annual Rhythm & Rights event.  Tinpan Orange headline a full day of musical entertainment including: Sol Nation, The Hacketts, Alwan Bridgett, Cains Teame, Ersie Wadaiko, Rindo Musiki Manjaro, Leigh Woodburgess, Danny Al Sabbagh with Khaled Khalafalla as MC.  Taking over the Abbotsford Convent for one day only, the program consists of an exciting range of performers coming together over their shared commitment to the promotion of human rights culture through musical expression.

Art exhibition - Echoes of Others: Illuminating the gaps amid translation
Thu 17–27 May, 11am–5pm (Tue-Sat) 12pm–5pm (Sun) – No Vacancy, QV Building.
Human rights issues have become increasingly visible, broadcast through a variety of media, whose dissemination of information makes possible greater accessibility and detail. On the other, the inconsistencies of such technological access around the world continue to reinforce the widening gaps that exist between people and places. Whilst communication should be crisp and clear, it is, too often, broken, frozen and distorted, as the process of translation allows for interpretation, re-interpretation and, more often than not, misinterpretation. The work exhibited explores echoes both materially and conceptually, as voices are silenced, images fade and meaning is reconstructed.

Artists: Alexia Germain, Marliène Blain, Louis Philippelèvesque, Anita Belia, Baden Pailthorpe, Brad Haylock, Dinalie Dabarera, The Keiskamma Trust, Lex Randolph, Louise Hunter, Minela Krupic, Nasim Nasr, Sue Kneebone and Veronica Grow.

LISTING DETAILS
WHAT: The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
WHEN: Tuesday 15 – Sunday 27 May 2012
WHERE: The Forum Theatre, ACMI and Abbotsford Convent
MORE INFO: www.hraff.org.au

#Melbourne Laneway Commissions for 2010

CALL FOR PUBLIC ART SUBMISSIONS

The City of Melbourne continues its successful annual Laneway Commissions. They are seeking innovative proposals from artists or group of artists which respond to Melbourne’s distinct urban setting.

Deadline: 22 January, 2010

Artists must obtain a project brief.

Urban Art Agenda Number 3 opens in Ballarat

Urban Art Agenda #3 is an international stencil art exhibition, which has opened at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.  Inspired by New York graffiti of the 1970s, stencil art is a form of street art, or urban art as it is often called, which has sprung up all over the globe in the last two decades. The Ballarat exhibition (coinciding with a Hans Heysen exhibition) is presented by FamousWhenDead and PinXit Arts & Events and brings together some of the most prolific stencil artists from around the world, including A1one (Tehran), David Soukup (Chicago), ELK (Canberra), El Moocho (Melbourne), HaHa (Melbourne), Jana and JS (Salzburg), Jef Aerosol (Lille), Kenji Nakayama (Boston), Mandarina Brausewetter (Vienna), Orticanoodles (Milan), Ozi (São Paulo), Penny (London).

Exhibition dates: Ballarat, 18 July – 23 August. The exhibition will be presented with additional artists in Melbourne in September, Sydney and Brisbane in October and November.

www.urbanartagenda.com.au

Street Art revolution in Iran

Check out the following sites to get a taste of street art revolution in Iran

Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/irangraffiti/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinxit/sets/72157611086130133/
http://www.famouswhendead.com.au/

Also in July FamousWhen Dead Art Gallery Melbourne presents Ralf Kempken a new body hand-cut screens for his second solo show titled Now Screening. Ralf is exploring the process of perception: “As we rely on our perceptions to make sense of our world we realise that we can exert control to adjust the perceptive process. But by doing so we find that the perceptive process is open to illusion – and delusion. What are we really seeing? Seeing is not an act of perception but one of creation.”

If you haven’t seen Ralf’s recent works at ArtMelbourne, C3 art space or SmithGallery do not miss this amazing showcase. Exhibition opens Friday, 17 July and runs to 2 August. Preview Thursday, 16 July 6 – 7 pm.

FWD
207 Victoria Street
West Melbourne 3003 Australia
Check website for gallery opening hours.
Gallery: http://www.famouswhendead.com.au/

Melbourne Stencil Festival – The Gathering

Saturday 18th July at 4pm
Collingwood Underground 44 Harmsworth St, Collingwood.

The Melbourne Stencil Festival Committee is inviting all artists and passionate volunteers who are interested in taking part in this year’s festival to a social gathering and planning meeting to be held at the Collingwood Underground.

Refreshments will be provided in the form of BBQ, bear/wine & soft drinks. Our intention is to provide information, feedback and enthusiasm to all potential participants and to conduct a proactive planning session for activities taking place in the underground.

This year we have the opportunity to extend the scope of the festival and develop a proactive, artist driven approach to activities and events which can take place in this amazing space. There will also be an opportunity for emerging artists to exhibit works which, for one reason or another, are not able to be shown in the exhibition taking place at the Yarra Sculpture Gallery.

These two venues are connected by the footbridge over Hoddle Street upon which we hope to erect large banners advertising our festival. Some of the ideas currently being considered for the underground space are; workshops, master classes, films, panel discussions, a mega wall collaborative spray space, Napier Studios residency, exhibition, second stage charity auction and closing event.

How to Get There.

Collingwood Underground is situated on Harmsworth Street which runs off Johnson St between Gold & Hoddle Streets. It is an old underground car park on the Collingwood Housing Estate. The entrance is down a ramp which is adorned by a large mural created by local indigenous artists.

Stencil Festival website

Beautiful Losers – Film

Directed by Aaron Rose, Beautiful Losers tells the story of his semi-legendary Alleged Gallery in downtown ’90s NYC. Alleged provided an incubator for a group of taggers, skateboarders and other criminally disposed minds AKA young artists (such as Harmony Korine, Mike Mills, Ed Templeton, Barry McGee etc) who hung/worked and 20 years later became famous and successful beyond your wildest dreams. Tough life huh?

The film covers off their progression from DIY street art twenty-somethings to mainstream success in advertising, film, and graphic design. Even though it somewhat glosses over trickier subject matter about what happens to punk ideals when they meet big bucks – the film does provide nice insights into some of the greater artistic minds of our time. Plus their can-do-art attitude is pretty inspiring.

Where:
ACMI Cinemas, Fed Square, Melbourne
When:
Premiere Thurs July 2, 7pm. Then Fri July 3, 7pm; Sat July 4, 7pm; Sun July 5, 5.30pm.

Website: Beautiful Losers
Source: 3thousand

Callout for Street Artists – Melbourne

CityLink in partnership with Moonee Valley City Council is inviting proposals from experienced stencil/street artists to create a painted artwork on the internal tunnel walls of a major infrastructure crossing over Moonee Ponds Creek that responds to and reflects the Moonee Ponds Creek natural environment and urban setting.

For information regarding the project please download a brief from http://www.citylink.com.au/1399.jsp

All email inquiries: liz.mcgrath@transurban.com

Melbourne Ink: a documentary – Thursday May 7th Docklands

Street art isn’t for anyone, it is for everyone.

A documentary on the underworld of Melbourne’s street art screening @ OPEN  CHANNEL, Shed4, Docklands

On 7th May, Melbourne Ink, an independent documentary about our beloved laneways and evolution of street art in Melbourne and its protagonists, will be screened at OPEN CHANNEL, Shed4, Docklands. It is an opportunity to get an insight into these disembodied artists, their motivations and philosophies. It is a free event with artists from the film doing some live painting, a delicious Argentinean BBQ will be on offer and there will be plenty of beer at a cheap price.

The documentary is made by two French directors, Julian Sena and Romain Levrault, who wanted to make an uncensored film featuring Melbourne’s most prominent figures in graffiti and stencil art. “Melbourne is legendary for its street art, it brought us here. We wanted to make a film about the conflicting forces where street art is illegal but is widely used to market the city”, says Romain.

The film stars various artists from the Blender Studio, the Mitten Fortress, the Everfresh Studio, No Vacancy and Until Never galleries. The artists have been interviewed and followed during their performances in the city. “This is their story uncensored, you will see from the film there is no holding back. It is an exciting and politically-charged 25 minutes”, says Julian.

Sponsored by Melbourne Stencil Festival, OPEN CHANNEL, Art Truck and Mountain Goat, the screening brings a night of live spraying demonstrations, music and a chance to get close up with some of Melbourne’s most notorious street artists.

Melbourne Ink
Thursday May 7th 2009
Victoria Harbour, Shed 4 North Wharf Road (end of Bourke Street) Docklands
Time: 6 till 9pm
Free entry

Yarnbombing – wool art for Activists

Knitted bus: Photo: BNPS

Hundreds of knitters around the world have begun wrapping their huge woolly creations around public property like trees, street signs and lampposts.

They then take photos of their colourful “art” and post them on internet sites for fellow knitters to view and comment on.

One of the most ambitious pieces of work saw a woman spend an entire week covering a disused single decker bus in colourful swatches.

The phenomenon, called Yarnbombing, is thought to have originated in the US but knitters are now beginning to cover British streets in woollen ‘tags’.

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