March of The Penguins

Dear Art Life,

For your information and to clarify some apparent misunderstandings appearing on the thread discussion in regard to the Shaun Gladwell project at Artspace, Sherman Galleries did not ‘put up the money to stage what must have been a very expensive show…’ (fred friendly). That assertion is incorrect. They did, as did Gladwell himself, loan Artspace some technical equipment. Most of the equipment was provided by Artspace and/or hired/loaned from elsewhere. This isn’t unusual for Artspace with large technology-dependent installations. The exhibition was otherwise developed and produced by Artspace.

Best regards

Helen Hyatt-Johnston
GENERAL MANAGER
ARTSPACE

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DORKBOT-SYD : OCTOBER

Tuesday the 23rd October

Usual times and places. See you at 19:00 for a 19:30 speak off at Sydney (302 Cleveland St)

Two super presentations this month! And a show+tell.

1. Stephen Jones will be demonstrating and talking about a number of video synthesizers that he built between 1978 and 1986 (see pictured below for one). Stephen used these synths when performing live with Australian electronic group Severed Heads and in other projects.

2. Nick Wishart will be presenting CeLL, a MIDI controlled pneumatic orchestra he has created in collaboration with Miles van Dorssen. They will be opening up CeLL to new composers via a new software interface that can receive compositions by email, play and record the composition then send that recording to the composer.
www.cell.org.au

3. Show + Tell is open to anyone who has something they wanna bring along. Can be something interesting you have been working on or perhaps an event you wish to share with people. Just as long as it has something to do with electricity!

Also: Taking suggestions and volunteers for presentations for November’s Dorkbot which shall be the last Dorkbot of 2007. Get in while the year lasts!

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Click to enlarge

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Ben Denham, no strings: pre-cursive, performance/video, 2007.
Courtesy of the artist.
between you and me explores ways in which artworks propose, present and perform mediating gestures. Taking as a starting point the particularities of viewing in a gallery context, these works interrogate the apparatus of their own making from various perspectives. Ideas are revealed by way of a certain self-awareness: a consideration of process, context and reception as it relates to the work’s own operation.The exhibition considers how the reflexive mode of ‘60s conceptual practices informs current strategies in art making, particularly in relation to performance and installation. A catalogue with in situ documentation and an essay by the curator will be available following the opening. Artist talks will be held on Saturday 17 November. Part of the Firstdraft Emerging Curators Program.press release

Ben Denham uses the concept of ‘re-writing’ to interrogate relationships between the body and the production of texts. Denham’s experimental performances use gesture, inscription, and the experience of text-as-matter as means to investigate the divide between expression and interpretation.Sam Smith investigates the relationship between the real and the virtual, using the processes of video making as visual content. In Smith’s work, the manipulation of space, time, matter and perception that is integral to video is exposed to viewers’ scrutiny and curiosity.

Paul Greedy creates environments that integrate sonic, kinetic and visual elements to reveal aspects of how we understand and relate with the physical world. Greedy’s installations render viewers conscious of their own bodily responses to different phenomena, and in turn register participatory interactions.

Sarah Jamieson uses the parameters of her body as a starting point to conduct speculative and temporal research that reflects on how we define our physical and social interactions in space, via such concepts as interior and exterior, self and other, public and private.

Rachel Scott works across installation, painting, video and performance to investigate the human subject in relation to the production and reception of art. Scott explores the slippages between unconscious and contrived actions, as well as the processes of obscuring and revealing that are integral to making and exhibiting work.

firstdraft: 116-118 Chalmers St. Surry Hills NSW 2010 t: +61 (0)2 9698 3665mail(at)firstdraftgallery.com open hours: Wednesday to Saturday 12-6pm

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JAMES DORAHY PROJECT SPACE is pleased to present

ELVIS RICHARDSON

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF LOSING IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE WINNING

23 October – 4 November 2007

Opening Wednesday 24 October 6-8pm

Elvis Richardson’s art practice incorporates found objects such as 35mm slides, photographs, VHS recordings and trophies as raw materials in video and sculptural installations. She chooses these discarded items to investigate ways personal and social identity are constructed and as primary evidence of material culture and history itself. Richardson’s interest in undermining the heroic iconography of trophies as emblems expressing social status, success and ideals of sportsmanship to question notions of desire, failure and nostalgia.

The works in THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF LOSING IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE WINNING are from the artists silver trophy collection ranging from premiership cups and 21st mugs to wedding goblets, making explicit the competitive references of trophies to all facets of our lives. Richardson has then poetically transformed these items through an experimental trial by fire resulting in a variety of shocking but beautifully slumped and shattered outcomes. These fragments are then re-silvered and polished for public display.

Elvis Richardson has recently been selected as a finalist in the inaugural $100,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize with her sculptural work field. Sixteen contemporary artists have been chosen for the award reflecting on one of the central elements of our cultural and social life – sport (www.sellersartprize.com.au). This exhibition is reflective of the work Richardson is developing for the finalists exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre in July 2008. It is a very exciting nomination in recognition of the artists continued investigation and use of trophies and their meaning in her practice.

Please join us for the Opening on Wednesday 24 October 6 – 8 pm

JAMES DORAHY PROJECT SPACE Suite 4 1st floor 111 Macleay St Potts Point NSW 2011 ( enter 1st door in Orwell St ) Gallery Hours Tuesday – Sunday 11am 6pm Wednesday 2pm – 8pm Ph 02 9358 2585 www.jamesdorahy.com.au