Sunday Arts Magazine

Set upon white linoleum and cast in cruciform by halogen light, Like a Knife, the Horizon is a new work by Hamish McIntosh which explores queer time through self-destruction. A durational performance-installation for four dancers, the cast attempt a five-hour marathon in Temperance Hall’s Main Hall. They run towards each other yet never meet, trying in vain to arrive at a point between them and exhausting themselves in the process.

With queer communities haunted by historic and ongoing mortalities, a future can be denied to queer people just as they ‘deny’ the future of society through non-normative embodiments and social organisations. Time both rushes forward and freezes itself in place: violent and urgent, poised and hollow.

Like a Knife, the Horizon seeks to connect fatigue and obliteration to questions around queer experiences and embodiments. In other words, to invite reflection on the links between the ‘threat’ of queerness, death, and whether we can depend on what comes next. With friendly mascot costumes and overt metaphors, this is a spectacle in sweat the whole family can enjoy. Stay for a minute or an hour and ask if the future is ours to reach.

Centre Five features seminal works drawn from Institutional and private collections from seven artists from the Centre Five group of modernist Melbourne sculptors

who defined local artistic practice in the 1950s and 1960s and who represent a significant place in McClelland Gallery’s collection and development.

A collegial alliance was formalised emerging in the 1950s with émigré artists Inge King, Clifford Last, Vincas Jomantas, Teisutis Zikaras, and Melbourne-born Norma Redpath and Lenton Parr. These artists were responding to post-war conditions in much the same way as occured in New York.

Amongst the group were some fearless women with established International careers and united as polite ‘sculpture activists’, Centre Five aimed to bridge the gap between artist and public through exhibitions, lectures, and media interviews…including developing relationships with architects.

Stephen is back for 2023 chatting about all things film.

The modern world is full of stunning architecture and design, from sleek skyscrapers to intricate public spaces. As a photographer, I’m always looking for ways to portray these amazing structures in a unique way. This series of images captures patterns, colors and the designs of modern buildings and spaces in a bold and striking way that stands out from traditional photography. By abstracting the perspective of these structures, it allows viewers to perceive the world around them with fresh eyes; it’s like looking at familiar places through new lenses!

This collection also offers something special that other photographic collections can’t: its vibrant color palette brings life into any room while still maintaining an artistic sensibility. The strong lines between shapes create visual interest while adding depth to each image – making them perfect for hanging on walls as part of larger displays or simply enjoying on their own as individual pieces. Whether hung alone or grouped together with similar works this series will add a touch of sophistication wherever they are placed!

This eye-catching collection offers much more than just photographs – it provides viewers with entirely new perspectives on our built environment by abstracting common architectural elements we see every day but rarely take time to appreciate fully! With its vibrant colors and striking composition this series would be sure to make any space stand out from ordinary décor – perfect for art buyers who want something truly special in their homes or offices!

 

Peter Berzanskis

Essayist, arts reviewer and researcher Kath Kenny shines new light on an unspoken yet pivotal moment in Australian theatre – and the rise of the women’s and sexual liberation movements – Staging a Revolution: When Betty Rocked the Pram is a sharp telling and behind the scenes glimpse into the revolutionary production of Betty Can Jump, and the trials and tribulations that unfolded for years to come.

On the play’s 50th anniversary, Kenny considers its ongoing impact on Australian culture today, and asks why the great cultural renaissance of women’s liberation has been largely forgotten.

In January 1972, five women took to the stage of Carlton’s Pram Factory to preview their women’s play Betty Can Jump. Claire Dobbin, Helen Garner, Evelyn Krape, Jude Kuring and Yvonne Marini mocked the ocker character beloved by Pram Factory playwrights, and performed monologues about men, sex, and how they felt “as a woman”.

Directed by Kerry Dwyer and produced by the Carlton Women’s Liberation group, the play’s frank revelations stunned audiences and shocked the Pram Factory world.

Set against a backdrop of moratorium marches, inner-city cafes and share houses, and the rising tide of sexual liberation and countercultural movements, Kath Kenny uses interviews and archival material to tell the story of Betty Can Jump. We hear from members of the Betty Can Jump collective, as well as others who were part of the Pram Factory world, including Carmen Lawrence, Max Gillies and Bill Garner.

She sets out her stake in this story, as a theatre reviewer today and as a child born into the revolutionary early 1970s. And she asks why feminism keeps getting stuck in mother-daughter battles, rethinking her own experience as a young feminist who clashed with Garner over the publication of The First Stone.

On the book, Kath Kenny says: “I first came across this story when I was researching early consciousness-raising groups and the origins of the phrase ‘The personal is political’.

While I was learning about how these women made revolutionary changes to the world for my generation, I also saw many parallels to the battles feminists are still fighting today. It made me think about how the word ‘revolution’ also means a movement around a circle. While there are many differences between the 1970s and today, there is so much we can learn from this story.”

A survey exhibition of the work of major Australian artist Peter Booth will be held at

TarraWarra Museum of Art, 26 November 2022 – 13 March 2023.

With a remarkable career spanning several decades, Melbourne-based Booth is a unique voice in

Australian painting and is considered by many to be one of the most significant contemporary artists

working in Australia today.

This new survey of paintings and works on paper will be the first major public gallery exhibition of

Peter Booth’s work since the NGV retrospective in 2003 and will feature a number of the artist’s

most significant works from the 1970s to 1990s, alongside important recent works from the past two

decades.

Curated by TarraWarra’s Anthony Fitzpatrick, the exhibition will be presented thematically, honing in

on and highlighting particular motifs, subjects and moods which have become hallmarks of Booth’s

expansive oeuvre: stillness and turbulence; alterity and alienation; mutation and hybridity; the

absurd and the grotesque; the road and the ruin; and the despoilation and the resilience of nature.

“This exhibition will reveal Booth’s extraordinary capacity to transmute his intensely personal

perceptions of the mysteries and forces of nature, and the folly and hubris of human endeavours,

into exceptional and deeply-compelling paintings and drawings,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

A small group of abstract paintings from the mid-1970s at the start of the exhibition provide a

prelude to an important series of gestural paintings which mark the beginning of the artist’s journey

into a neo-expressionist figurative style.

The exhibition progresses through Booth’s vivid imaginings of an apocalyptic world characterised by

grotesque, unsettling, and at times absurd scenes of human and hybrid figures in varying states of

apprehension, aggression and conflict.

These works will be accompanied by a small selection of prints by William Blake, James Ensor,

Francisco Goya, and Samuel Palmer, visionary artists who have been important touchstones for

Booth and with whom he shares a number of affinities.

This survey will also bring together important works from the past three decades to convey

humanity’s often fraught and ambiguous relationship to the natural world.

“Initially Booth’s highly visceral paintings of fiery, turbulent environments were the stage for

confronting and, at times, violent human encounters. Since the 1990s, many of the scenes he has

painted have become increasingly depopulated, implicating the viewer who is called to contemplate

and navigate their own subjective relationship to these vivid landscapes.

“Most recently, the artist has returned to the apocalyptic imagery that characterised his first forays

into figuration, with large-scale paintings of desolate and devastated scenes of a world in a

cataclysmic state of collapse. This is art for a time of ecological and existential crisis in which

anthropogenic impacts have driven the planet, and its intricate web of ecosystems, to the brink of

utter catastrophe,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

The exhibition will be generously supported by The Balnaves Foundation.

Hamish Balnaves, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of The Balnaves Foundation, said, “The

Balnaves Foundation is pleased to continue its support for TarraWarra Museum of Art to deliver new

major exhibitions by Australian artists.

The Foundation is a proud partner in these important endeavours, providing vital opportunities for

Australian artists to be showcased, whilst providing outstanding arts experiences to a broad range of

audiences

 

Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010), one of the most significant fashion designers of the late twentieth-century, was lauded for his conceptual and technical virtuosity. McQueen’s critically acclaimed collections synthesised his proficiency in tailoring and dressmaking with encyclopaedic and autobiographical visual references that spanned time, geography, media and technology.

Organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), in partnership with theNational Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse is the first major Australian exhibition to explore the work of this boundary-pushing fashion designer. Showcasing more than 60 looks drawn from LACMA’s holdings of important works by McQueen, the Melbourne presentation also features more than 50 looks by McQueen from the NGV Collection, as well as key loans from designer Katy England’s personal archive, making this Australian-exclusive presentation especially rich and comprehensive.

He is back for the final time in 2022.  Find out what is happening in the film world over summer.

Presenting 21 events, the annual Peninsula Summer Music Festival will ring in the New Year with a deliciously diverse program of contemporary and classical music permeating the vibrant and beautiful Mornington Peninsula, its hot springs, wine estates and church gardens from Sunday 1 to Thursday 19 January 2023.

This year acclaimed flautist and co-director of Inventi Ensemble Melissa Doecke joined colleague Ben Opie as Co-Artistic Directors of the Peninsula Summer Music Festival 2023. Melissa says she’s looking forward to delivering her first PSM Festival with Ben.

“The past three years have shown us how strong we are as a community,” Melissa says. We’ve pivoted, adapted, created and innovated. Now it’s time to reconnect and share music as we have always known it – as well as see the exciting ways that we’ve grown.”

From December 10-16 in Melbourne this year, “BÖRTE- Empress of the World”, will be premiered. It is the centerpiece of the Inaugural Eurasian Arts Festival.

This is an event, like a cultural world expo, presented by ECG, (courtesy of Marat Akhmedjanov, Chairman) and WARREN WILLS, and hosted by Greek entrepreneurs at ARCADIA HOUSE, and the Kazakh Government.

The delegations appearing include Aboriginal modern art exhibition; Kazhak cultural events; Greek exhibit; Thai exhibits; Israeli writers doing book launch; and a Spanish contingent. Warren Wills is currently liaising with Arabic Australia Chamber of Commerce.