Thursday, April 13, 2006

Today on Smartarts


My guests today were:

1. Lisa Pieroni – the curator of AMCI’s focus on director David Cronenberg (running from Thursday 13 April - Sunday 23 April at ACMI, Federation Square).
Tickets: Full $13 Concession $10; Six Session Pass (any 6 sessions) Full $60 Concession $48
Bookings / Further information: www.acmi.net.au or (03) 8663 2583

If you didn't grow up in the 80's watching splatter and horror films, you might need to be reminded as to who David Cronenberg is (you barbarian!). He's the auteur beind the likes of:

2. RODNEY JAMES - Curator of the exhibition WARNING SMOKING @ Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington.
Telephone: 03 5975 4395
Website: http://mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au

Smoking today is a global obsession. Transformed since the Europeans first imported tobacco from the New World more than 500 years ago, smoking has become one of the world’s most dominant, widely practised and complex of our cultural trappings and visual icons. Representing a vast array of states, personalities, moods and statements; artists, writers and filmmakers alike have considered smoking as a major source of investigation and inspiration. Drawing on major public and private collections throughout Australia, this exhibition is the first to examine the relationship of artists to smoking and modern life. This relationship has taken many forms.

Smoking is often cited as a source of creativity and a panacea to ‘writer’s block’: for many artists it has played a major role in their perception of self and their identity as artists. Smoking has formed an integral part of the formalist investigation of line, colour and shape and been an important element in modernist collage and photomontage; it has been represented as an entrée into a world of sophistication and glamour, as a comfort during times of hardship and war, as part of class consciousness or a wider critique of capitalism and consumer excess. Most recently, smoking has been portrayed as a form of disease and social taboo.

The exhibition WARNING SMOKING includes close to 70 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, installations and sculptures, and video by Australian and international artists from throughout the past 100 years.


3. Linda Catalano, the Artist and Program Manager for Comedy @ Trades

60 artists, 25 shows, 6 theatres, 2 late-night bars, and 6 nights of FREE entertainment all in one historic venue! Comedy @ Trades is an independently produced and programmed venue, playing host to an exciting range of talent as part of the 2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. We have filled the vast corridors and rooms of the majestic columned landmark of Trades Hall with clever cabaret, marvellous music, stand-out stand-up, virtuoso vaudeville, saucy sword-swallowers, creative clowning, naughty nudity and a cavalcade of classic cult cinema and bold new theatrical works.

4. TILT – SEASON ONE
Playwright/performer Angus Cerini - Saving Henry (Version 5)
Playwright/performer Moira Finucane - Gotharama
Artistic Director Vanessa Pigrum

TILT is a new project that aims to bring the best of Melbourne's independent theatre into the conservative surrounds of the Arts Centre. See this post for more details.

The Arts Centre presents
GOTHARAMA: 19, 20, 29 April & 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 May
SAVING HENRY (VERSION 5): Preview 21 April, season 22, 23, 30 April & 7, 8, 13, 14 May
the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio | Tickets $23 -$28,
TILT two show package $40-$50, Saving Henry (version 5) preview $18-$20
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 or www.theartscentre.net.au


5. Aloma Treister – whose exhibition The Art of Memory is now showing at Span Galleries, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, April 3 – 22, 2006

Melbourne based artist Aloma Treister uses art to re-establish her Jewish relationship to the Islamic culture into which she was born. Aloma has had several solo shows. Her unique art is highly sought after in the USA and Australia and her latest exhibition is set to be her most captivating to date.

Aloma Treister was born in Baghdad, Iraq. Her family lived in a tight-knit Jewish community under Islamic rule. After constant persecution, Aloma’s family migrated to Teheran, Iran, which, at the time, provided safe haven for the Jews. Islamic culture influenced the lives and the art of Jewish people living in a Muslim world and it was here that Aloma developed a passion for the elaborate art surrounding her. The intricate patterns of mosaic tiles, carpets and engravings left their mark on Aloma and form a vital foundation to her work today.

Aloma married and moved to Australia in 1973. In relocating Aloma re-establishes her connection to her roots. She is conscious that the world she belonged to has now disappeared. This beautiful, vivid past is now located in her memory and imagination. The Art of Memory offers deeply personal images of her background, reorganized and re-presented by means of paint, collage and digital prints. .

Aloma’s work is a realisation of the multicultural society in which we live. “My being Jewish and my art being influenced by Muslim culture, I can’t help but wish that all of this culture and love would flow.” She said. “Each culture has so much to offer the other.”


6. Helen Thorn is Arty Farty - Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Laugh, clap and nod like you understand, as ABC TV Vulture panellist Helen Thorn goes Arty Farty! From jazz ballet to scary spoken word; from performance art to those crappy school concerts we all went to, Arty Farty exposes the arts – the good, the bad and downright daggy! Don't miss Melbourne's sassiest new female comedian, joined by some of her arty friends, in her hilarious new solo show.

Venue: Melbourne Town Hall, Cnr Swanston & Collins Sts, Melbourne
Prices: Full $19.50, Conc $15.00, Group (8 or more) $15.00, Preview $15.00, Laugh Pack $17.00, Tightarse Tuesday $15.00, Arts Workers at Concession $15.00
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 660 013 & at the door
When: 13th Apr - 7th May
Duration: 50 minutes
Times: Tue-Sat 7.15pm, Sun 6.15pm, Easter Previews 13-16 April


7. The fortnightly fine arts review segment ART ATTACK with Jeff Khan and (filling in for Tai Snaith) artist Alex Martinas Rowe.

This week they reviewed IN COLD LIGHT, curated by Melissa Keys, at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, and gave it the thumbs up.
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