Artists & arts workers please read this

Media Release
Monday 13 August 2007

Your Shout
Arts Forum with Peter Garrett, Shadow Federal Arts Minister

Shadow Federal Arts Minister, and ex-Midnight Oil frontman, Peter Garrett will be in Melbourne, this Sunday 19 August at 2.30pm to host Your Shout at the Trades Hall in Carlton – an arts forum where local artists and arts supporters will be given their chance to tell Peter what they think the Government should be doing for the arts and artists in Australia.

“As the Shadow Arts Minister it’s vital to hear what grass roots artists working in our community have to say on the issues that affect them,” explained Garrett. “Your Shout is a chance for those artists to come and talk about what is important to them and to have their opinions heard and considered.”

The forum is the first of a number of events that will be held across the country over the next few months as Peter give artists right across Australia a chance to speak out about the issues that affect them.

“The ALP values the arts as a vital component in everyday life,” continued Garrett, “and understands the crucial role artists play in fostering a healthy and productive community.”

“As a working artist myself for many years I understand the challenges and obstacles that artists in the community face on a daily basis and in refining our Arts policy we want to make sure their concerns and ideas are taken into consideration.”

The forum has been organised by Melbourne based film director and producer Robert Connolly (Romulus My Father, The Bank) and playwright and arts worker Alex Broun, who is Artistic co-ordinator of Short & Sweet at The Arts Centre, and is open to all arts practitioners and arts supporters.

Your Shout
Arts Forum with Peter Garrett, Shadow Federal Arts Minister
Date: Sunday 19 August 2007
Time: 2:30pm-4.00pm
Location: The New Council Chambers, Trades Hall
Street: 54 Victoria St, Carlton South

Dear Art, Please Touch Me

I thought I might post this on behalf of a young local artist who's looking for help with an upcoming project...

* * *

The Project: Dear Art, Please Touch Me
I am looking for people to interview for the 'Dear Art, Please Touch Me', as part of the Next Wave Festival's Kickstart program.

It's an audio tour and I'm recording samples of opinions and stories on a series of artworks.

Seeking
Someone with a bit of 'character' a unique personality, perhaps you have an interesting cousin, aunty, friend, workmate etc. (preferably who isn't a 20 or 30 something art educated person) who wouldn't mind talking about an artwork for ten minutes, then please give me a hoy. I am looking for some diversity, so my preference is anyone with a different accent, interesting voice, a good storyteller, perhaps children and elderly persons or perhaps, they are very monotone but they have something destinctive that sets them apart from others.

I can come to you with the recording equipment, all I would need is a ten minutes of your time to look at a picture of an artwork and have an informal chat about it, nothing scary. An art education is not necessary, everybody has the right to an opinion, to tell their own version. Names and personal details will be kept confidential.

Hear a sample
to have a clearer idea, you can hear an expample at:
http://www.thequotegenerator.com/webpages/rodinopinion.html

Cheers and Cheerio,
Danielle Freakley

e: thequotegenerator AT gmail.com
w: www.thequotegenerator.com

On launching ECOPHENE

I was invited to launch the City of Melbourne's latest permanent visual art installation on Wednesday night. The work, Ecophene, has been placed in an archway beneath the old Sandridge rail bridge, on the north bank of the Yarra River. It's beautiful. Please visit it, and contemplate its message.

Here's the text of my speech from Wednesday's launch:

In her catalogue essay, for this latest of many public artworks funded by the City of Melbourne, independent curator Sarah Tutton describes Karen Abernethy’s Ecophene as “ghost-like and translucent”; while Abernethy herself describes the work as a 're-inhabitation' of the site where once, near to where we stand today, a small but significant waterfall marked the division between the fresh water of the river, and the salt water of the bay.

I myself would describe this artwork, as, a marriage - between the built form of the bridge above us and the natural world which the bridge spans; between the minds of the artist, Karen Abernethy, and the jeweller Kiko Gianocca, who collaborated with her on the project; and between the present, where we stand, and the past which Ecophene recalls.

Originally a temporary installation placed here in 2004, Ecophene has grown, in the same way that the city has grown up around this space on the riverbank, to become this permanent artwork that we see before us today.

It’s a beautiful work, a deceptively simple work; which speaks to us in a gentle voice, and engages so many of our senses. Our eyes, via the refraction and reflection of the light; our ears, with the sound each falling droplet makes as it merges with the river below.

It – almost shyly - invites us to watch and listen.

In doing so, Ecophene allows our hearts and minds to revisit the vanished past, where once the waterfall flowed - a rare and beautiful act of artistic tourism. In a world which is too often focussed only on the future, upon opportunities and profits to come, rather than subtle and sublime reflections upon what has gone before, this is remarkable indeed.

Ecophene provokes a certain sadness; it is a living monument to the destruction wreaked upon this river and its banks by the white settlers who built our city. It also provokes joy, allowing us to recall the delight we may have experienced as a child upon seeing our first waterfall, or in interacting with the water wall at the nearby National Gallery of Victoria, or more simply and directly through the memory of the cooling spray of a garden hose on a hot summer’s day.

But while Ecophene makes us aware of the rich history of our city, which is buried under bridges and tarmac and concrete; while it draws our minds back into the past; simultaneously this work encourages us to engage with the present – and indeed, the future.

At a time when so many of us, in recent months, have been preoccupied with the scarcity of water, Ecophene reminds us of the importance of water, not just in our everyday lives, but for this country that we too often take for granted, and its flora and fauna as well.

Ecophene weaves together threads of melancholy and history, environment and memory, destruction and joy.

In creating it, Karen Abernethy and Kiko Gianocca have become mediums, channelling the spirit of Birrarung, the river of mist, and of the Yarra Yarra Falls. They channel the spirit of the river and allow it to speak for itself.

If you listen, now, you can hear it.

Terry Hicks to speak on David's plea bargain

Terry Hicks announced today that he will speak in Melbourne at an outdoor rally on 21 April.

'They've tried to silence David,' said Mr Hicks, 'but they can't keep me quiet. David might have had to agree to a deal to come home but that doesn't make what happened to him right. And it's important to speak out about it.'

Mr Hicks will be attending the Melbourne part of a National Day of Protest around David's case. Similar events are scheduled for Sydney (with Senator Kerry Nettle, Dr. Tim Anderson and Mamdouh Habib), Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and Darwin.

'The deal cooked up at the tribunal does not mean that this story is over,' said Mr Hicks. 'The way David has been treated has implications that should worry every Australian.'

The Melbourne event will also feature an address from Senator Bob Brown. The rally has been endorsed by Civil Rights Defence, Liberty Victoria and Victorian Trades Hall.

National Day of Protest 1pm Saturday 21st April
State Library, Melbourne
Speakers include Terry Hicks and Bob Brown