Tag Archive for Art and Politics

Art and Art History News | September 13th 2013

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890),Sunset at Montmajour, 1888. Private Collection. Image via the Van Gogh Museum

A round up of recent news from the world of art Katrina Grant A press release from the Australian Academy of the Humanities has cautioned that ‘the Coalition’s proposal to redirect Australian Research Council funds away from projects it deems to be “wasteful” compromises the fundamental principle of funding research based on the criteria of excellence.’ Made last week, pre-election, but, still relevant. A good post-election follow up in the Guardian Australia by Hila Shacher from UWA who writes that “Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to decide what is “relevant” in research any more than…

MUMA Exhibition and Public Programs | Direct Democracy

Direct Democracy (Raquelle Ormella, 'Poetic possibilities' 2012)

About the Exhibition Direct Democracy explores the changing nature of our engagement with the democratic tradition and looks to the emergence of new democratic models. The exhibition reflects contemporary social movements, unrest and the desire for change; modelling key social dynamics and possible futures. In Direct Democracy destruction and resistance are connected with the need to collaborate and rebuild. Recent political shifts such as the Arab Spring, the global financial crisis and movements such as Occupy are considered in relation to earlier struggles for autonomy and self-definition, as well as…

CFP | Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics

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Call for papers | Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics Theme: Art and Freedom of Expression www.seismopolite.com The next issue of Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics will discuss how art can promote freedom of expression. Contributors from different disciplinary backgrounds are invited to submit articles, reviews or interviews that address this theme through a high variety of possible angles. Topics may include (but are not restricted to): Forms, causes and consequences of censorship of art in countries and contexts worldwide. Art’s potential to create new prospects in political contexts…

Exhibition | ‘William Kentridge: Five Themes’ at ACMI, Melbourne - Katrina Grant

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‘William Kentridge: Five Themes’ at the ACMI Thursday 8th March to Sunday 27th May, ACMI at Federation Square, Melbourne William Kentridge: Five Themes opens today at ACMI, Federation Square. The exhibition was originally curated by Mark Rosenthal for the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Rosenthal has travelled to Melbourne, with the artist William Kentridge, to oversee the installation of the exhibition in ACMI’s expansive underground exhibition space. Since 2009 the exhibition has been touring cities around the world including Johannesburg,…

Call for Papers: Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics

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Call for Papers: Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics Issue 3 Theme: Reimagining the political geography of place and space In the coming issue we wish to focus on political geographies, as well as artistic interventions in, and reimaginations of, such geographies. The distinction between “place” and “space” is of particular interest, as it is fundamental not only to much art, but also to our global situation within neoliberal political geography. If time has come for us to reimagine this geography, as well as the interrelationships between, and definitions of…

Art Talk: Penny Byrne

© Penny Byrne, Green Wash Warrior Rides in to Save the Planet, (detall) 2010. Holmesglen Collection of Contemporary Art. Reproduced courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art.

Art Talks: Free Lunchtime Lecture Penny Byrne Penny Byrne has been described as a political cartoonist who uses ceramics. Highly regarded as a leading authority on ceramic restoration, Byrne started making her own work in 2001; it covers a range of contemporary issues from the environment to Australian and American politics and lampoons the failings of contemporary society. The artist’s reworked ceramic figurines - often made from the kitsch remnants of someone else’s interior design disaster - have captured people’s imagination and incited much commentary with their witty and unapologetic…

Talk - Hidden and in plain view: considering Taryn Simon’s Index

Hidden and in plain view: considering Taryn Simon’s Index Inspired by rumours of WMDs and secret sites in Iraq, American photographer Taryn Simon decided to address secret sites in her own country. For An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar 2006, Simon photographed hidden places and things within US borders. Her subjects range across realms of science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. As Australians, what do we make of Simon’s America, are we both intrigued and repelled? While this series has been described as the ‘aesthetic antithesis…