Category: Events

Conferences, symposia, talks, walks and other art events in Melbourne and further afield.

Public Conversation | Making Asian Art Public/s Event at MADA

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Public Conversation | Friday 29 June 1–2.30pm, followed by light refreshments How are contemporary Asian artists and curators of Asian art working in new ways to make art matter to, and resonate with, society today? Join us for a public conversation inviting diverse perspectives on art and its public significance in rapidly changing cultural contexts in contemporary Asia. Guest Speakers: Mira Asriningtyas Indonesia Merv Espina Philippines Mark Teh Malaysia Suzann Victor Australia/Singapore Tintin Wulia Indonesia/Australia In conversation with: ​Associate Professor Tara McDowellFounding Director, Curatorial Practice, MADA Frances Barrett Independent Curator and Artist, and MADA Postgraduate Dr Michelle Antoinette ARC DECRA Fellow & Lecturer, Art History & Theory, MADA ​For more information on the Conversation and the speakers, visit the MADA website Lecture Theatre G1.04 Building G, MADA Monash University 900 Dandenong Road Caulfield East VIC 3145 Free, all welcome. Please RSVP. Supported by the Australian Research…

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Lecture | Luciano Chessa Music the dead can hear: Occult presences in Luigi Russolo’s “Art of Noises”

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This lecture examines the work of Italian Futurist, painter and musician Luigi Russolo, presenting a reading of the mechanical sound synthesizers, the intonarumori, that he began to create in 1913. It traces the roots of Russolo’s instrument to Leonardo da Vinci’s noisemakers, and then reestablishes the previously unacknowledged prominence of occultism, including theosophy, in early twentieth-century Italian culture. There it operated in tandem with contemporary scientific ideas about X-ray and wireless telegraphy—all with an emphasis on waves, vibrations, and their new communicative potential. With this in mind, it can be argued that Russolo’s noise aesthetic and its practical manifestation—the intonarumori—were for him, and for his Futurist associates, elements of a multi-levelled experiment to reach higher states of spiritual consciousness. Tuesday, 3rd July 2018, 6:00pm Florence Peel Centre 126 Moor Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne Convened by Anthony White Free to attend Luciano…

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Paul Jaskot | A Plan, A Testimony, and A Digital Map: Analyzing the Architecture of the Holocaust | University of Sydney

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A Plan, A Testimony, and A Digital Map: Analyzing the Architecture of the Holocaust The Power Institute and the Sydney Digital Humanities Research Group are pleased to present a lecture by Paul Jaskot, Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University. Taking an architectural plan and a specific survivor testimony as examples, Jaskot’s lecture will explore how recent methods in the Digital Humanities–particularly digital mapping–can be used to investigate plans and testimonies to raise new questions about the spatial and historical significance of the Holocaust. About the Lecture  The Holocaust was a profoundly spatial experience that involved not only the movement of millions of European Jews but also their confinement and murder in sites specifically built for the genocide. Paul Jaskot’s talk addresses how perpetrators thought of their building projects and, conversely, how victims experienced these oppressive spaces. Analyzing the architecture of the…

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Lecture | Paul Jaskot – Mapping German Architecture in an Era of Crisis, 1914-24 | ANU Canberra

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Mapping German Architecture in an Era of Crisis, 1914-24 Much has been written on the architecture of early Weimar Germany after World War I. And yet, however sophisticated and well researched, the art historical approach to German architecture from 1914-1924 has focused on only a few isolated built structures like Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower (1921) and contrasted them with the many projects and designs that existed on paper for the period such as Bruno Taut’s Stadtkrone (1919). What happens, though, when we look at not a few dozen buildings or architects but literally the thousands of structures—from vernacular to industrial to avant-garde “high design”—that were actually built in that period? These buildings form the “dark matter” that sustained and conditioned the few architectural stars, both real and on paper, on whom we have focused so much of our attention. This…

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Updated – date corrected | Lecture | Jane Clark – Mona: The only certainty is change | ANU Sir William Dobell Annual Lecture

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Mona, the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, is the largest private museum in Australia, with a collection ranging from antiquities through Australian modernism to contemporary international art. Its owner is Tasmanian-born David Walsh, who, in sharing his collection with the public and through an ambitious exhibition and publication program, seeks to challenge conventional approaches to art, to received wisdom and to the intersections between culture and biology. Mona is an experiment: questioning, unpredictable, and fun. When the museum opened in 2011, it was almost entirely subterranean, a structure you could hardly see until you were in it. There was one tunnel. All that has changed in 2018. The tunnels have multiplied, are longer, layered, turn corners; and are not yet finished. The underground interior has expanded and erupted, upward and outward, into the light. Jane Clark, Senior…

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Launch | emaj 10 | Buxton Contemporary

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Help us launch the tenth edition of emaj! Please join the editors for a drink in the Buxton Contemporary foyer to celebrate the tenth edition of the electronic Melbourne art journal. emaj was co-founded by our director, Ryan Johnston in 2005, who will launch the edition along with current editors, Giles Fielke, Dr Helen Hughes and Paris Lettau. emaj (electronic Melbourne art journal) is an online, refereed art history journal published in Australia. emaj aims to provide an international forum for the publication of original academic research in all areas and periods of art history. Topics covered include fine arts, architecture, curatorship, politics and aesthetics, visual culture, philosophy, historiography and museum studies. emaj welcomes monographic articles about specific artists or art collectives as well as thematic or theoretical analyses on aspects of art history. All articles are blind-refereed by academics working within the relevant field.

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Symposium | From Melancholy to Euphoria: The materialisation of emotion in Middle Eastern Manuscripts Symposium | University of Melbourne

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  From Melancholy to Euphoria: The materialisation of emotion in Middle Eastern Manuscripts Symposium 27-28 June 2018, The University of Melbourne Register Now Full Programme Registrations are now open for the two-day symposium From Melancholy to Euphoria: The materialisation of emotion in Middle Eastern Manuscripts. Early-bird registrations are now available at $100 for both days, including: all conference sessions 27-28 June 2018 with keynote lectures by Assoc. Prof Mandana Barkeshli, Prof Amir Zekrgoo, Prof Robyn Sloggett and Dr Stefano Carboni. Morning tea is provided both days. Standard registrations cost $120. This Symposium will examine the relationship between text, manuscript production (calligraphy and illumination) and the elicitation and excitation of emotions in this form of transmission of knowledge and beliefs. This symposium is made possible by support from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. The Middle Eastern…

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Discussion | Outsider Art: Contemporary Considerations | University of Melbourne

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The “Talk, The Talk” lecture series and Art Curatorship Partnership (ACP) PROJECTS invites you to join Dr. Anthony White, Senior Lecturer at The University of Melbourne and Ms. Sim Luttin, Curator and Gallery Manager at Arts Project, in a discussion on some of the myths and stereotypes that have been applied to the work of Outsider artists. Entitled ‘Outsider Art: Contemporary Considerations’ this topic will include artists who have experienced disability, mental issues and other forms of marginalization over the last 100 years. It will also entail a presentation reflecting on the role of supported studios, focusing on Arts Projects Australia as a national and international model of excellence, and extend to discussing barriers encountered in broader contemporary practice. Date: Friday 27th April, 5:00PM-6: 30 PM Venue: Room 553, Level 5, Arts West Building, The University of Melbourne, Parkville This…

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Exhibition Opening | Unsettlement | MUMA

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MUMA | Monash University Museum of Art invites you to Unsettlement. The exhibition will be opened by Michael Tawa, architect and Professor of Architecture at the University of Sydney, Australia. 28 April – 7 July 2020 Opening function: 2 May 2018, 6 – 8pm Artists: Dana Awartani (SA), Monica Bonvicini (IT/DE), Aliansyah Caniago (ID), Jasmina Cibic (SI/UK), Forensic Architecture (UK), Hiwa K (IQ), Jill Magid (US), Hayley Millar-Baker (AUS), Archie Moore (AUS), Amie Siegel (US) Unsettlement is an international group exhibition that explores the ways that power manifests through architecture and in the built environment. The artworks presented register the material force and histories of architecture, and encourage a productive sense of upheaval and re-appraisal. Unsettlement features artists from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, United States of America, Italy, United Kingdom, Iraq, Slovenia and Australia. Through their engagement with specific architectural forms,…

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Visual Art Folio Preparation Workshop

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Visual Art Folio Preparation Workshop The VCA’s Visual Art Winter School: Folio Preparation is a crucial intensive short course in contemporary visual art practice.  Guided by a dedicated artist and industry professional, you will gain a fundamental insight into preparing your visual art folio; a pivotal asset of the professional artist. This workshop is perfect for those embarking on VCE study in visual art and those planning to pursue creative tertiary study in visual and fine arts at the VCA or elsewhere. Essential Information Full Fee: $550 Prior experience with visual art making (eg. painting, drawing, photography etc) is beneficial but not essential, see website for more information. Dates: 9 Monday – 13 Friday July 2018 Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=363605&bof=1 Contact Information E: visualart-shortcourses@unimelb.edu.au P: +61 3 8344 6951

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Lecture Series | Uncommon Knowledge at ACCA

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Uncommon Knowledge | ACCA’s  annual lecture series this year focuses on artists and the special interests that inspire and inform their art practice. Leading Australian artists such as Bill Henson, Fiona Hall and Ronnie van Hout will discuss the subjects and pastimes that occupy them – from eavesdropping, UFOs, to the body and Brexit, the stolen Picasso and art activism, architecture, social media and The Australian Ugliness. Presented on Monday evenings at 6pm from April through November, the series offers a trans-generational insight into the inner lives and thinking of artists. Tickets are $35 per lecture or $200 for a Season Pass to all eight lectures (includes drink). The program includes: 30 April, Bill Henson: The wilderness within: The body as the last frontier   Internationally renowned photographer Bill Henson will explore his lifelong fascination with the human figure.  Henson, who represented Australia in…

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Book Launch | Eugene Von Guérard Tom Darragh and Ruth Pullin in Conversation | Art Gallery of Ballarat

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For a period of nine years, between 1876 and 1885, landscape painter and founding curator of the National Gallery of Victoria Eugen von Guérard (1811–1901) corresponded with his friend and fellow-German Julius von Haast (1822–1887), geologist and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. These letters, written by one of Australia’s greatest landscape painters, an inveterate collector and the dedicated inaugural custodian of the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, to his good friend and colleague, a distinguished and pioneering geologist, writer and museum director, shed new light on the personal and professional lives of both men and their institutions. Date: Saturday 21st April, 2pm Venue: McCain Annexe, Art Gallery of Ballarat Free, book online: https://artgalleryofballarat.com.au/gallery_events/book-launch-tom-darragh-and-ruth-pullin-lieber-freund/

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Symposium | CHANGEMAKERS #1: Mapping Sustainability in the Visual Arts | VCA Melbourne

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SYMPOSIUM – CHANGEMAKERS #1: Mapping Sustainability in the Visual Arts Friday 20 April 2018, 10.15am-17.30pm Federation Hall, VCA, Melbourne This symposium is FREE and open to students and the public. CHANGEMAKERS #1 will bring together key people in the field who are focused on fostering change and new models of arts and cultural practice, and even more importantly – those who are seeking a sustainable future where emerging artists, curators and arts professionals are placed at the forefront. Broken down into six distinct themes, six leaders in the arts will discuss their present circumstances and future vision. With an introduction by Dr. Rachel Marsden, Lecturer in Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne, speakers include: Patricia Piccinini – Artist and Enterprise Professor, Victorian College of the Arts Alexie Glass-Kantor – Curator and Executive Director, Artspace, Sydney Corbett Lyon – Collector…

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Short Course | The Galileo Affair | University of Melbourne

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6.15pm – 8.30pm | Thursdays 24 and 31 May, 7 and 14 June This short course will focus on the ‘Galileo Affair’ which remains one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of science. The ‘Galileo Affair’, as it has come to be known, remains one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of science. It is often taken as an illustration of the repressive attitude of the Catholic Church to the rise of modern science in the 17th century, and an example of the fundamental conflict between science and religion. Yet, it has been subject to distortion and myth, and continues to spark intense disagreement among historians, scientists and philosophers. In 1632 Galileo published his Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, in which he defended the Copernican view that the earth moves around the sun. He…

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Lecture | Things Fall Apart – Putting the world back together one document at a time – Robyn Sloggett | University of Melbourne

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Faculty of Arts Dean’s Lecture: ‘Things Fall Apart’ – Putting the world back together one document at a time The world as we know it swirls around us as objects, ideas and aspirations. How we make sense of it is dependent on what we have access to, what we can imagine and how we are enabled to think, learn and do. The loss, degradation, or inauthenticity of cultural material threatens the security of our knowledge and the construction of identity, and community that is unable to access its cultural, historic and scientific records is impeded in its ability to construct relevant and effective cultural futures. Conversely, a well-secured cultural record assists a community to tell its stories, understand its past, and cement its identity into the future. Taking Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel as the point of departure, in this lecture…

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