Tag: Installation Art
proppaNOW & Tennant Creek Brio
Tuesday, July 18th, 2023 Sydney Morning Herald Column,With the greatest Aboriginal art it’s often the skill and refinement that’s impressive. One thinks of the hypnotic rhythms of Western Desert painting, the infinite patience with which John Mawurndjul applies thin lines of ochre to a piece of bark. There are the stories that hark back to a time of spirits and mythical beings, […]
White Rabbit: Shuo Shu
Tuesday, February 14th, 2023 Sydney Morning Herald Column,In pre-literate societies the storyteller had everyone’s attention. The role grew in importance as communities became more cultivated, with public recitations being valued as forms of education and entertainment. The ancient Greeks, for instance, had their rhapsodes who would recite Homer to enthusiastic audiences. The Chinese have a long tradition of public storytelling, often accompanied […]
Air
Tuesday, January 31st, 2023 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Some people say not to worry about the air Some people never had experience with… air Talking Heads Science tells us the average human being takes in 360 litres of air per hour. That sounds like a lot, but we do it without even noticing. It’s only when we have trouble breathing or […]
Bangkok Art Biennale 2022
Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,During the pandemic most of the world’s major art events were put on ice, but this was not the case for the youthful Bangkok Art Biennale. Unwilling to lose momentum after a successful debut in 2018, the organisers hosted a huge international exhibition in 2020 that was seen only by local audiences. This year, the […]
Singapore Biennale 2022
Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,A town called Alice, a fish named Wanda, a hurricane known as Ian, and now, a Biennale that answers to the name, Natasha. I originally thought this was a unique example of Singaporean humour, but because only one of the four curators of the seventh Biennale of Singapore is a local, that thesis is not […]
Richard Mosse: Broken Spectre
Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,It may seem remarkable that anyone would view their short-term profits as more important than the survival of humankind, but this is the simple reason we’re losing the battle against Global Warming. The complex reason is slightly trickier. In the words of British philosopher, Timothy Morton, the warming of the planet is a “hyperobject” – […]
Ultra Unreal
Tuesday, August 9th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Things have been quiet at the Museum of Contemporary Art this year, but Ultra Unreal aims at a reboot. It’s an exhibition that pushes beyond the contemporary, drawing us into virtual realms, both futuristic and animistic. These imaginary worlds have been created by new technology and populated with supernatural beings. It all sounds breathlessly exciting. […]
The Hadley’s Art Prize 2022 & MONA
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Unlike Errol Flynn and Douglas Mawson, I’d never stayed at Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart – until it hosted an art prize. Established in 1834, Hadley’s is one of the oldest hotels in Australia, and it trades lavishly on its historical connections. There are plenty of hotels that are more up-to-date and luxurious, but not […]
Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles
Tuesday, June 28th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles, at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, is a daring but necessary exhibition for an Australian art museum. Daring, because local audiences have grown so accustomed to a diet of ‘masterpiece’ shows it’s difficult to imagine them flocking to see the work of a contemporary Japanese artist whose name will be […]
White Rabbit: Big in China
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,It seems that everything is big in China apart from the Olympic flame. In a country in which the number of people and the staggering pace of development are overwhelming, it was surprising that the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics ended with two athletes placing a teensy-weensy flame into a giant-sized snowflake. I […]