RMIT Gallery Exhibition Program 2007

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11 9 MATERIAL EVIDENCE Jenny Watson, Change (detail) 2001, synthetic polymer paint on pre-made canvas; oil and synthetic polymer paint on French bed sheet with Italian organza; ceramic, 40 x 30 cm; 178 x 78 cm; 8 x 5 x 1.5 cm. Collection the artist. Photo: Mick Richards. 10 RICH TEXT Kiron Robinson, Way University Out 2007, neon sign mounted on perspex, 36 x 38 x 8 cm. Photo: Mark Ashkanasy. 11 NEW TRENDS OF ARCHITECTURE Iredale Pederson Hook Architects, Tjuntjuntjara Community House 2001-2005. 12 MARKS AND MOTIFS Sophia Szilagyi, Where shadows lie 2005, colour ink-jet print, ed. 40, diptych, each sheet 12 x 16.5 cm. Print Council of Australia collection. 13 LIVING ELVIS Soda_Jerk with Sam Smith, Pixel Pirate II: 1 18 December 2006 – 17 February 2007 Attack of the Astro Elvis Video Clone (DVD still), 2002–2006 14 SIEMENS – RMIT FINE ART AWARD Exhibition installation image, works shown (left to right) by Angela Watters, Prue Crone, Phoebe Ross. Photo: Sigmar Polke: Music from an Unknown Source Mark Ashkanasy. 15 ECHOES OF HOME Liu Xiao Xian, The couple 2004, camphor wood and bronze, 187 x Music from an Unknown Source presents forty gouaches all created in 1996; 62 x 47 cm (wood), 180 x 55 x 40 cm (bronze). Photo: the artist. 16 FLOATING WORLDS Christopher Köller, Untitled, Shibuya, Tokyo (from the series Floating Worlds) 2003, type C print. together they provide insight into the concerns over 40 years of pre-eminent contemporary German artist Sigmar Polke. An Exhibition of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen/Institute for Cultural Relations and the Goethe-Institut. 20 June – 28 July New Trends of Architecture Curated by Sigmar Polke and Götz Adriani. in Europe and Asia-Pacific 2006–2007 12 The fourth New Trends project documents current trends in the work of RMIT Gallery Touring Exhibition Beyond Metal: young architects by revealing their past, present and future ambitions in a Contemporary Australian Jewellery and Holloware diverse range of housing, public architecture, urban planning, landscape and Featuring twenty-seven of the most celebrated contemporary practitioners, installation. Presented by School of Architecture + Design, RMIT. Touring to Beyond Metal is characterised by an Australian aesthetic that embraces Patras, Tokyo, Melbourne, Perth, Luxembourg and Shanghai. Commissioners: raw and recycled materials, innovative design and use of technology and a Winy Maas (Europe) and Riken Yamamoto (Asia-Pacific).Architects R & Sie respectfully playful approach to tradition. Presented by the Department of (n) /Francois Roche, Stephanie Lavaux, Jean Navarro (France); B.I.G. Bjarke 2 Foreign Affairs & Trade in association with the Victorian Government and RMIT Ingels Group (former PLOT, Denmark); Polaris architects (Luxembourg); University. Touring India, Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore (February– 13 JDS Architects (former PLOT, Denmark); NL architects (Netherlands); Enric June); Malaysia (September); Singapore (November–December). Curatorium: Ruiz- Geli/Cloud 9 (Spain); Andreas Angelidakis (Greece); DOGMA OFFICE Suzanne Davies, Carlier Makigawa, Beatrice Schlabowsky, Ray Stebbins for (Italy); Zizi & Yoyo arhitektid (Estonia); Taira Nishizawa Architects (Japan); RMIT Gallery. Artists Helen Aitken-Kuhnen, Roseanne Bartley, Nicholas MADA s.p.a.m. (China); Edge Design Institute Ltd. (Hong Kong); Mass Studies Bastin, Vito Bila, Julie Blyfield, Susan Cohn, Simon Cottrell, Juongmee Do, (Korea); Duangrit Bunnag (Thailand); Sean Godsell Architects (Australia); Mark Edgoose, Robert Foster, Stephen Gallagher, Rowena Gough, Marian Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects (Australia). Public Program 22 June, Hosking, Daehoon Kang, Johannes Kuhnen, Elfrun Lach, Andrew Last, Simone public lecture, RMIT, Building 8 Lecture Theatre. LeAmon, Carlier Makigawa, Vicki Mason, Leslie Matthews, Karl Millard, Chris Mullins, Sean O’Connell, Vanessa Raimondo, Brenda Ridgewell, Beatrice 19 June – 28 July Marks and Motifs: Schlabowsky. Public Program April–May, Beatrice Schlabowsky, Marian Prints from the PCA Collection Hosking artists talks, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi. This touring exhibition showcases forty-five of some three hundred works commissioned by the Print Council of Australia since the 1960s. Marks 2 March – 14 April Fashion Face: and Motifs gives an insight into the historical development of printmaking Fashion Photography by Robyn Beeche 1979–1989 in Australia, particularly the recent emergence of new print technologies, In the heart of London’s fashion world in the 1980s, Australian photographer including photomechanical and digital processes, and the effects these have Robyn Beeche created iconic images for designers and personalities including had on traditional methods such as linocut and woodcut. A QUT Art Museum Zandra Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant, Divine and Leigh Bowery. Travelling Exhibition and Print Council of Australia 40th Anniversary Project. Working in an era predating digital manipulation of photographic images, Curated by Stephen Rainbird. Artists Ray Arnold, Tatipai Barsa, Yvonne Beeche developed and perfected techniques to create elaborate visual Boag, G. W. Bot, John Coburn, Noel Counihan, Caroline Durré, Lesley Duxbury, 3 illusions including pioneering applied holography. Part of the 2007 L’Oréal Belinda Fox, Juli Haas, Treahna Hamm, Barbara Hanrahan, Cecil Hardy, Euan Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program. Curated by Suzanne Davies. Heng, Tim Jones, William Kelly, Franz Kempf, Grahame King, Deborah Klein, Public Program 7 March, Robyn Beeche, artist talk: ‘Making Faces’. 14 Hertha Kluge-Pott, Les Kossatz, Maria Kozic, Graham Kuo, Alun Leach-Jones, Bruno Leti, Bea Maddock, Diane Mantzaris, Marie McMahon, Arone Raymond 2 March – 14 April Fabsolute: Meeks, Ann Newmarch, Graeme Peebles, Susan Pickering, Cat Poljski, Julie Fashion Illustration by Alfredo Bouret 1940s–1960s Purvis, Sally Robinson, Olga Sankey, Michael Schlitz, Jan Senbergs, Heather Alfredo Bouret’s disciplined hand and observant eye capture the glamour and Shimmen, Melissa Smith, Sophia Szilagyi, Judy Watson, Arthur Wicks, elegance of a golden age of fashion in an exhibition of fashion illustration. Christine Willcocks, Fred Williams. Public Program 28 June, demo- Bouret’s extraordinary drawing skill was in high demand and he created iconic nstration and tour by staff and students at the RMIT print workshop. images for every major couture house in post-war Paris. Fabsolute charts his career, presenting work he created for Balenciaga, Vogue, Tatler, Queen and 16 August – 20 October Living Elvis Glamour magazines and advertising campaigns for British Vogue, Jaeger, While Elvis Presley’s central role in the establishment of modern popular 4 Wolsey and Bally of Switzerland. Part of the 2007 L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion music and visual culture is well established, the relationship between Festival Cultural Program. Curated by Suzanne Davies. Public Program his creative work and the studio traditions of the fine arts is still a work 2 March, Alfredo Bouret in conversation with Robyn Healy. in progress. Thirty years after Elvis’ earthly demise Living Elvis explores aspects of this relationship and re-opens the creative dialogue that visual 1 May – 9 June New Abstraction RMIT 1965–1985: artists have had with Elvis over the preceding fifty years. Presented with the Leonard Crawford, George Johnson, Grahame King assistance of City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program. Curated by Peter Barnes Crawford, Johnson and King were central to the advancement of non-objective and Suzanne Davies. Public Program 16–17 August: Symposium: ‘King art in Melbourne in the post-war decades. Their preference for abstraction Power: Designing Masculinities’. Keynote Presenter: Shaun Cole; Special over the figurative imagery favoured by many other artists ensured a strong Guest Lecturer: Dr Alka Pande. Presented by the RMIT Fashion Program and 15 alternative in the modern art movement in this city. New Abstraction cele- the Frances Burke Centre in collaboration with RMIT Gallery with support from brates RMIT University’s 120th anniversary by honouring these three senior the Australia India Council. Film Program 17 August: Freaky Fridays: Late artists’ significant contribution to RMIT, the Melbourne art community and Night Cult, ACMI Cinemas, Australian Centre for the Moving Image. 7pm: Kid to Australian art as a whole. Part of RMIT University’s 120th Anniversary Galahad. 8.30pm: Live Elvis impersonators. 10pm: Elvis: That’s The Way It Is. celebrations. Curated by Charlotte Skene. 5 November – 17 November 3 May – 9 June Material Evidence: Siemens RMIT – Fine Art Award Jenny Watson Works on Fabric 1981–2005 Now in its seventh year, the prestigious Siemens – RMIT Fine Art Scholarship Material Evidence surveys more than two decades of Watson’s painting on a enables students to further their careers in the field of Fine Arts by assisting research and production costs. Eight students will receive scholarships, 5 variety of textiles such as velvet, silk and hessian. The artist draws on images from life and dreams to create compelling narratives. A Griffith Artworks and comprising five undergraduate travel scholarships and three postgraduate DELL Gallery @ Queensland College of Art travelling exhibition. Curatorium: scholarships to a total of $32,000, as well as one artist receiving the $1000 Holly Arden, Chris Handran, Simon P Wright. Public Program 4 May, Siemens Fine Arts Acquisition Award. An initiative of the School of Art, RMIT Jenny Watson, artist talk. University.

1 May – 9 June Rich Text: 3 December 2007 – 26 January 2008 Echoes of Home: Emerging Artists and the Written Word Memory and Mobility in Recent Austral-Asian Art Rich Text brings together twelve emerging practitioners whose work uses Echoes of Home draws together fourteen Australian-based artists from text to deliberately blur the boundaries between meaningless slogans diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds within the Asia-Pacific region. and significant statements in advertising, politics, popular culture and the The exhibition highlights the various skills, traditions and stories these fine arts. InRich Text, words are used as found objects, treated with both artists have brought to Australia from their homelands and how these are irreverence for their disposability and an attentive respect for their history. used within the context of a new cultural environment. Toured by Museum Presented in partnership with the Emerging Writers’ Festival. Curated by 16 of Brisbane, Brisbane City Council and supported by Visions of Australia. Curated by Christine Clarke. Keiko Amenomori-Schmeisser, Dadang Tai Snaith and Helen Walpole. Artists Gabrielle de Vietri, James Dodd, Artists Tim Fleming, Danielle Freakley, Is Not Magazine, David Keating, Antuong Christanto, Yuri Kawanabe, Won Seok Kim, Liu Xiao Xian, Yoshie Mizuno, Humna Mustafa, Shine Myung-ok Shin, Pamela Mei-Leng, Renee So, Jaishree Nguyen, Pandarosa, Narinda Reeders and Kiron Robinson. Writers Kate Just Srinivasan, Alistair Trung, Alwin Reamillo, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn. and Amy Spiers. Public Program 1 May, opening night performance by Danielle Freakley; 10 May, Kiron Robinson, artist talk. 5 December 2007 – 26 January 2008 Christopher Köller: Floating Worlds 1 SIGMAR POLKE Sigmar Polke, They had made a good 30 Billion marks since the mid-60s. But they had Floating Worlds is Köller’s photographic investigation of the contemporary really only developed ‘innovative prototypes and individual systems’ 1996, gouache on paper, 100 x 70 cm. Japanese surfing subculture, compiled during a residency at the Australia 2, 3 BEYOND METAL Vanessa Raimondo, Neck Piece – Stranded 2005, PVC plastic, polyester, 42ø cm. Photo: Terence Bogue. Andrew Last, Small Slotted Baskets 2002, anodised aluminium, 6.5 x 10.5 x 18 cm. Photo: Council’s Tokyo studio in 2003. Köller’s photographs and videos document Mark Ashkanasy. 4 FASHION FACE Robyn Beeche, Divine 1981, make-up: Richard Sharah, jacket: Michael the emergence of surfing images on advertising billboards throughout the Vollbrach, digital print, 51 x 51 cm. 5 FABSOLUTE Alfredo Bouret, ‘Rose Red’ story for English Vogue 1955. Photo: Mark Ashkanasy. 6, 7, 8 NEW ABSTRACTION RMIT Leonard Crawford, Pierrot Lunaire (detail) city as evidence of a shift in perception of surfing, from a transgressive 1975, oil on canvas, 122 x 61 cm, collection RMIT Gallery. George Johnson, Structures 9 (detail) 1983, acrylic subculture to a major thread in the contemporary Japanese imagination. on canvas, 122 x 107 cm. Grahame King, Celebration (detail) 1993, lithograph, 55.5 x 74.5 cm. Photos: Mark Ashkanasy. Curated by Suzanne Davies and Christopher Köller.

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RMIT Gallery is Melbourne’s most vibrant public art and design gallery. We explore all aspects of visual culture, presenting changing exhibitions of Australian and international design including fashion and architecture, fine art, craft, new media and technology. RMIT Gallery presents regular floor talks, lectures and public events to coincide with exhibitions. The public program provides an enjoyable and social means of experiencing contemporary culture. RMIT Gallery welcomes school and community groups and can arrange introductory talks as required. RMIT Gallery is housed in Storey Hall, an internationally celebrated example of architectural innovation. The building celebrates time and transition, combining significant heritage buildings with award winning contemporary architecture. Located in Swanston Street, near the intersection with La Trobe Streets, RMIT Gallery is diagonally opposite Melbourne Central Railway Station and can be reached by trams travelling on Swanston and La Trobe Streets, including the City Circle Tram. Limited street parking is available. Melways reference: 2F E1.

RMIT Gallery, RMIT University Gallery hours: 344 Swanston Street Monday–Friday 11–5, Saturday 2–5 Melbourne Australia 3000 Closed Sundays and public holidays GPO Box 2476V Melbourne 3001 Free admission. Lift access available. Telephone: + 61 3 9925 1717 Facsimile: + 61 3 9925 1737 Left: RMIT Gallery facade Email: [email protected] Photography Tim Griffith Web: www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery