EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 The 15th Biennale of Sydney Art Gallery of New South Wales Zones of Contact 8 June – 27 August 2006 www.bos2006.com.au

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 1 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU ART GALLERY OF 3 NEW SOUTH WALES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Produced by the Public Programs Department © 2006 Art Gallery of New South Wales [email protected] www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/education

Art Gallery of New South Wales Address: Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney Phone: +61 2 9225 1744 Email: [email protected] Website: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au Dates: 8 June - 27 August 2006 Monday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm (Wednesday until 9pm) ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Education Program Bookings Gallery Services Public Programs Booking Office Café Lower Level 1 Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Open during Gallery hours Enquiries: (02) 9225 1740 Licensed café offering light meals and refreshments. Email: [email protected] ART The Restaurant GALLERYFax: (02) 9225 1842 Ground Level NSWPlease note: Bookings will only be accepted in writing via fax 11amor mail. to 3pm daily map Informal à la carte service with spectacular For full bookings, excursion and risk assessment informationharbour go to: and surrounding views. www.artgallery.nsw/ed/yourvisit Gallery Shop Ground Level One of the most comprehensive ranges of art books in Australia as well as posters, cards, giftware and replicas based on the Collection.

Research Library & Archive Lower Level 1 10am to 4pm weekdays (excluding public holidays) MARGARET Wednesday nights until 9pm OLLEY FUNCTION CENTRE ASIAN Study Room for Prints, Drawings, GALLERIES Map courtesy City of Sydney Watercolours & Photographs (UPPER) THE Lower Level 2 RESTAURANT 10am to 4pm weekdays (excluding public holidays) Study Room Assistant Available. Appointments advisable but not essential. p Photography Photography of temporary exhibitions, Aboriginal art or Photography is not permitted. Photography of the permanent collection is permitted only without flash, for the purpose of private study only. Photographic material for publication or other commercial purpose is available upon written request.

General Information Art Gallery of New South Wales Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney 2000 Open daily 10am to 5pm (closed Easter Friday and Christmas Day) Art After Hours

Australian Wednesday nights until 9pm Museum Tel: (02) 9225 1744 What’s on line: (02) 9225 1790 TTY: (02) 9225 1808 (during Gallery hours) Fax: (02) 9221 6226 National Toll Free: 1800 679 278 Web site: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04E-mail: [email protected] PAGE 2 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU Brett Whiteley Studio 2 Raper Street, Surry Hills p Open 10am to 4pm Saturday & Sunday Tel. (02) 9225 1881

at Art Gallery of New South Wales South New of Gallery Art at Kei Takemura Kei Detail of installation artwork by by artwork installation of Detail Weight Greg Photo:

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 3 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU KEI TAKEMURA born Tokyo, Japan, 1975 lives and works in Berlin, Germany

AGNSW Location Lower Level 2

Background Since sewing takes a long time, I enjoy the process itself. It gives me free time to wish something which might happen in the future, and remember something that happened in the past. There is no order – the arrow of time lets me think about the future or remember the past. In other words, I set time free while I’m sewing. (Artist statement) The work is concerned with memory, recollected spaces, architectural environments, precious objects and the private histories they embody, maps and journeys. The work honours a number of friends of the artist who feature in the drawn and sewn portraits on the wall. During the Opening Week of the Biennale the artist presented a performance which saw her wearing the masks that are pinned to the wall and gently, carefully making coffee in memory of each of these friends.

FOCUS QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES VISUAL ARTS K-6 Discuss what an installation can be. Consider the steps the artist has taken to create this piece. Focus on the role of the audience in bringing their personal experiences to the work. HSIE Research the history of Japanese textiles and designs. How and why were these textiles produced? Was this the labour of men or women? SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Research the production of silk fabric in Japan. How has new technology changed the way silk is produced? VISUAL ARTS Walk around the space. How has the artist altered the Gallery space? Look at the lighting, scale of the work, material used, colours and texture. Does this installation trigger any memories? Discuss these ideas as a group. ENGLISH Compile a word bank of descriptive words for this installation. Use several of these words to write a personal response to this work. Write a wall label for this work. Retitle the work and list instructions for the audience on how to move around the space and experience the work. MATHS Calculate the amount of fabric used by the artist. Consider how the artist went about calculating the amount of material required for this artwork. Guess the price of the fabric per metre and add up the estimated cost. VISUAL ARTS Research contemporary artists who have use fabric in their art practice. Consider the process each artist has developed. Make your own artwork using fabric, for example, weave strips of fabric together or collage and stitch fabric together.

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 4 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU MUSIC Find a piece of contemporary music, which could accompany this work. Explain why your selected piece best suits the objectives of the artist. Compose a piece of music inspired by your experience of this work. ENGLISH Describe your experience of being in the installation. Include any memories that were triggered by the work. Construct a poem based on your description.

— Intricate details form the memories of the artist’s past. How do you collect and re-engage with your 7-12 personal memories? Think about your earliest memory? What part is most vivid? In what way do all the senses play a role in the moments of your past? Respond to your memories through artmaking. — Visualise a room in your present home. Describe this room in minute detail. Focus on all your senses in your description. Visualise a room from your past. What memories of this room do you recall the most and the least? Compare each memory and recollection. — ‘I try to adapt my works to the places/spaces I work in’ (Kei Takemura) The artist’s sense of place becomes an integral part of this work. Has the artist successfully achieved this goal? Does the arrangement and placement of this artwork fulfill the artist’s intentions? Define her sense of place. — Journeys through memories and time form the basis of Takemura’s art practice. In her work, the artist responds to the past and the present. Think about how her work reflects these concepts? — From your observations, how does the artwork become a reflection of the artist’s visual memory of the world around her? — Japan is known for its long tradition in textile art and design. Discuss the artist’s response to her cultural traditions along with her inspirations in the contemporary world. Consider artistic process, subject matter, materials and techniques as well as personal and social influences. — The artist considers the time consuming process of creating her textile structures and objects as a necessary step to resolving her memories and thoughts of the past and the future. Research other artists that focus their artmaking practice on time and memory. Compare their practice with Kei Takemura.

Key Words Time zone, contact zone, comfort zone, physical space, material space, psychological space, memory, sensuous mode of experiencing the world, third space Links http://www.korpus.org/KT/index.htm http://www.takaishiigallery.com/

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 5 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU Fiona Tan Vox Populi – Sydney 2006 Project supported by Kai and Wendy Tan, collection of Kai and Wendy Tan, Melbourne. Installation view at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of the 2006 Biennale of Sydney Photo: Jenni Carter

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 6 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU FIONA TAN born Pekan Baru, Indonesia, 1966 lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands

AGNSW Location Lower Level 2

Vox Populi – Sydney 2006 photographic installation, 301 individually framed colour photographs, each 19.2 x 14.2 x 2.6cm courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London

Background Information In October 2005 I spent a few weeks in Sydney selecting images for my latest project, Vox Populi – Sydney (2006). The work could be called a snapshot of a city. Photo albums of all shapes and sizes, plastic bags, shoe boxes, a hatbox, envelopes and CD-roms were piled up high. With thanks to about 100 Sydney-siders from all walks of life, I had literally thousands of private photographs to choose from. Australia is my home country, or at least my childhood country. I grew up in Australia but moved to Europe 20 years ago. Will this project, which will culminate in a photographic wall installation and an artist’s book, mean my emotional homecoming? My work is an elaboration of the documentary tradition, but one inspired by and indebted to amateur photography. (Artist statement)

FOCUS QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES K-6 Look up the meaning of anthropology in a dictionary. Discuss what it means. Research the meaning of Vox Populi. Why do you think the artist has selected this title and how does it link to the meaning of anthropology? HSIE Discuss in class what it means to you to live in Sydney. Create a mind map and illustrate it with images that make up your idea of Sydney. Discuss the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. What does this mean? Consider the positive and negative of utilizing photographs as evidence of history. Debate in class. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Research the impact of the camera in recording individual’s lives. How have cameras changed in the past hundred years? What type of camera do you have in your home? VISUAL ARTS View the photographs in the installation. Consider how the artist has selected and displayed the photographs. Do any images stand out for you? Why? Consider reasons why the artist invited people to submit their photographs as material for the artist to work from. Would the meaning of the artwork change if the artist had taken the photographs herself? ENGLISH Select an image with people. Write a narrative piece to go with the photograph. What are the people doing? Do you think they have posed for this shot? Why did the artist include this photograph? VISUAL ARTS Take a series of digital photos around your school environment. Allow each student to select five images of various sizes. Create a class installation around the theme of your school community. Invite other classes to come and view your class’s work.

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 7 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU PDHPE Look though your family album. Select several photographs to communicate your personal history. Consider the reasons behind your selection of photographs. Create a power point presentation on the people and events that have shaped your life. ENGLISH Select several images from current newspapers. Construct a collaged picture to create a new media story. Invent a dramatic headline to accompany the constructed image.

— This is an artwork that portrays a snapshot of a city. The artist has collected random images to create a 7-12 narrative that responds to the identity of a place. Collect random images of your city and create your own narrative of this place. — Identity and representation become an integral aspect of this artwork. Research traditional and contemporary artists that explore these concepts. How do they differ with that of Fiona Tan’s art practice? — Research the significant role of digital media in the Visual arts. In what way has the definition of art changed since the introduction of this medium? — This artwork reflects a number of dualities that enhance the overall meaning. Describe these conceptual and physical dualities and discuss the artist’s intent on including them in this work. — The viewer takes on the role of witness and editor. Discuss your response to these roles. How does the viewer’s subjective response reinvent the subjective choices of the artist? — How is the audience drawn into this work? What is the effect of combining film footage and photographic stills? — Form a debate discussing photography as subjective, not objective. Use Fiona Tan’s art practice as evidence for your point of view. — Compare Fiona Tan’s artwork with images you see in the everyday world. How does the meaning of the images change when it is displayed in the Gallery? How does its inclusion in the Biennale of Sydney 2006 influence the way audiences perceive the work? — Discuss how the artist has fused the past and the present. How does this enhance the overall meaning of this work and the notion of identity?

Key Words Contact zone, archives, collaboration, spheres of engagement, legacies, intersections, surveying, mapping, surveillance, geographical space Links http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/tan.html

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 8 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU Savanhdary Vongpoothorn Floating Words 2005-06 Installation view at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of the 2006 Biennale of Sydney Photo: Jenni Carter

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 9 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU SAVANHDARY VONGPOOTHORN born Champasak, Laos, 1971 lives and works in Canberra, Australia

AGNSW Location Lower Level 2

Floating Words 2005-06 acrylic and coloured pencil on Vietnamese Braille, 190.5 x 815cm courtesy of the artist, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne

Background Information During one of my many trips to the morning market in Vientiane, I picked up a Lao language primer for Vietnamese speakers. The more I looked at the book the more I realised it was not your ordinary language book. To my astonishment, I found several pages of quoted speeches and poems by Ho Chi Minh and Kaysone Phomvihan, dating back to 1976 and 1977. Their words still float in Laos. For this work, I have written on Braille magazine pages quotes from the two authors on Lao-Vietnamese ‘friendship’. Their words appear in Lao, Vietnamese phonetic transcription and Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh’s poem uses the metaphor of shared geography – rivers, mountains and passes – to express the closeness of the nations, while Kaysone’s speech refers to the two nations becoming ‘as one’. Artist statement

FOCUS QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES K-6 VISUAL ARTS Discuss what the term ‘abstract’ means. Find images of artworks where there are no recognisable features. Describe what you can see. Focus on colour, texture and pattern. Create an abstract artwork. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Find a sample of Braille text. Close your eyes and feel the Braille letters. Research the development of Braille. How is it produced today? Is there a universal standard? HSIE Locate where Lao and Vietnam are in relation to Australia. Research why many migrants came to Australia in search of a better life. Discuss the issues migrants may face settling into Australia. VISUAL ARTS Observe the installation from different angles. What strikes you about this work? Does it remind you of anything? Image being able to touch the art works. What would they feel like? Discuss with your class what this work means to you. MATHS Calculate how many perforations there are, on average, in each work. Consider how these have been made. Create a formula to work out how long this work may have taken the artist to create. ENGLISH Read the wall label. The title of the work is ‘Floating words’. Why do you think the artist has used this title? Make up a new title for the work. VISUAL ARTS Invent an alphabet that you only can decode. Create an abstract artwork using this text. Use repetition, patterning and overlapping. Display these works in a class exhibition.

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 10 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU MUSIC Record sounds in the playground that would suit this work. Compose a soundscape with the samples you have collected. Present your composition to the class. DANCE Think about how the artist created this installation. How would the artist have moved when making and installing this work? Devise a series of movements responding to this work. Choreograph a dance piece to traditional Lao music.

— Vongpoothorn’s art practice is a response to two worlds. Draw upon the cultural mix in your life and 7-12 create an artwork in response to this. — How do we communicate? List all the ways we communicate in society. How does an artwork communicate an idea to its’ audience. In what way does this differ to communication in the everyday world? — Consider the debate between art and craft. Are these debates relevant to contemporary art today? Examine textiles from different cultures around the world and discuss the process of making. — Language and text become an integral part of Vongpoothorn’s art practice. The artist’s tactile images embrace a sense of communication in a number of ways. Braille has become a visual element in this work as opposed to its original intent. The communication between the audience and the artwork is purely aesthetic. Discuss how the artist has contradicted the original function of Braille. — How does the artist blend cultures and concepts as well as forms of communication in her artwork. Why does she choose to create artworks in this way? How is her art practice a response to her personal world? Suggest the Post Modern qualities the artist explores in her work. — Why does the artist name her artwork Floating words? Is the title a metaphor? Critically analyse this work, considering the arrangement and placement as well as its relationship to the title. — Vongpoothorn explores a number of unconventional approaches to painting in her practice. The layering in her work is both visual and conceptual. Respond to Vongpoothorn’s work through your own artmaking. Experiment with unconventional approaches to traditional art making materials and techniques and create a multilayered artwork. — Research the number of influences the artist is inspired by such as Lao textiles, Aboriginal painting etc and discuss how these influences appear in her work. Consider how this mix of influences, cultures and experiences of artmaking relate to Australian culture in the 21st century. — Research Vongpoothorn’s personal history and background. Does the artist consider herself Australian? What qualities or characteristics would define her work as ‘Australian’? — How has Vongpoothorn responded to the notion of form verses function? Can her use of materials and techniques reinvent these terms? Collect a range of objects from each notion. Curate and display these objects in your classroom. Recollect how Vongpoothorn’s work was displayed at the Gallery. What is similar and how does it change the way we see and understand objects?

Key Words Contact zone, cross-cultural, cross-border transactions, exchange, globalization, locality, migration, territoriality, cosmopolitanism, colonialism, post-colonialism Links http://www.martinbrownefineart.com/ http://www.niagara-galleries.com.au/

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2005-06

Hot Bed Bed Hot Liu Xiaodong Xiaodong Sydney Liu of Biennale 2006 the of part as Wales South New of Gallery Art the at view Installation Weight Greg Photo:

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 12 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU LIU XIAODONG born Liaoning, China, 1963 lives and works in Beijing, China AGNSW Location Ground level List of Work Hot Bed 2005-06 mixed media installation with two mattresses, two paintings, oil on canvas, each 5 panels, each panel 260 x 200cm courtesy of the artist and Dan Bo, Beijing Background Information Hot Bed is the new painting project that Liu Xiaodong began in 2005. During the course of this project, he spent approximately four weeks in China’s Three Gorges and in Bangkok, Thailand, respectively. China’s Three Gorges was once a scenic spot in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It was so celebrated that it even appeared on bank notes. … Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Chinese government began to erect the world’s largest hydro-electric power station in order to solve energy problems. As part of this undertaking, the water level of the Yangtze River was raised by tens of metres. At the same time, over ten million residents were removed from the place their families had lived for generation upon generation, becoming forced migrants into cities with which they were not at all familiar. As the first part of Hot Bed, Liu Xiaodong went to the city of Fengjie in the summer of 2005. By then, Fengjie was already demolished and slated for immersion. There he spent almost a month depicting eleven peasant construction workers labouring in the razed city. In fact, the places these construction workers demolished were their own homes and city. As a famous scenic spot in Asia, Bangkok offers a different sort of scenery. Countless bars and bath houses come alive at night, countless tourists come and go, and the sleepless city offers the world both pleasure and entertainment. In China, as in other Asian countries alike, the gap between rich and poor grows ever greater along with the rapid economic development taking place and the ceaseless expansion of city. The city shapes temptations, and countless people come in search of opportunities, becoming migrants into the city. As the second part of Hot Bed, the artist selected eleven female bar workers. … In these pieces, the bed suggests a river flowing through these places: the Yangtze river and the Southern Mekong. Rivers nurture humanity, humanity creates civilisation, civilisation stimulates cities, but cities do not always bless and protect city people the way that rivers nurture them. … During the 1990s, Liu Xiaodong was a main force in ‘New Era’ painting – an important movement in Chinese contemporary art in that it dispensed with the ‘representative’ aspect of realism. ... Abandoning the pursuit of visual perfection, New Era artists included photography and film as important aspects of painting. Liu Xiaodong’s paintings are not unlike films in that they embody the temporal development of an ordinary moment, and not the so-called ‘decisive moment’. … The Hot Bed series is an attempt to use the language of painting to show the complicated course of temporal development – an approach that suggests a connection with ancient Chinese scroll paintings. Since 2003, Liu Xiaodong has been intensely interested in traditional Chinese painting, especially Song Dynasty painting. … (Pi LI, Zones of Contact: 2006Biennale of Sydney catalogue, p.166

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 13 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU FOCUS QUSTIONS AND ACTIVITIES VISUAL ARTS K-6 Find examples of traditional Chinese ink painting. Discuss the common features. Compare ink paining to western oil painting. HSIE Locate China on a map of the world. Compare its size to other countries. What is China’s population today? How does this compare to the Australian population? Draw a map of China and use visual symbols to show key sites, major cities and geographical forms. Research China’s long history and strong traditions. Consider the importance of the three perfections; painting, poetry and calligraphy and the four treasures; rice paper, ink stick, ink stone and brush. ENGLISH Write a newspaper article titled ‘China through the eyes of an artist’. In this article, discuss some contemporary issues that are affecting China today and how Xiaodong responds to these issues. Consider China’s need for development and energy resources and the influence of the Western world. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Consider the reasons why some artists paint from photographs rather than life. How has the invention of the camera affected the practice of painting? VISUAL ARTS Consider the scale of the work. What elements connect all the paintings? What is the best position to view the installation? DRAMA Select one painting in this installation. Observe the figures in the work. Invent their histories. Create a dialogue for the figures. Act it out. MATHS Count the figures and look at the way the artist has placed them in the composition. Do they form invisible shapes? Look at the lines. Find examples of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. VISUAL ARTS Set up a tableau with a few students. Draw or paint from the scene. What issues arise from this life drawing session? How does this experience compare to drawing from a photograph? HSIE Consider the importance of cultural heritage and traditions in China. How is the pressure of people moving from the country to the cities affecting the way people live and work. Discuss. ENGLISH Imagine you are a rural worker who has been forced to move to a large Chinese city in search of work. Write a letter to your family describing your arrival in the city and your search for accommodation and employment. Write a diary entry for the artist after he has completed this large-scale installation. What was he hoping to express through this work?

EDUCATION KIT SECTION 03 OF 04 PAGE 14 OF 15 BOS2006.COM.AU — Research the traditions of Chinese ink painting. Describe the process and the materials used. How 7-12 are artists trained? What is the role of painting in Chinese society? Look at examples of painting by Liu Xiaodong. How does his approach to painting differ? Discuss why this change in approach occurred in the 20th century. Research Liu Xiaodong’s art practice. Does his artworks remind you of any Western painting traditions? Find examples that are similar and compare. — Find information about the Cynical Realism movement of the late 1980’s. List the artists involved and discuss how they respond to the world around them. What commonality can be seen in the art practice of these artists? How is Xiaodong’s art practice a progression of this movement? — What is your opinion on mechanical verses manual processes in artmaking. Form an argument for and against of both approaches. Specifically consider the art making practice of Liu Xiaodong. — Find a figurative painting in Western style tradition in the Old Courts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Compare this work to Xiaodong’s figurative paintings. Discuss the importance of the narrative in each artwork. Compare the processes and specifically discuss the importance of immediacy in his work. — Why is this artwork defined as an installation as opposed to a painting? In what way does the artist create a dialogue between himself and the sitters, himself and the act of painting? — Is painting dead? Is there room for painting in the digital age? How have Eastern and Western artists responded to this challenge from the time the camera was invented in the mid 19th century? — Set up a scene and document it in painting as well as in digital form. Compare the effect each approach has on the artist and the sitters. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each technique?

Key Words Eastern Zone, Western Zone, contact zone, critical forum, discursive practices, underdevelopment and development, inequality of power, deportation, dislocation, dispossession, occupancy, segregation Links http://www.asianart.org/threegorgesproject.htm

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