RMIT Gallery Exhibition Report 2008 WWW.RMIT.EDU.AU/RMITGALLERY 7 8 1 11 February–22 March Zandra Rhodes A Life Long a complex paper structure from geometric forms, lit from above with a stark Love Affair with Textiles Fashion doyenne Zandra Rhodes’s white light. Part of the 2008 Melbourne State of Design Festival. designs are displayed in the first major retrospective in Australia. Rhodes Public 18 July, Grace Tan and Peter Sim, artist talk. began as a textile designer in the UK in the late ’60s and remains one of Program the most creative and influential artists in the fashion world today. Her 11 July–23 August Klaus Rinke Recent Drawings RHINE flamboyant use of colour, form and elements from traditional costumes • RUHR • LOIRE • DANUBE • PACIFIC CONNECTION • RE-AUSTRALIA around the world has led to original clothing that is innovative and timeless. Rover Thomas Joolama Selected Early Paintings This exhibition charts Rhodes’s creative progress from the initial inspiration Leading German artist Klaus Rinke visited the Australian desert in the late to the finished product. Fifty original garments and textiles are presented ’70s and drew strong parallels of land, spirit and place. This and subsequent alongside her inspirational sketchbooks, hand-printed fabrics and paper visits led to his massive Australian Diary, a collection of 800 drawings. His patterns. Part of the 2008 L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural profound experience was the recognition in Indigenous artwork of what he Program. Curated by Suzanne Davies and Sarah Morris. Public called abstract thinking; this was to give him a way out of the gap between Program 4 March, Zandra Rhodes, RMIT University School of Art Forum. European representation and its subject. Included in this exhibition are 10 April–17 May Come-in Interior Design as a early works by Rover Thomas Joolama, an artist unknown to Rinke, whose Contemporary Art Medium in Germany Twenty-five young work provides an opportunity to reflect on their resonances. Rinke returns German artists explore what binds and separates us in our daily world. In to Australia with a series of site-specific large-scale drawings in charcoal a series of essays, rooms, installations and hybrid daily objects we see 9 and paint on canvas. Supported by the Goethe-Institut Australia. Curated by the landscape of urban density, fragility and luxury, media and marketing, Suzanne Davies. Public Program 23 July, Klaus Rinke, RMIT University fear and confinement, nostalgia and the departure from pure design 10 School of Art Forum; 24 July, Klaus Rinke, artist talk. and handcraft to the impact of mass production. The exhibition includes 12 September–18 October Heat Art and Climate Australian artist Mikala Dwyer’s Empty Sculpture with Secret. Developed by Change Presents the work of twenty-four Australian and International the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and supported by the Goethe-Institut artists, and collaborators – a sensory experience of climate change through Australien. Curated by Renate Goldmann and Volker Albus. Artists Bettina paintings, photography, soundscapes, installations and interactive media. Allamoda, John Bock, Björn Dahlem, Heide Deigert, Mikala Dwyer, Christina Heat is the first international exhibition on this subject in Australia and Doll, Stefan Eberstadt, Christian Flamm, Claus Föttinger, Dorothee Golz, Hans explores issues of degradation, global warming, over-consumption, extinction Hemmert, Eva Hertzsch & Adam Page, Stefan Kern, Andree Korpys & Markus and human impact on nature. Curated by Dr. Linda Williams, Suzanne Davies Löffler, Isa Melsheimer, Tobias Rehberger, Peter Rösel, Daniel Roth, Silke and Sarah Morris. In collaboration with the Art & Sustainability Research Schatz, Gregor Schneider, Johannes Spehr, Jörg Wagner, Corinna Weidner & Cluster and RMIT University. Artists David Buckland & Max Eastley, Bonita Erik Schmidt. Public Program 10 April, Renate Goldmann, curator talk. Ely, Rew Hanks, Ash Keating & the 2020? Project, Janet Laurence, Sam Leach, 2 6 June–28 June Black Robe, White Mist Art of the Tony Lloyd, Anne Noble, Jill Orr, Simon Perry with Beau Emmett & Carmen Japanese Buddhist Nun Rengetsu Otagaki- Rengetsu (or Lotus Reid, Gregory Pryor, Georgina Read, Martin Rieser, Klaus Rinke, Cameron Moon 1791–1875) was one of very few successful female artists of nineteenth Robbins, Philip Samartzis & Michael Vorfeld, Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir & Mark century Japan. She was a poet and calligrapher, who also excelled in pottery Wilson, Roslyn Taplin, Ken Yonetani. Public Program 12 September, Ken and scroll-painting. Her tragic life inspired extraordinary creativity. Largely Yonetani, artist talk; 18 September, Mark Wilson, artist talk; 19 September, Jill Orr, artist talk; 24 September, Mark Wilson, RMIT University School of Art drawn from international private collections, Black Robe, White Mist shows 11 contemplative works on paper and clay inscribed with Rengetsu’s elegant Forum. Symposium 27 September, Cultures of Sustainability, keynote poetry and unpretentious calligraphy. Her work reflects the beauty of the speaker Dr. Wendy Wheeler. imperfect and unconventional. This is the first exhibition outside Japan to 30 October–22 November Hannah Pang Dreams From focus solely on her art. Curated by Melanie Eastburn, Lucie Folan and Robyn Loom and Needle Hannah Pang designs beautiful fabrics working with Maxwell. A National Gallery of Australia exhibition. Public Program artisans in traditional techniques such as Kesi, an ancient weaving craft that 6 June, Robyn Maxwell, curator talk; 12 June, Wabi Sabi, Japanese Aesthetics creates a silk tapestry with cut designs that resemble carved art work. Pang by Edie Young; 12 June, Junko Azukawa, Japanese calligraphy workshop. worked in Australia for many years before relocating to Suzhou in China, the 6 June–28 June New Scientist Eureka Prize for home of Kesi, and is now creating collections using this and other techniques Science Photography Presents twenty-four photographs from including Shibori, a folded dyeing technique, hand painting and embroidery. the 2007 prize, from polymers in a cochlear ear to cells dividing and jade Curated by Sarah Morris and Hannah Pang Public Program 30 October, icebergs in Antartica to a levitated drop of blood. These images remind Hannah Pang, artist talk. 3 us that science includes environmental issues, biodiversity, astronomy, information technology, engineering and health science. Curated by the 30 October–22 November Interaction Celebrates the Australian Museum and New Scientist magazine, the prize is awarded for tenth anniversary of collaborative arts education in Hong Kong between the photograph that most effectively communicates an aspect of science. the Hong Kong Art School and RMIT University’s School of Art. The exhibition presents selected works from prominent Hong Kong staff and alumni who Photographers Jacqueline Andrew, Victor Anggono, Karen Donnelly, 12 Megan Fabbro, John Goldsmith, Robert Griffith, Ralph Grimm, Sue Lindsay, are recognised as significant emerging artists. The collaboration began at Reg Morrison, Steven Morton, Stephen Nicol, Barnaby Norris, Tony Nott, the time of Hong Kong’s hand-over from British colonial rule to its current Ron Oldfield, Judy Parrott, Phred Petersen, Tamara Russell, Peter Solness, status as a Special Administrative Region of China. The exhibition provides Hamish Ta-Mé, Kirill Talanine, Rob Thompson, Carole Tilney, Mick Tsikas, an opportunity to assess artistic developments during this period of rapid Rodney Vella, Ian Waldie, Raimond De Weerdt. Public Program 6 June, cultural and sociological change. Presented by the School of Art, RMIT Jacqueline Andrew, artist talk Dying to Hear and Phred Petersen, artist talk University. Artists Au Ka Yiu – Gavin, Cheng Yee Man – Gum, Enoch Mirrors and Microseconds: Watching the world you never see. Cheung, Rachel Cheung, Chung Po Yang, Alex Heung, Ho Siu Kee, Jaffa Lam, Jamsen Law, Carol Lee, Luk Tsing Yuen, Ivy Ma, Tam Wai Ping – Lukas, Tang 6 June–23 August RMIT GALLERY TOURING EXHIBITION Ying Chi – Stella, Tse Ming Chong, Fiona Wong, Francis Yu. Beyond Metal Contemporary Australian Jewellery & Holloware Presents twenty-seven artists whose works embrace raw 6 November–22 November Leah Heiss liminal Presents and recycled materials, innovative design and technology. Presented by work at the threshold of art and science. Leah Heiss has spent the past ten the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade in association with the Victorian months working with nanotechnologists to develop wearable works which Government and RMIT University. Touring India, Chennai, New Delhi, address the emotional in therapeutic design. The outcome is a collection of 13 Mumbai, Bangalore (February—June 2007); Malaysia (September 2007); jewellery scale artefacts and vessels which are both delicate yet compelling Singapore (November—December 2007); Hamilton (April 2008). Curated in their curative applications. The exhibition is in two parts: diabetes + by Suzanne Davies, Carlier Makigawa, Beatrice Schlabowsky and Emeritus arsenic. diabetes is a range of jewellery which allow insulin to be admini- Professor Raymond Stebbins. Artists Helen Aitken-Kuhnen, Roseanne stered through the skin, replacing syringes; arsenic encompasses a series Bartley, Nicholas Bastin, Vito Bila, Julie Blyfield, Susan Cohn, Simon of vessels which act to remove arsenic from water and are designed for Cottrell, Juongmee Do, Mark Edgoose, Robert Foster, Stephen Gallagher, people in transit areas