Tradition and Transformation 2010 Conference Adelaide 1–4 December 2010 Ruby Tjangawa WILLIAMSON, Australia, c.1940, Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia, Puli murpu—mountain range, 2009, Amata, South Australia, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 121.5x152.0cm, South Australian Government Grant 2009, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, © Ruby Tjangawa Williamson, Courtesy of Tjala Arts ART ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND ABN 43 547 605 913 AAANZ MEMBERSHIP Please complete the form below and send with cheque, money order or credit card authorisation to: Business Manager, AAANZ Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 123 Broadway, NSW 2007 Name: Organisation (if applicable): Address: State: Postcode: Country: Telephone: Email: Annual membership fees: (please tick) AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND OTHER Individual Membership AUD $110 AUD $110 AUD $115 Individual (Concession) AUD $55 AUD $55 AUD $65 Institutional Membership AUD $110 Sustaining Membership AUD $220 Patron Membership AUD $550 Membership: New Renewal Payment method: I enclose a cheque made payable to the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Please debit my Visa / MasterCard Card No: Cardholderʼs name: Expiry date: Signature: Membership fees include copies of the member newsletter, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art which is published twice yearly and special rates for AAANZ Conferences. For further information: please visit www.aaanz.org.au or email [email protected] Tradition and Transformation Adelaide 1–4 December 2010 3 WELCOME On behalf of the Art Gallery of South Australia I would like to welcome you to the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) Annual Conference for 2010. In 1974 the Art Association of Australia was founded to act as a professional body representing art historians, critics, curators, artists and art students. Since then we have welcomed our New Zealand colleagues and developed a strong and supportive network for the development of visual culture through our region. The annual conference provides a welcome collegiate environment for presentations, exchanges and important social and professional connections that are the heart of our vibrant industry sector. Thank you to our industry partners, The University of Adelaide and University of South Australia and our major sponsors. It is gratifying to see institutions, colleagues and sponsors rally together in support of such a major undertaking. This year’s conference title Tradition and Transformation invites us to consider the value of our shared past and put forward new discoveries, dreams and possibilities. What a great way to wrap up the year. Nick Mitzevich Director Art Gallery of South Australia The conference theme Tradition and Transformation stems from a challenge offered to the AAANZ in Canberra by the 2009 Keynote speaker Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki to look at the changes Indigenous cultures are forging globally and cross culturally. This challenge has been taken up by session convenors who have given shape to twenty four sessions in art and design history and theory, visual culture, aesthetics, architecture, craft and design, curatorship and museology. The richness and diversity of the program points to a vibrant and strong research culture among the AAANZ community. We would also like to thank our partner institution the Art Gallery of South Australia for weaving in Gallery floor talks around the key foci of the program. A special thanks goes to three Keynote Speakers who inject knowledge and wisdom into the proceedings. The wider visual arts community in South Australia are also to be thanked for contributing to an array of pre-conference tours, while the generosity of donors of the postgraduate bursaries enabled a large number of postgraduate researchers to attend the conference and present papers. A University of Adelaide Small Grant resulted in postgraduate researcher and tutor Jenny Kalionis of the School of History and Politics becoming the face behind the conference, and the committee are greatly indebted to Jenny’s energy. We would also like to thank AGSA Manager of Exhibitions, David O’Connor, whose expertise has been invaluable, and the many volunteers who have contributed in a myriad of ways to the program. A/Prof. Catherine Speck Art History, University of Adelaide Chair of the AAANZ Adelaide committee 4 Tradition and Transformation Adelaide 1–4 December 2010 Tradition and Transformation Adelaide 1–4 December 2010 5 Conference CONvenors FOREWORD The 2010 annual AAANZ conference is jointly hosted by Art History at the University of Adelaide, the It was 1990. Gael Newton of the National Gallery of Australia was the President, Julie Ewington was Art Gallery of South Australia and the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Treasurer and I was the Secretary of the AAANZ. Things were modest. I think I hand-wrote the envelopes Australia. The conference committee is: when we sent out the Journal. There were maybe forty to fifty members. All the records sat in cardboard boxes in my office at ANU and I read of old factional battles and also kind pleasantries as I gave them Assoc Professor Catherine Speck (Chair) some order. Most of the correspondence concerned raising money to pay for the journal — after Australia Art History, University of Adelaide Council funding was withdrawn, this was once something that departments and schools were expected to manage. It was my job to try to sell advertising space in the annual Journal, and then collect the money. A David O’Connor few art specialist bookshops in Sydney and Melbourne supported us and sold the journal. I also had to be Manager, Exhibitions & Public Programs, Art Gallery of South Australia the rent collector. I remember one proprietor telling me that they had not bothered to put the journal out for sale, but I saw it on the shelf myself and went and asked for a cheque there and then. Adjunct Professor Ian North Art History, University of Adelaide / School of Art, Architecture and Design, UniSA The same discussions we have today, about how to engage the art educators, the museum sector, were going on. I remember a conference held at COFA in an old tin shed (or so it seemed), that might have Jenny Kalionis been rebuilt as the Elwynn Lynn Conference Centre somewhat later. There were maybe twenty people AAANZ Conference Assistant, Tutor and PhD student, Art History, University of Adelaide present at the session. Dr Dagmar Eichberger of the ANU took her students up to present Honours papers and that seemed astonishing at the time. There is a different bar now. Post-graduates are completely Maria Zagala integrated in our activities, thanks to their own initiative and that of their energetic supervisors. Associate Curator, Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Art Gallery of South Australia The AAANZ, a member organisation, is not corporate. We don’t run like amazon but we’re certainly Dr Pamela Zeplin expanding. When you consider that we have to compete with well established bodies such as ACUADS as Portfolio Leader, Research Education, Art, Architecture and Design, UniSA well as ICOM and all the professional curatorial groups, gallery societies, the MCA, the National Trust, the Furniture History Society, the list runs forever, something becomes very clear. That 300 people commit Dr Lisa Mansfield to travel several hours by plane to different parts of the region each year indicates that we serve a vital Lecturer, Art History, University of Adelaide need. Art History and its practices really matter; it’s a central part of humanistic research in Australasia. The diversification of the field into labels such as visual arts, visual culture, cultural studies, film theory, The Postgraduate Work with the Experts Workshop is convened by Dr Pamela Zeplin with assistance practice-based research, design history and theory and aesthetics does not really matter. Professionally from Melanie Cooper-Dobbin, tutor and PhD student in Art History. trained art historians wish to meet each other in a congenial setting, listen to completed research as well as stimulating new projects. They are not so partisan as to demand either early modern or 20th century The Pre-Conference Tours are convened by Jenny Kalionis and Melanie Cooper-Dobbin, tutors and PhD papers only. This seems really healthy and productive. We have not split along lines of history or theory, students in Art History. chronology or geography. The AAANZ Conference Bursaries Scheme was managed by Dr Lisa Mansfield. The Conference booklet I have worked with three conference committees now — Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide. They are the has been edited by Dr James Cooper. Conference volunteers are postgraduate Art History students. stars of the AAANZ. Their dedication, imagination and fund-raising activities enable the membership to come together each year. Most of the work is hidden and we will never know about it. Please, thank Conference website: www.aaanz/info them at the conference when you see them. They are: Associate Professor Cathy Speck; David O’Connor, Exhibitions and Public Programs Manager, Art Gallery of South Australia; Maria Zagala, Associate Curator The information contained in this publication was correct at the time of printing. The conference of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Art Gallery of South Australia; Adjunct Professor Ian North, Art organisers take no responsibility for withdrawn or altered papers. History, University of Adelaide; and School of Art, Architecture and Design, UniSA; Dr Pamela Zeplin, Portfolio Leader, Research Education, School of Art, Architecture and Design; Dr Lisa Mansfield, Lecturer, Art History, University of Adelaide; and Jenny Kalionis, tutor, Art History, PhD student and AAANZ 2010 conference Assistant. Thanks also go to Melanie Cooper-Dobbin, Dr James Cooper, Dr Elisabeth Findlay, our web manager, and our designer, Bec Paton. This year the Treasurer, Donna Brett, worked closely with me to write a grant application to the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL). We were successful, and at the conference we can launch our new web-site, which will make rent collecting a thing of the past.