RMIT Gallery Exhibition Program 2011 97 1 21 January — 12 March 108 2 September — 5 November China and Revolution: Space invaders: australian . street . History, Parody and Memory in Contemporary Art stencils . posters . paste-ups . zines . stickers The exhibition re-evaluates the Cultural Revolution through propaganda poster art Drawn entirely from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, the produced in the 1960s and ’70s, as well as through oral histories collected by the first Australian institution to have collected this type of work, this exhibition curators in 2008–2009. It opens dialogue between the past and present with work surveys the past 10 years of Australian street art. Featuring 150 works by over from artists with first hand experience, as well as through the display of original 40 Australian artists, the exhibition celebrates the energy of street-based political posters carrying political and social messages to the Chinese masses. creativity, recognising street stencils, posters, paste-ups, zines and stickers Curator Professor Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Dean of the School of Media and as comprising a recent chapter in the development of Australian prints and Communication at RMIT University, and Professor Harriet Evans, Coordinator of drawings. Curator Jaklyn Babington, Assistant Curator, International Prints, Asian Studies Research at the University of Westminster. Artists Liu Dahong, Xu Drawings and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Australia Artists Aeon, Weixin, Li Gongming, Shen Jiawei. Public Program 21 January: Shen Jiawei, with Azlan, Byrd, Civil, Dlux!, James Dodd, Adrian Doyle, Ghostpatrol, Haha, Misha Professor Donald, on the fate of Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland 1975, Hollenbach, Jumbo, Ash Keating, Lister, Makatron, Marcsta, Meek, Meggs, by Shen Jiawei, and the life stories of artists in the Cultural Revolution; 3 March: Mini Graff, Miso, Monkey, Nurok, Okipa, Prism, Proof, Psalm, Reks, Rone, Dan Missing histories and childhood in the Cultural Revolution, Professor Stephanie Sibley, Robert Sim, Sixten, Al Stark, Sync, Twoone, Vexta, Xero, Yok, Zap. Public Hemelryk Donald. Program The Graffiti Wall – Public Art Project throughout the exhibition, with artists NAILS, Twoone, Miso, Ghostpatrol, Al Stark; 2 September: Curator’s 21 January — 12 March talk with Jaklyn Babington; 8 September: artist talk; 26 September: Vandals Revolutionising Anime: or Vanguards? Street Art seminar, moderator Jaklyn Babington, with Teal 2 11 Production I.G.’s pursuit of ultra-realistic fantasy Triggs, Professor of Graphic Design, Faculty of Design, London College of Detailing the intricate process behind creating animation through storyboards, Communication, University of the Arts, NAILS, Eloise Peace, Sticky Institute and backgrounds and digital images from Production I.G. films, including Mamoru CIVIL; 27 September: Artists talk with Jumbo and Zap; 6 October: Seniors Festival Oshii’s international cult hit Ghost in the Shell, and its sequel Innocence. print event with Twoone. Viewers are taken behind the scenes of Production I.G, one of the world’s leading animation companies, recognised for its sophisticated animation techniques 2 September — 5 November and ultra-realistic animation. Curator Masafumi Konomi, The Japan Foundation Tate Adams Public Program 16 March: Japanese animation: pre-production and design, Dr Still active in his late 80s, printmaker Tate Adams is acknowledged as both Christopher Barker, lecturer, Animation and Computer Graphics, RMIT University. improving technical standards and developing printmaking as a respected art form. In 2010 Adams was made the Inaugural Honorary Fellow of the Print Council 21 January — 12 March of Australia. This exhibition explores the development of his work from the 1960s JAPAN: Kingdom of Characters when he established the artist print department at RMIT University, where he Astro Boy, Hello Kitty, Pokémon and Pocket Monsters – Welcome to the world of taught for 22 years, through to his current works. Adams moved to Townsville in Japanese characters. The 60-year history of Japan since the end of World War II is 1989, establishing Lyre Bird Press at James Cook University where he became an mirrored by the Japanese fondness for characters, which have permeated Japanese honorary lecturer. Lyre Bird Press continues to publish books in collaboration with life from manga to TV and computer games, and especially commercial character Jenny Zimmer of Zimmer Editions. Curator Vanessa Gerrans RMIT Gallery Artist goods. Interest in Japanese subculture, particularly anime and manga, has been 3 Tate Adams Public Program 29 September: floor talk Vanessa Gerrans with print increasing rapidly all over the world. This exhibition focuses on the country’s specialists Frances Thomson and Professor Jenny Zimmer. obsession with characters and the social reality they reflect, and also examines the 12 impact they have had on Japanese society. Curator Masafumi Konomi, The Japan 25 November — 28 January 2012 Foundation. Public Program 16 February: Sexual Robots and Plastic Humans in 2112 Imagining the Future Anime, Philip Brophy, expert on Japanese animation; 9 March: Encounters with Tapping into general anxieties about an uncertain future and public concern Japanese popular culture, Carolyn Stevens, Associate Professor, Japanese Studies, about the consequences of climate change, 2112 Imagining the Future reveals how University of Melbourne. contemporary artists imagine the world might look in one hundred years’ time. The exhibition gravitates towards science fiction, a genre highly developed in literature 15 April — 28 May and film but marginal in the visual arts, While responding to a number of urban Chelle Macnaughtan: Spatial Listening mythologies, such as impending armageddon, the exhibition resists predictions Ainslie Murray: Intangible Architecture of inevitable global disaster and explores the idea that although the unintended Malte Wagenfeld: Aesthetics of Air consequences of human actions have already begun to shape our perceptions of the Exploring the role of air, light and sound in contemporary architectural space. future, that future is not fixed and can yet develop according to human vision and These three exhibitions are linked by transdisciplinarity and poetic yet rigorous consensus. Curator Dr Linda Williams, Associate Professor in Art, Environment expansions of current discourses in design and architecture. These three artists and Cultural Studies in the School of Art, RMIT University Artists Including Keith provide distinct but highly complementary deep, slow, sensual experiences of Cottingham, Stephen Haley, Sam Leach, Yves Marchand, Romain Meffre, Lyndal space. Curator Suzanne Davies Artists Ainslie Murray, Chelle Macnaughtan, Osborne, Roman Signer, Kenji Yanobe, Ken & Julia Yonetani. Public Program 2 Malte Wagenfeld. Public program 15 March: Artists in conversation: Ainslie December: Utopia or dystopia? Curator’s view with Dr Linda Williams; 6 December: Murray, Chelle Macnaughtan and Malte Wagenfeld; 19 May: Musicologist Richard Imagining the Future, Dr Linda Williams with artists and writers on science fiction. Toop on Greek composer, architect and mathematician, Iannis Xenakis. MAIN IMAGE __ CHINA AND REVOLUTION: HISTORY, PARODY AND MEMORY IN CONTEMPORARY ART 4 17 June—14 August Installation view. Photo. Mark Ashkanasy. 1 __ CHINA AND REVOLUTION Liu Dahong, Four Seasons (Summer), Gioielli d’Autore. Padova e la Scuola dell’oro 2006 (detail), print based upon 1991 oil painting, 56x 90 cm. 2 __ REVOLUTIONISING ANIME: PRODUCTION Italian Contemporary Jewellery I.G’S PURSUIT OF ULTRA-REALISTIC FANTASY Screen shot from The Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ©2004 (detail), Shirow Masamune/ KODANSHA-IG, ITNDDTD. 3 __ JAPAN: KINGDOM OF CHARACTERS Installation Padua and its Jewellery School view. Photo. Mark Ashkanasy. 4 __ CHELLE MACNAUGHTAN: SPATIAL LISTENING Chelle Macnaughtan, Les Highlighting the importance of the City of Padua as a centre at the forefront of Trottoirs des Paris 2003–2007 (detail), digital photographs, each 20 x 26.6 cm. Photo: Chelle Macnaughtan. 5 __ AINSLIE MURRAY: INTANGIBLE ARCHITECTURE Ainslie Murray Untitled 2010, installation view, Tyvek, contemporary jewellery, this exhibition explores the creative development of acrylic, dimensions variable, perforated photographs 101.5 x 67.5 cm. Photograph: Ian Hobbs. 6 __ MALTE artists whose innovative jewellery designs and education philosophy led to the WAGENFELD: AESTHETICS OF AIR Malte Wagenfeld, Atmospheric Sensitivity, 2011, installation view. creation of the renowned Paduan Jewellery School, from its origins in the 1950s Photo: Vicki Jones. 7 __ GIOIELLI; D’AUTORE. PADOVA E LA SCUOLA DELL’ORO. ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY 1213 JEWELLERY. PADU A AND ITS JEWELLERY SCHOOL Francesco Pavan, Cubo 2004, brooch, various metal until today. Over 150 works reveal how the artists made their innovative choices alloys, enamel, 5.6x 7.6x 3 cm. 8 __ GIOIELLI Alberto Zorzi, Scriptura, bracelet, 1978, gold, 20 x 10 x 8 cm. based on research of materials, aiming at reaching harmonious balance and purity 9 __ 2112 IMAGINING THE FUTURE Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, Adams Theater, Detroit, from The Ruins of Detroit, (Steidl 2010). 10 __ SPACE INVADERS: AUSTRALIAN. STREET. STENCILS. POSTERS. PASTE- of form. Curator Mirella Cisotto, The City of Padua Artists Giorgio Cecchetto, UPS. ZINES. STICKERS Meek, Begging for change, 2004, stencil, printed image 89.1 x 73.5 cm. 11 __ SPACE Lucia Davanzo, Maria Rosa