FACE UP - Contemporary Art from Australia, Hamburger Bahnhof

Aboriginal Art Directory | 06.10.03

News source: Sydney Morning Herald

People milled around Mikala Dwyer's tactile installation, I Maybe You, only barely prevented from reaching out to feel the intriguing shapes of cloth and blow-up clear plastic by the presence of a stern-looking museum guard. James Angus's huge upside-down hot air balloon dominated the entrance near his streamlined Manta Ray, with Fiona Hall's delicate Cell Culture - small native animals and plants fashioned from white Tupperware and glass - hovering nearby. Other participants included Robert MacPherson, Daniel von Sturmer and urban Aboriginal artist Darren Siwes, whose almost mystical, superimposed photographs drew many visitors.

The diversity was a deliberate choice by curator Britta Schmitz, who resisted strong pressure from the Australia Council for the Arts - which funded the exhibition with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as part of their two-year artsaustralia berlin program - to nominate a specific theme. "I didn't choose particularly 'Australian' works, and I absolutely didn't want a theme," she said.

She stressed that all those selected are leading artists in their field who have already attracted substantial international interest. "While the works are all so different, I think it fits very well together."

This turned out to be little short of a curatorial miracle, considering the events that nearly capsized the whole undertaking. Two months ago fire broke out at the museum, demolishing the west wing designed to house a large portion of the exhibition and raising the spectre of cancellation.

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/05/1065292466299.html?from=storyrhs

Share this: » del.icio.us » Digg it » reddit » Google » StumbleUpon » Technorati » Facebook