Table Of Contenttogether < > apart
ART ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2012
all our relations
Artistic Directors: Catherine de Zegher and The 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our
Gerald McMaster relations (27 June – 16 September 2012)
bos18.com <http://bos18.com> is based on a collaborative framework and
dynamic new exhibition model. Artistic
The Biennale of Sydney is Australia’s largest Directors Catherine de Zegher and Gerald
contemporary visual arts event, showcasing McMaster will bring together international
bold and innovative contemporary art from artists to collaborate and create artworks,
around the world. The free exhibition is exploring new ideas from unexpected voices
presented over 12 weeks in the heart of Sydney around the world.
at leading contemporary art spaces and on
world heritage-listed Cockatoo Island. Alongside Biennale of Sydney venues are connected by a
the exhibition, the Biennale presents artist spectacular art walk on Sydney’s Harbour. Start
talks, guided tours, performances, forums, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and
family days and other special events – all free stroll through the picturesque Royal Botanic
to the public. Gardens to arrive at the newly redeveloped
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in
the heart of bustling Circular Quay. Continue on
to historic Pier 2/3 then jump on the Biennale
Free Ferry across Sydney Harbour to world
heritage-listed Cockatoo Island, a former
shipyard and prison.
together < > apart
ART ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
12–14 JULY 2012
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
NATIONAL ART SCHOOL
ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
together < > apart
Major supporters
Supporters
The conference is supported by the Australia Council, the Power Institute, Art History and Film
Studies, Sydney University Museums, Sydney College of the Arts and United States Studies Centre,
University of Sydney; and the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales; the National Art
School; the Art Gallery of New South Wales; and the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation.
The information contained in this publication was correct at the time of printing. The Conference
Organisers bear no responsibility for withdrawn or altered papers. The views expressed within this
publication are those of the authors and not of the Conference Organisers. All text is as provided by
speakers.
Published by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ)
Rm 225, Lvl 2, Fisher Stack F04
The University of Sydney NSW 2006
Australia
ISBN: 978-0-9873469-0-2
© Copyright 2012
Design and print production: Peter Thorn
Printed using Forestry Stewardship Council approved paper
Except as provided by copyright legislation, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the
copyright owners. Copyright in individual conference papers remains with the authors. Requests for
permission should be sent directly to the authors.
Front cover (detail) and title page:
Franz Erhard Walther Connection (Head) 1967
Copyright Timm Rautert and Franz Erhard Walther Foundation.
Courtesy Peter Freeman, Inc., New York
2
CONFERENCE CONVENORS
Dr Susan Best
School of Art History and Art Education, University of New South Wales
NSW Regional Representative: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand
Donna West Brett
PhD Candidate, Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney
Treasurer: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand
2012 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Dr Ann Stephen, President: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, Senior
Curator University Art Gallery & Collections, Sydney University Museums, Univer-
sity of Sydney
Anthony Bond, Director, Curatorial, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Virginia Mitchell, Head of Public Programs and Education, Biennale of Sydney
Dr Toni Ross, School of Art History and Art Education, University of New
South Wales
Professor Anita Taylor, Director, National Art School
Dr John Di Stefano, Postgraduate Coordinator, National Art School
Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean and Director, Sydney College of the Arts,
University of Sydney
Associate Professor Ann Elias, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
Professor Mark Ledbury, Power Professor of Art History and Visual Culture,
Director of the Power Institute, University of Sydney
CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATION
Katrina Liberiou, Conference Coordinator, Art Association of Australia and
New Zealand
Louise Mayhew, Office Manager, Art Association of Australia and New Zealand
CONFERENCE WEBSITE
http://www.aaanz.info
3
together < > apart
FOREWORD
Welcome from the president
It is my great honour and pleasure to welcome you to the 2012 AAANZ
conference at the University of Sydney. We chose to hold this year’s conference
early in July to coincide with the third week of the Sydney Biennale.
In small nations, conferences play a particularly important role offering mutual
support as well as crucial opportunities for exchange and networking across the
region, central to the intellectual and institutional lineage of art-making and art
historical writing in the region, giving artists, students, scholars and critics alike
a regular forum in which to exchange ideas. Over the next two days 200 papers
will be given by a diverse mix of scholars, curators, students and artists.
We were very fortunate to receive sponsorship from the Sydney College of the
Arts to support two student scholarships to attend the conference and from
the Power Institute, University of Sydney to enable Helen Molesworth’s visit. In
addition, we would like to formally acknowledge the financial and in kind support
of the Australia Council, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Biennale of
Sydney, College of Fine Arts, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, the United
States Study Centre, Sydney University Museums and the Power Institute, The
University of Sydney.
I would like to offer my thanks to the conference committee led by the convenors
Susan Best and Donna West Brett, working with our conference coordinator,
Katrina Liberiou. Their dedication, imagination and fund-raising activities have
enabled members to come together this year. Most of the work is hidden so
please, thank them at the conference when you see them.
They have been ably assisted by a broader committee comprising: Colin Rhodes
and Ann Elias (Sydney College of the Arts), Mark Ledbury (University of Sydney),
John di Stefano and Anita Taylor (National Art School), Toni Ross (University of
NSW), Anthony Bond (AGNSW) and Virginia Mitchell (Biennale of Sydney).
This conference also launches our new conference web-site, so a special thanks
to our designer Nest, our web manager Dr Elisabeth Findlay, and our business
manager, Louise Mayhew. Thanks also to the Executive and our long-standing
treasurer, Donna West Brett, who has greatly assisted the conference.
Ann Stephen, President AAANZ
4
Welcome from the Convenors
We are delighted to welcome you to 2012 AAANZ conference in Sydney,
“Together<>Apart” programmed to coincide with the 18th Biennale of Sydney.
The conference theme was designed to complement (and to investigate) this
year’s biennale theme “all our relations.” It focuses on the very broad idea
of relations and relationships as well as allied terms such as collaborations,
networks and partnerships. An exciting range of papers has been assembled to
address the myriad ways in which such terms can be examined.
We are very pleased to have two very distinguished keynote speakers, Dr Helen
Molesworth and Professor Thierry de Duve. Helen is a leading curator, who
recently received a Curatorial Excellence award from Bard College in New York
and is currently chief curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2009–
2012. Professor Thierry de Duve is an outstanding scholar, curator and art critic.
He curated the Belgian section of the Venice Biennale in 2003 and his exhibition
Look! 100 Years of Contemporary Art was a ground-breaking reappraisal of
the meaning of contemporary art. Both of our keynote speakers have very
generously agreed to hold master classes for some sixty postgraduate students
selected by their universities to attend.
Conferences like this are only possible with a great team, some of whom we
would like to expressly thank here. First, we would like to thank our president,
Ann Stephen, for her consistent support, her great energy and enthusiasm,
and her tireless devotion to making this conference the best it could possibly
be. Equally important has been the assistance of our conference coordinator,
Katrina Liberiou. She has been invaluable in calmly and patiently helping us
pull it all together. We thank our student volunteers who have given their time
to ensure the smooth running of venues and registration. Finally, we thank all of
you: the participants who make a conference like this a vibrant and invigorating
intellectual event.
Susan Best (University of New South Wales)
Donna West Brett (The University of Sydney / Art Gallery of New South Wales)
5
together < > apart
PANELS
Abstract relationships 11
Activated surfaces, spaces & light: 13
the intersections between installation art & architecture
Art and participatory design 15
Backs, fronts and contemplatory spaces: art in tension with networks 18
Camera connectere: relational portrait photography 21
Collaboration and connection in the Asia-Pacific 23
Collaborative painting and drawing 25
Contemporary painting re-expanded 27
Conversation, collaboration, & communities: 30
the role of the artist & the formation of publics
Exhibition practices and permeable relationships 31
Friendship and rivalry 33
Home work – the work of homing 36
Image-space and the currency of art history 39
Mediating visual histories 41
Modernism, everyday life and collective creativity 45
Of materialities and the making of time in relational art 48
Performance art – is it a sideshow? 50
6
Perilous relations: bioaesthetics and eugenics 51
Relational contemporaries 54
Relational models of curating & art making: 57
local histories & indigenous practices
Relations between art & consumerism 60
– modes of interaction with art in a neo-liberal experience economy
Roundtable: toxic blooms 64
Sensing the collective in contemporary art and aesthetics in Asia 69
Structuring ways of seeing 71
Surface and deep histories: 74
critiques, & practices in art, architecture, & design
The aftermath: photography, memory & history 77
The dialectical spirit in art 80
Together but apart 83
– European art in public & private collections
in Australian & New Zealand, 1840–1940
Why don’t we talk more often?: 87
points of convergence between visual & performing arts spaces
Words & relations between artwork & audience in the museum 89
Open session 92
7
together < > apart
KEYNOTE
SPEAKERS
Professor Thierry de Duve 10
Dr Helen Molesworth 10
SPEAKERS
Akenson, David 47 Cox, Matt 69 Handran, Christopher 62
Alderton, Zoe 92 Daly, Anna 75 Hanfling, Edward 96
Allen, Larissa 92 Davidson, Henry 63 Hansen, Frances 25
Ansted, Darryn 81 Davidson, Kathleen 22 Harris, Jennifer 85
Archer, Carol 25,25 De Lorenzo, Catherine Haseman, Shane 17
Arden, Holly 30 71,72 Haysom, Rob 81
Baitz, Joanne 93 Devetzidis, Areti 94 Hill, Michael 34
Bannon, Robyn 92 Di Stefano, John 36,37 Holden, Susan 82
Barnes, Carolyn 55 Dickson, Nicola 81 Holt, Matthew 15
Baxendell, Lydia 97 Doley, Kelly 95 Homewood, David 96
Bento, Bernardo 64 Donaldson, A. D. S. 93 Horton, Jessica L. 88
Berghuis, Thomas 69 Downey, Georgina 18,19 Hughes, Helen 78
Berry, Jess 19 Duggins, Molly 76 Inglis, Alison 73
Blas, Lisa 64 Dyer, Katie 38 James, Alexander 66
Braddock, Chris 56 Edwards, Rebecca 84 Jansen, Monique 25
Brand, Louise 58 Fairskye, Merilyn 64,66 Jasper, Adam 82
Brauer, Fay (Fae) 51,53 Farrell, Charlotte 48 Johnston, Melinda 97
Brettkelly-Chalmers, Featherstone, Julia 66 Jones, Garry 58
Kate 56 Ferng, Jennifer 34 Jones, Stephen 63
Brodyk, Andre 27 Ferran, Anne 64 Kairuz, Eduardo 67
Brooke, Julie 39 Feuerman, William 14 Kalionis, Jennifer 16
Brown, Jenny 65 Finegan, Ann 32 Kay, Jonathan 79
Burchill, Janet 65 Fisher, Sibyl 57,59 Keeney, Gavin 35
Burton, Laini 74 Fracaro, Michelle 91 Keep, Dean 77
Butler, Rex 93 Fraser, Suzanne 84 Kelly, Caleb 50
Butler, Sally 94 French, Blair 51 Kelly, Wendy 11
Callaway, Anita 58 Gallagher, Sue 87 Kent, Elly 97
Cameron, Jonathan 65 Galstyan, Vigen 43 Keulemans, Guy 63
Campbell, Barbara 50 Garnsey, Eliza 78 Kimberley, Jonathan 59
Carruthers, Victoria 80 Gibson, Prue 95 Kreckler, Derek 67
Chandra, Mohini 37 Glogowski, Dominika 46 Laing, Melissa 86
Chatterjee, Anuradha 74 Goddard, Julian 11 Lakin, Shaune 21
Clayton-Greene, Kim 97 Goffman, Sarah 32 Larsson, Chari 83
Coates, Rebecca 55 Goldberg, Michael 61 Lendon, Nigel 47
Cole, Georgina 34 Gray, Sally 20 Lentini, Damian 87
Connerton, Kim 13,14 Gruner, Billy 55 Lim Chye Hong 91
Cooke, Ian 71 Greig, Ian 96 Lionis, Chrisoula 38
8
Description:Published by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) “TogetherApart” programmed to coincide with the 18th Biennale of
