GRG Advisory Committee.

There has been some confusion about recent advertisements in the local newspapers calling for applications for community representation on the Regional Gallery Advisory Committee.

Correspondence from Debra Schleger, GCC Arts and Culture Manager, has clarified the position.

A decision of the committee, which some of you know about, to end the committee was not made with a quorum, so has not been enacted.

In response to a recent Council resolution, on November 4th, expressions of interest have been advertised for community representation on the various committees including the Regional Gallery Advisory Group. This is for community not organisational representation.

This means that anyone interested in being part of the committee, including existing community members, will be required to submit an application.

Check the council website for details about submitting an expressing of interest.

Ripples in the pond

Some ripples in the pond regarding communications between Council and art stakeholders.

Minutes from Gosford Council meeting 30th October.

The following motion adopted:
NM.18 REVIEW OF THE CAROLINE BAY ARTS PRECINCT ADVISORY
COMMITTEE (IR 3934299)

Councillor: Trevor Drake

BACKGROUND

One of the major outcomes from the Visioning 2025 Project is the recognition of the role Arts and Culture has in creating a sense of place and soul for a City.

The Community placed the focus on Arts and Culture as a high priority and this is reflected in the recent support in the Cultural Places and Spaces review for the creation of a Performing Arts Centre.

At the Meeting of the Caroline Bay Arts Precinct Advisory Committee on 19 September the
Committee recognised the important role Arts and Culture will play in the revitalisation of the City Centre and hence the future role of the Advisory Committee in this strategy.

MOTION

A. Gosford City Council to have the Community Services and Organisational Development
Directorate prepare a report on the role and functions of the Art Gallery and Caroline Bay
Arts Precinct Advisory Committee taking into account in the historical function, present
functions and future functions.

B. Whether the Committee remains, disband or reforms into another advisory committee to
assist Gosford City Council in the future cultural development of Gosford City.

C. Gosford City Council to develop terms of reference for any Committee it recommends as a consequence of the review.

The motion was foreshadowed in a previous post on the Back Page but the language of the “Background” is interesting, as is the reference to the Cultural Places and Spaces review. Notable is the use of “Art Gallery and Caroline Bay Art Precinct Advisory Committee,” rather than the old "Gosford Regional Gallery Advisory Committee", which probably indicates a potential role that reflects the changing art and culture geography of Gosford.

And of particular interest is “the support in the Cultural Places and Spaces review for the creation of a Performing Arts Centre” as this is not the remit of the Advisory Committee.
In fact a motion adopting the Cultural Places and Spaces Framework Stage 1 Findings, was accepted at the October 2 Council meeting which made it clear that plans for a Performing Arts Centre should be part of an integrated Art Precinct masterplan incorporating other sectors of the Art matrix.

More on the Cultural Places and Spaces Framework is in the pipeline for Back Page.

Caroline Bay Watch 19th Sept

Caroline Bay Watch.
Highlights from the Regional Gallery Advisory Committee – 19th September.

After two years of waiting, the catalogue for the 2005 Dawn Light Symposium has been distributed. Problems with the final product have been passed on to Tim Braham for attention.

In response to a paper tabled by Neil Berecry-Brown designed to redress problems with the functioning, roles and responsibilities of the Advisory Committee, it was decided that the following motion be put to Gosford Council by Councillor Drake.

A. Gosford City Council to have the Community Services & Organisational Development directorate prepare a report on the role and function of the Art Gallery and Caroline Bay Arts Precinct Advisory Committee taking into account the historical function, present function and future function.

B. Whether the committee remain, disband or reform into another Advisory Committee to assist Gosford City Council in future cultural development of Gosford Council.

C. Gosford City Council to develop a terms of reference for any committee it recommends as a consequence of its review.

This is a draught of the motion to be put, and may be amended on reflection by the members of the Advisory Committee.

The final form of the Cultural Spaces and Places Report should be available soon, so the reformation of committees will be interesting.

Caroline Bay Watch

The prize season is with us again!

Gosford Art Prize 2007 exhibition “the highlight of the exhibition year” (GRG copy), opening Friday the 3rd of August.
This year GRG is offering a guide to the art prize industry from the Gallery’s perspective. Explaining how to use the competition to promote, market and win, how to chose which competition to enter, and the judging processes. Unfortunately it will be held (on Tuesday 28th August) after the opening of the exhibition, but it is good to see GRG start to address some of the issues in its programming. We hope it will be more than a “how to”. Contact GRG (4325 0056) for information.
One could start with:
The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value by Jim English. (review)

Young artists at NAIDOC market. No prizes, just for fun.

Prize to GRG for committing programming to indigenous culture and reconciliation.
The NAIDOC market event on the 8th of July was fun.

Also announced from the GRG is Wamberal to Wagstaffe open studio tour scheduled for the 8th and 9th of September. In the running for art tourism/business advancement Prize.


Prize for the worst coffee.
The coffee shop at Caroline Bay must serve the worst coffee, at the highest prices and with the slowest service, anywhere on the Central Coast.

Taking the Cake

Performance with Sponge Cake

Rosita Holmes "takes the cake" at the Emerging exhibition at the Gosford Regional Gallery.

The other artists who are exhibiting, Victoria Baker, Sarah Cockroft, Amelia Disspain, Janis, Kasane Low, Izabela Pluta, Juke Shelly and Emma White, will join Rosita to talk about their work at the Gallery at 6pm on the 18th of April. (Exhibition runs until the 20th of May)

A quick response to Jillian’s comment on “Elections” post.
Rather than adding to the comments, I am sending this to the Back Page as a “post”, as it addresses questions beyond those in the original, and the issues seem relevant to a few conversations at the moment.
Recently I was asked why ...the Space Between… was to take place in Mann Street and not at Erina shopping mall “where the people are”. The question raised issues that will be examined in the course of the project, but what I forgot to say upfront was that Erina is private space, Mann Street is public and civic space that includes private uses.
One of the problems with the closing of “Changeling” was that there was a perception that The Gosford Regional Gallery was being treated more as a private space, controlled by individuals unknown (certainly not “us”). I suspect that if Qantas was still owned by the Government (“us”) it would not be so easily banning passengers wearing T-shirts with anti-establishment motifs.
Allen Jasson & T shirt.
The more we sell off the commons – privatise those institutions previously held as public (our “commonwealth”), the greater would seem to be the need for public venues where there can be free and fearless expression of all views. In such circumstances artists can examine through their work our common human condition; our motives, politics, emotions etc.; what it means to be who we think we are, and what is demanded of us if we want to act with responsibility and compassion.
Oppression grows from ignorance, and ignorance is promoted by oppressive regimes – censorship ensures ignorance. We even have a government in Canberra that maintains power by manipulating its own ignorance (babies overboard, weapons of mass destruction, AWB & food for oil).
I do not want to coach politician’s responses to the “Election” post questions, but art culture always has been inextricably part of Enlightenment humanitarian discourse, and, for me, strengthening its role as an arena, an intellectual commons, free from the shackles of ignorance and censorship is vital in an increasingly privatised world.
Jillian, you call for explanations about the Gallery closing. I believe that eO will be writing to Gosford Council with some pertinent questions. I hope we will be able to have their responses on the Back Page.
Neil.

Closing the Uncanny

“GOSFORD City Council will close a controversial art exhibition a week early after police called photographs of a naked seven-year-old girl disturbing and complainants said the images were "child abuse and not art". (SMH)

Another day, another art exhibition closed due to public complaint.

It is surprising that so few examples of this come to attention. Curators and exhibition organisers sometimes walk a fine line between a conservative public’s sensibilities and the principle of an uncensored presentation of artists’ work and ideas.

Regional Gallery Curator (forground) and contentious photographs in Changeling: Childhood and the Uncanny, curated by Alasdair Foster for the Australian Centre for Photography.

We do not live in a world where there is no control over what is said and done. In circumstances where it is reasonable to assume that an expression will give offence or could lead to harmful consequences, judgements are made with regard to the common benefit. It is the foundation of ethical practice.

Artists have no more right than another group of individuals to offend other people with impunity, but contemporary artists have inherited a practice of inquiry, interrogation, critiquing, questioning, and doing so with a freedom to be confronting and sometimes abrasive. It is a vital part of imagining new possibilities. The freedom also permits ill-considered, inadequately conceptualised and opportunistic works, with the appearance of art, to be shown.

Contemporary art is one of too few places in Australia 2007 where alternative views can be explored and presented in the world of politics, culture and values. If a work hints at, or explicitly depicts, aspects of society that are unspoken or dangerous, it is an opportunity to confront the issues. The photographs by Polixeni Papatetrou in the Changeling: Childhood and the Uncanny exhibition, being closed down at the Gosford Regional Gallery, were known to be controversial.

The following is from the Artlife blog from 20th December 2004. Artlife praised the exhibition as a whole, but went on to say:

"Polixeni Papapetrou is not, mercifully, represented by her simply appalling Alice in Wonderland pictures, but by a suite of works called Olympia Wearing Her Grandmother’s Jewellery from 2001. Featuring shots of her naked daughter in poses reminiscent of soft porn, these works are deeply troubling, not so much because of the disturbing way in which the artist depicts the child, but more because the artist seems unable to understand what the objection might be to the power relationship between the photographer and the subject. The artist contends that her daughter is completely complicit in the process, but to look upon these pictures is to imagine otherwise. We may be wrong, but we’ll be fascinated to know what Olympia will have to say about her childhood experiences with her mother when she's an adult."

It is also reasonable to ask questions about the “soft porn” aspects of the image and why most commentators prefer to talk about the mothers intentions, as if an artist necessarily can be trusted to know their motives anymore than the rest of us, rather than the more problematic issue of pornography.

The ACP curator of the exhibition Alasdair Foster wrote …. “The participating artists address the child-adult interface from a range of perspectives - adolescent fashion, infant sexuality…” acknowledging the disturbing undercurrents of pedophilia. In the photographs it is not explicit sexuality but the signs of acquiescent commodity that resonate in our consumer culture.

A student from Semiotics and Deconstruction 101 would be able to sort it out in no time.

We are all familiar with Serrano’s Piss Christ and Davila’s Stupid as a Painter, amongst a host of controversial and censored exhibitions. Most recently the “pornography” paintings of John Currin have been hotly discussed, but I think what is of issue here is that these other works do not extend beyond the adult world. Ann Elias discusses some of these issues for education in the linked pdf.

Perhaps with for-knowledge of the controversial nature of these few photographs, in an otherwise praised exhibition, an opportunity could have been managed to explore the issues rather than having the whole presentation closed. It might be that the perceived absence of a context for discussion was more relevant than the images themselves, which without it, were complicit in the precociously sexed portrayal of children that it is said they commented upon neutrally.

If we have art we will have controversy, thank goodness for that.
Walking the fine line is the job of the curator, and Gosford Council is right to put their trust in the people they employ to make informed decisions.

Gift idea.

Dear Santa,

C/o Tim Braham. Curator,
Gosford Regional Gallery

Are you wondering what to “give” the artists who came to Gosford for the Dawn Light Symposium in September 2005?

They have told us that the promised exhibition catalogue and DVDs would be very nice.

Perhaps you could get your little elves in gear and see what can be done?

Never Mind the Art, Look at the Catalogue.

The exhibition is over. The artists have gone. We have some memories and reflections.
But if we want to remind ourselves about the work, revisit the artist’s commentary about their way of working, consider again the concepts, ideas and issues in their work, read about the curatorial intention, consider including the artist in another exhibition, we look to the catalogue. Also the catalogue is an important resource for the viewing public attending an exhibition, to give them greater insight into the meaning of works exhibited.
NAVA stresses the importance to the artist of the exhibition catalogue as a way of promoting their professional profile. Artists rely on receiving a professionally produced catalogue from their exhibition as supporting material in applying for grants, employment, further exhibitions etc.
It is now over a year since the end of the Dawn Light Symposium at the Gosford Regional Gallery, and a year since the catalogue was due to be available to the public, and participating artists.
We are still waiting, and the artists are not at all pleased.
For all the artists, particularly those who came from Japan, Korea, New Zealand and China, participating in Gosford cost them considerable amounts of money.
Artists subsidise public events like Dawn Light from their own resources. Ephemeral site-specific installations are not part of the retail system, they are to a large extent a gift to the community.
The least we can do is make sure that they receive a catalogue that they can use in the development of their practice.

Oh where, Oh where, has my catalogue gone.

Review the Gosford Art Prize

Any motivated or aspiring exhibition reviewers out there?

Give the artists some feedback, or tell us why you should have won.
Post your review in ‘comments’ to this posting or email to Back Page editor.