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14/10/2011

Intimate Publics

Fehily Contemporary, Collingwood

A forum and exhibition themed around art in the Asia Pacific region, this first collaboration with itinerant visual arts project Utopia heralds the beginning of a long term relationship for the Festival's annual visual arts program.

Curated by Utopia @ Asialink, Intimate Publics is an exhibition of video projections that delve into the revelatory world of intimacy within public spaces, probing the effect that the ever-present social media has on our public expression of emotion.

Artworks include Larissa Hjorth's CU project, in which she asked perfect strangers to disclose intimate moments via saved SMS messages paired with evocative photographic images.

Artists:
Nikhil Chopra (India), Daniel Crooks (Australia), Larissa Hjorth (Australia), Masaru Iwai (Japan), Amar Kanwar (India), Takashi Kuribayashi (Japan), Charles Lim (Singapore), Minouk Lim (Korea), Tran Luong (Vietnam) and Jewyo Rhii (Korea).

Curatorium:
Yusaku Imamura (Tokyo Wonder Site), Sunjung Kim (Co-Artistic Director Gwangju Biennale 2012), Natalie King (Utopia @ Asialink), Deeksha Nath (curator/writer, New Delhi), Tan Boon Hui (Singapore Art Museum).

In an era of rapid information access, how can we find meaningful and enduring ways to relate? With the saturation of social media, notions of trust, surveillance and intimacy are changing dramatically. In this milieu whereby the aesthetics of everyday life is increasingly shaped by the technocultural, Intimate Publics uncovers an array of approaches to these dilemmas from emotive gestures, political performances and poignant encounters.

Artworks include Nikhil Chopra's theatrical performance, which is haunted by the Victorian draughtsman Yog Raj Chitrakar. Daily actions—washing, eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, shaving, and observing—are transformed into ritualistic spectacle within bustling market squares and forgotten buildings. For Larissa Hjorth's CU project, she asked perfect strangers to disclose intimate moments via saved SMS messages paired with evocative photographic images. Charles Lim journeys through the 'longkangs' of Singapore, drawing attention to the vast network of monsoon drains which form an unintended map of the country. Various individuals are met along the way from the eerie strangers in raincoats who inspect the drains like a crime scene, to the young man who discovers glittering ornamental fish trapped in a plastic bottle, and in the closing scene, a lost soul overwhelmed by the sea.

Daniel Crooks manipulates footage of crowds going about their daily business outside a subway in Shanghai. He warps pedestrians into individual time slices so that they move slowly across the screen as if disconnected and bereft of personal encounters. During a residency in Taiwan, Masaru Iwai filmed old Japanese houses covering their exterior with soapy foam while undertaking domestic rituals indoors. Majestic and haunting, these structures are derelict yet a reminder of home and belonging.

When Minouk Lim was preparing for her elegiac nighttime performance on a ferry along the Han River in Seoul, she asked herself three questions:
What should I do to live in your life? What should I do to make our relationships work? Or how should we come across and fall apart?

These questions of empathy and connectivity inform Intimate Publics and the Utopia project. An inclusive and itinerant platform for engagement, Utopia is a network of cities that converse and collaborate including Melbourne, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul and New Delhi.

Presented by Asialink in association with Melbourne Festival and Fehily Contemporary

In 2011, Melbourne Festival’s Visual Arts Program features Australian and international artists exhibiting an eclectic suite of works united under the theme of protest and revolution – be that the social, political or cultural boundaries that inhibit unification or call-to-action, people coming together to achieve something positive. Free to all, the Visual Arts exhibitions include outdoor, experiential and interactive events designed to engage a diverse array of people throughout the city.

FORUM
Tue 18 Oct at 6pm
Venue:
The University of Melbourne
Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room
Level 1, Sidney Myer Asia Centre
Cnr Swanston and Monash Road
Parkville

Utopia @ Asialink presents a free public forum, Intimate Publics: new models for art engagement, creativity and politics in the Asia Pacific region, chaired by visual artists Larisa Hjorth and Daniel Palmer.

As social, geo-social and mobile media render the intimate public and the public intimate, how does it impact on art practice and politics?

Drawing on a variety of case studies, including the regional initiative Utopia and the recent disaster in Japan, this forum will tackle questions about the capacity for people to take part in politics, and the relationship of politics to our personal lives.

Press Contact:
Tatia Sloley P +61 3 9652 8641 M 0403 305 395 E tatia@tspublicity.com.au
Mary Thompson P +61 3 9652 8640 M 0415 745 910 E mary@tspublicity.com.au
Emma Costello P +61 3 9652 8618 M 0421 201 344 E e.costello@melbournefestival.com.au

OPENING CELEBRATION SATURDAY 15 OCT, 3 - 5PM

Fehily Contemporary
Loft Gallery 3a Glasshouse Road
Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia
Hours: Weds - Sat 11am - 5.30pm
Closed Sun - Tue

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