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19/5/2004

Hatched 04

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts PICA, Perth

Perth is once again the hub for Australia's best up and coming visual artists with the launch of the thirteenth Hatched 04: Healthway National Graduate Show, the largest and most prestigious survey of emerging artists in Australia.

This massive exhibition, featuring 68 artists from every Australian state and territory, crams a huge amount of art into the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in Northbridge.

The exhibition will open with a loud bang on Thursday May 20 with the first visit to Perth of The Histrionics, performing 'Never Mind the Pollocks - Here's The Histrionics'

The brainchild of Melbourne artist Danius Kesminas - last seen at PICA with 'Hughbris', an installation addressing Robert Hughes' now notorious car crash in WA - The Histrionics bring their wicked sense of humour to the unique and idiosyncratic genre of "Concept-Art-(Heritage) Rock-Covers" where rock anthems are reworked to parody art history.

The Histrionics' repertoire includes AC/DC's classic 'T.N.T.', reworked as 'Nam June Paik' in celebration of the legendary Korean Fluxus "grandpa" and 'Appropriation' [after The Beatles' 'Revolution'; "You want to use appropriation / Well, you know, we all want to change the words"]. The band's Devo cover, 'Drip It', was released as a single to celebrate the anniversary of the purchase of Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles" by the National Gallery of Australia.

The opening night will commence at 6pm with live sound art from the laptop-based experimental music duo, Newman Chaumont, followed by sound artist Sam Smith and is free admission to the public.

PICA Exhibition Coordinator, Bec Dean, has the huge task of displaying the breadth of painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics and glass, jewellery, computer generated and electronic media, film and video; as well as, graphic, industrial, and product design.

"The sheer diversity of artwork that comes out of Australian universities is really mind-blowing. This year, the work ranges from a hot-pink, sparkling fantasy world full of kitsch objects through to a carefully crafted animated digital film based on a classic fairytale," Dean said.

"The little recognised area of sound art is a focus for this year's show with an impressive sound installation by University of Western Sydney's Matt Chaumont, comprising of a 6 metre long sound tube and electromagnetic transducers to generate music for the deaf using low frequency sound waves".

With large crates of all shapes and sizes on route to Perth, the frantic task of coordinating the 100 people involved goes on behind the scenes.

"As soon as one 'Hatched' is packed up its time to start working on the next, but this time of the year is really exciting with the imminent arrival of all the work and over half the participating artists," said Dean.

"The project really becomes a celebration for all those involved as it marks the commencement of so many careers. 'Hatched' is the first exhibition in a major contemporary art gallery for a lot of the artists and a really exciting time for them".

"With so much art in the show, its always a huge challenge to get it all into the building in the best way to showcase the work. Video works are a lot easier to transport but take a lot of technical work and space to install. One of the biggest challenges is getting my head around all the descriptions of artwork on paper and seeing what comes out of the crates."

'Hatched 04' will have several video rooms set up, some with several short films on show and some with video work on multiple screens including other objects as part of the installation.

"Where in the past, video and multimedia has come mainly from a handful of universities, this year it appears the accessibility of this type of media and training has increased dramatically. In the past, some universities have focussed on more traditional media such as painting or printmaking, while this year, many have included a video artist or photographer instead".

The creative work in 'Hatched' also includes a selection of design work including jewellery, household furniture, advertising campaigns and object design.

"Its really good to see what contemporary artists with a design focus are up to around the country in a very creative context that demonstrates the benefits of approaching design from a fine art perspective rather than a solely technical focus".

If you're up for exciting, challenging, and vibrant new ideas and artworks then there is something in this huge show for everyone who takes the time to experience it.

Hatched: Healthway National Graduate Show opens at PICA on Thursday May 20 at 6pm with the Histrionics performing at 8pm. The exhibition will then run through to July 4, Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm. Admission to the opening event and PICA's galleries are free. A full exhibition catalogue and website will be available for the opening.

CONTACT BRAD RUMMER AT PICA ON (08) 9227 6144

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
1 James Street
Perth

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