2002

Intersections: South African Art from the BHP Billiton Collection

RMIT Gallery

15 November 2002 - 1 January 2003

In 1994 the then Gencor set out to build a collection of South African contemporary art. During a dramatic period of change in South Africa, the vision was to collect artworks that reflected the socio-political environment artists were experiencing. Nearly a decade later BHP Billiton SA Ltd now has a collection of over 600 artworks by South Africa’s best known contemporary artists. The merger between Billiton and BHP embodies a bridge between South Africa and Australia. The integration and international interests of BHP Billiton have lead to this exhibition of 40 key works from the BHP Billiton Collection.

Artists: Moshekwa Langa, David Koloane, Bernie Searle, Tracy Rose, William Kentridge, Willem Boshoff, Marlene Dumas, Zwelethu Mthethwe, Hentie Van Der Merwe, Sue Williamson, Jane Alexander,  Lisa Brice,  Gavin Jantjes, David Goldblatt, Minette Vari, Johannes Phokela, Willie Bester, Siemon Allen, Penny Siopis, Robert Hodgins,  Robin Rhode, Paul Stopforth,  Ezrom Legae, Elze Miles, Wayne Barker.

Future Factor

RMIT Gallery

14 November - 14 December 2002

What drives the desire for the new? Will the handmade have an emotive place in the 21^st Century? What is the role of technology in the creation of the new?

Future Factor highlights ideas for the future by investigating the impact of new technologies on craft and design practise. It explores inventions and aesthetics, materials and objects, new processes and technologies of the future.

Future Factor presents 11 Australian designers concerned with the application of new technologies in the creation of their work. Managed by Craft Queensland. Kylie Bickle, Tom Annear, Pearl Rasmussen, Luis Nheu, Marc Harrison, Rina Berna BEI & Ruth McDermott, Gilbert Riedelbauch, Peter Prasil, Elizabeth Kelly, Sheridan Kennedy.

Crossing Boundaries: Bali – a window to twentieth century Indonesian art

RMIT Gallery

11 August - 28 September 2002

This inspiring exhibition communicates the development of Indonesian art in the 20^th Century against the background of major political and cultural events, using Bali as the touchstone. Key issues such as Dutch Colonialism, the impact of war, the declaration of independence and Indonesian Democracy are addressed through the various phases of Indonesian art. Presented with the Asia Society.

Artists: Affandi, Jero Wayan Amer Ambarie, Cokorde Istri Mas Astiti, Abul Aziz, Dewa Putu Bedil,  I Wayan Bendi, I Made Budhiana, I Made Budi, I Made Djirna, Irwandi Dodi, Heri Dono, I Nyoman Erawan, Gusti Agung Galuh, Cokorda Oka Gambir, Nyoman Gunarsa, Hendra Gunawan, Mohamad Hadi, Hardi (or Suhardi), Kartika Affandi, Nisak Indri Khayati, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, Kak Lui (aka Ktut Kuta), I Nyoman Masriadi, I Gusti Kadek Murniasih, I Ketut Ngendon, Kadek Janggo Paramarta, Djoko Pekik, I Made Pitja, Ida Bagus Nyoman Rai, Anak Agung Gede Sobrat, Ida Bagus Sodang, Soebroto, I Made Soekarja, Srihadi Soedarsono, Ni Made Suciarmi, Sindudarsono Sudjojono, I Made Sukadana, Pande Gede Supada, Dede Eri Supria, Ida Bagus Surya Darma, Ida Bagus Made Tibah, I Wayan Goenaksa Toenas, Ida Bagus Made Togog, I Ketut Tombelos, Mat Ucup, I Made Wianta, Widayat

Hannah Höch: Collages

RMIT Gallery

25 July - 24 August 2002

Hannah Höch: Collages gives insight into the life and work of this artist, presenting a selection of important collages created over a period of more than five decades.

The use of photomontage was an art form Höch remained true to for her entire life.  She was in fact, the main influential figure in its development in the 21^st century, together with Raoul Hausmann. Without subscribing to a set program, Höch opens up evocative and irritating picture worlds through the manifold combination of contradictory sequences, using cut-outs from magazines, brochures and photographs.

Her criticism of the political situation and gender roles, handed down for generations is subtly cloaked in hallucinatory flat representations and grotesque scenes of absurd hermaphrodite beings and hybrids.

Curator: Gotz Adriani

Home Sweet Home: Contemporary British Design for the Home

RMIT Gallery

20 June - 20 July 2002

Fearless, imaginative and entrepreneurial – young designers are riding a wave of creativity in Britain. Home Sweet Home is an exhibition of innovative furnishings for the home. The work selected covers all aspects of design including furniture, lighting, textiles, ceramics, glassware, metalwork and plastics. This is a major exhibition organised by the British Council, featuring work by 70 of Britain’s most outstanding designers.

Curator: Lesley Jackson

Designers: Michael Anastassiades, Nicholas Arroyave-Portela, Ron Arad, Jane Atfield, Shin and Tomoko Azumi, Ralph Ball, Helen Banzhaf, Barber Osgerby (Boa), Deborah Bowness and Nicola Girolami, Victoria Bryan, Bullen.Pijja, Marianne Buus, Helen Carnac, David Chipperfield, David Clarke, Nigel Coates, Sophie Cook, Dominic Crinson, Bob Crooks, Amy Cushing, Melanie Darwin, Caroline Dent, Edmund de Waal, Stephen Dixon, Tom Dixon, Thomas Eisl, El Ultimo Grito, Steven Follen, Gillies Jones, Konstantin Grcic, Jessie Higginson, Matthew Hilton, Belinda Hornsey, Rachael Howard, Inflate, Walter Jack, Jam, Tavs Jorgensen, Kappa Lambda Rugs, Chris Keenan, Tracy Kendall, Chris Knight, Little + Collins, Mary Little, Jeremy Lord, Kate Malone, Li Marhaban, Michael Marriott, Sharon Marston, Jennie Moncur, Jasper Morrison, David Oliver, Sue Pryke, Santos and Adolfsdottir, Michael Sodeau, Ruth Spaak, Bodo Sperlein, Rupert Spira, Andrew Stafford, Jhan Stanley, Simon Stevens, Hans Stofer, Jasia Szerszynska, Janice Tchalenko, Timorous Beasties, Wallace Sewell, Lois Walpole, William Warren, Michelle Wild, Helen Yardley, Michael Young.

Poetics in Architecture

RMIT Gallery

10 - 24 May 2002

Poetics in Architecture explores the tension between different forms of architectural knowledge – formal, scientific knowledge and informal, poetic imagination.

Editor, Leon van Schaik invited 20 architects, artists and writers world-wide to respond to French philosopher, Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, first published in 1958.

These contributions form the pages of Poetics in Architecture. Images which accompany the texts are provided by Melbourne artist, Peter Lyssiotis. They offer a visual beginning for describing the journey through space. Lyssiotis’ inscribed landscapes ‘articulate a paradoxically scale-less intimate immensity and it is through these poetic expressions that we may imagine breathing architecture into new life’.

Gerhard Richter – Survey

RMIT Gallery

24 April - 8 June 2002

Gerhard Richter is one of the world’s most influential contemporary painters. Survey is an exhibition of twenty-seven exemplary works selected by Richter himself and is the first exhibition of this breadth to be viewed in Australia.

Survey gives insight into all the phases of Richter’s creative work from photopainting in the 1960s to abstract painting in the 1980s and 1990s.  Richter’s work challenges the art of painting. Through his ingenious use of painting’s modern counterpart, photography, Richter has deconstructed the formal conventions of painting and demonstrated its renewed vitality.

Conceived by the (IFA) the Institut fűr Auslandsbeziehungen. Toured internationally by the Goethe Institut.

Bringing the House Down: 12 Months of Australian Political Cartoons

RMIT Gallery

5 - 18 April 2002

This exhibition is a wickedly funny, often poignant exhibition of Australian political cartoons and illustrations. It surveys the most tumultuous moments of recent public life including the refugee crisis, the Election and the War Against Terrorism.

Bringing the House Down has been developed by the National Museum of Australia. It presents the best selection of work entered in the 2001 Political Humour Competition and is part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Curator: Guy Hansen

Artists: Jock Alexander, Dean Alston, Joanne Applegate, Ross Bateup, Joe Benke, Warren Brown, Harry bruce, John Butcher, Cactus Island, Par Campbell, Rod Clement, Patrick Cook, Mark Cornwall, John Ditchburn, Rod Emmerson, Rocco Fazzari, Michael Fitzjames, Lindsay Foyle, Matt Golding, Heinrich Hinz, Geoff Hook, Judy Horacek,  Fiona Katauskas, Chris Kelly, Mark Knight, Sturt Krygsman, Sean Leahy, Bill Leak, Peter Lewis, Eric Lobbecke, Mark Lynch, Angie Lyndon, Neil Matterson, David Messer, Alan Moir, Steven Moore, Paul Newman, Peter Nicholson, Vine O’Farrell, Ward O’Neill, Steve Panozzo, Bruce Petty, Geoff Pryor, Alberto Ricardo, Toby Riddle, David Rowe, John Shakespeare, Ian Sharpe, Greg Smith, Phil Somerville, John Spooner, Ron Tanberg, Matt Thornton, John Tiedemann, Jo Waite, Andrew Weldon, Cathy Wilcox, Peter Wilkinson.

Akira Isogawa

RMIT Gallery

12 March - 9 April 2002

Akira Isogawa is one of Australia’s most innovative and renowned fashion designers. He presents his exquisite collection twice a year in Paris and three times a year in Sydney. The collection is distributed in boutiques throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. This exhibition includes a selection of finished garments and a range of objects and materials that give insight into the intimate creative process of Akira Isogawa. The exhibition includes video projections and still images of fashion shows in Sydney and Paris.

Curator: Brian Parkes

Originally presented by Sydney Festival and Object – Australian Centre for Craft and Design, the Akira Isogawa exhibition is presented at RMIT Gallery as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival.