Hetti Perkins and Australia's 40,000 year history of artists as cultural activists

FromThe Art Show

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Hetti Perkins and Australia's 40,000 year history of artists as cultural activists

FromThe Art Show

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Length:

52 minutes

Released:

Oct 14, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Curator Hetti Perkins discusses how artists and activists have always put their lives and livelihoods on the line for their communities.

Released:

Oct 14, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Artists tell us how they create and why they do it. From artists’ studios, exhibitions, and live issues, we take art out of the white cube and into your ears.

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Hans and Nora Heysen, shearing sheds and finger painting: Hans and Nora Heysen are renowned for their almost spiritual love of nature, and the way they meticulously observed and painted Australian light, trees, and flowers. Ed speaks to Chris Heysen - grandson of Hans and nephew of Nora - and National Gallery of Victoria curator Angela Hesson about these two important Australian painters. by The Art Show
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100 years of Bauhaus: Last year marked the centenary of the Bauhaus school, which revolutionised art and design. We revisit the legacy of the school in Australia, and meet a costume designer making bodysuits for Beyonce. by The Art Show
55 min listen
Djon Mundine on creating Aboriginal memorials: Djon Mundine OAM is a writer, curator, activist and self-described 'occasional artist'. He reflects on the importance of creating memorials to Aboriginal people across Australia, including the regions. by The Art Show
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What does it mean to be idle?: Turner prize winning artist Helen Cammock reflects on the art of being idle, for Creation in Isolation we check in with members of the Australian arts community adapting their work as a result of COVID-19, and self-described 'propaganda' artist Jonas Staal explains what propaganda art is, how it works, and why he wants to see more of it. by The Art Show
54 min listen
Recovery and resilience with Latai Taumoepeau: What happens when your creative tool - your body - shuts down? Tongan Australian performance artist Latai Taumoepeau discusses reconnecting with her body after illness in order to reconnect with her creativity. by The Art Show
52 min listen
Creativity and the gig economy: Have you ever rented out a room in your house to a stranger? If you have, you've been part of the gig economy - that growing sector that promises ease and flexibility to consumers. But what are the costs of working this way? And what might artists learn from looking closely at the gig industry? by The Art Show
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Matisse and Picasso: rivals, friends, frenemies: Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso are thought of separately as two of the 20th Century's greatest artists, but did you know they had an enduring friendship and rivalry? by The Art Show
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What does masculinity look like in Australia today?: Greg Semu and Alun Rhys Jones explore what the ideal of masculinity looks like in contemporary Australia. A clock from the 19th century is counting down to doomsday. And Brian Tucker checks the books at Australia's remote Aboriginal art centres. by The Art Show
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The tricks and turns of Marcel Duchamp: When Marcel Duchamp brought a bicycle wheel on a stool into the gallery, he turned ideas of sculpture and authorship on their head. We reflect on the legacy of this great 20th century figure and meet a couple of contemporary art innovators working today. by The Art Show
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The Art of Life — a Children's Hospital Special: Come and visit an extraordinary world where world-class medicine intersects with world-class art; you will meet children, emergency doctors, and artists to find out how art is not only on the walls, but literally built into the hospital from the ground up. by The Art Show
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Collecting art on a budget: We speak to a couple of art experts who insist you don't need to be a big spender to get started collecting art, drop by the studio of Australian artist Patricia Piccinini, and hear about a very special piece of art that connects Melbourne man Guido Melo to Brazil. by The Art Show
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Critiquing the 'colonial propaganda' in our museums: When you go to a museum, do you ever wonder how the objects were acquired? Alice Procter is an Australian art historian who wants us to critique what she terms the 'colonial propaganda' within our museums. by The Art Show
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The surreal homes of Ian Strange: For a decade, Australian artist Ian Strange has been making art that investigates our complex relationship to the notion of 'home'. by The Art Show
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Kirsten Lyttle on connecting to culture through photography: Mixed media artist, Kirsten Lyttle, reflects on the ways her arts practice continues to bring her closer to cultural identity. We meet the Serpentine Galleries Curator of General Ecology, Lucia Pietroiusti, and hear about some treasured 'bounce back' Japanese dolls called okiagari-koboshi. by The Art Show
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Art history greats reimagined on social media: From Kahlo to Klimt, Monet to Matisse... If famous artists from history were alive today, what would they post to their social media? by The Art Show
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Hisham Matar on art, grief and healing: In A Month in Siena, Hisham Matar travels to Tuscany to look at the city's ancient paintings. In the process, he finds himself grieving for his father who disappeared 30 years prior. by The Art Show
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The art and life of Joy Hester: This year marks 100 years since the birth of Australian artist, Joy Hester. We celebrate the milestone by reflecting on Hester's art and probe the question: when everything is now 'curated,' what does the word actually mean? by The Art Show
54 min listen
Jerry Saltz on How to Be an Artist: We speak with Pulitzer prize-winning American art critic, Jerry Saltz about his new book How to Be an Artist, and find out how Quandamooka country on North Stradbroke Island inspires the art of Megan Cope. by The Art Show
54 min listen
Olafur Eliasson's disappearing glaciers: Two decades ago, artist Olafur Eliasson hired a plane to fly across Iceland so he could document the epic glaciers of his homeland. When he returned years later, many of the glaciers were completely unrecognisable. Or had disappeared altogether. by The Art Show
53 min listen
Del Kathryn Barton on the dangers of losing touch with our child selves: Del Kathryn Barton discusses her debut feature film Puff, and the dangers of losing touch with our child selves. by The Art Show
54 min listen
Life as a contemporary artist in Australia: Ed speaks to three guests about issues affecting contemporary artists working today, including pay and funding, gallery representation, and attitudes within and towards the art industry. by The Art Show
53 min listen
Olafur Eliasson's disappearing glaciers: Two decades ago, artist Olafur Eliasson hired a plane to fly across Iceland so he could document the epic glaciers of his homeland. When he returned years later, many of the glaciers were completely unrecognisable. Or had disappeared altogether. by The Art Show
53 min listen
Liz Ann Macgregor on running the most popular contemporary art museum in the world: We meet Liz Ann Macgregor, the museum director who began her career driving a truck around Scotland, and wound up running Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art - the most visited contemporary art museum in the world! by The Art Show
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Reflecting on touch in an era of isolation: Touch is a huge part of the way we experience the world, so how are our lives being reshaped in this era of physical distancing without touch? We explore these ideas with American photographer Robert Andy Coombs and Australian artist Michelle Vine. by The Art Show
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Callum Morton on monuments, art and activism: Artist Callum Morton turns his attention to the Sirius Building in The Rocks in Sydney, and reflects on the nature of monuments and activism, in light of the Black Lives Matter protests taking place across the world. by The Art Show
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Sandra Hill on art and reconciliation: Sandra Hill was 6 years old when she was taken from her family in 1958. As part of the stolen generation, it wasn't until years later that Sandra found herself able to reconnect with her culture and community through art. by The Art Show
54 min listen
Aretha Brown on confidence in activism and art: What role does confidence play in becoming a visual artist? We find out with First Nations Aboriginal activist and artist, Aretha Brown. by The Art Show
50 min listen
Marking skin with Julia Mage'au Gray: Across Oceania, tattoos or markings are a cultural statement of who you are. Julia Mage'au Gray is an Auckland-based dancer, photographer and filmmaker from Papua New Guinea who is reviving Melanesian skin marking. by The Art Show
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Lindy Lee on finding belonging as an artist: Lindy Lee reflects on what it means to belong as a Chinese Australian artist living and working in Australia today. by The Art Show
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Sebastian Smee on criticism during COVID: Pulitzer prize-winning Australian art critic Sebastian Smee on finding new ways to work as a critic during the pandemic, being an ally and how he came to art. by The Art Show
54 min listen

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Prison, pokies and colour: Three artists who turned art into therapy: Damien Linnane was serving a prison sentence when he took up art as mental health therapy, going on to edit the magazines for prisoners Paper Chained and working on a PhD. Damien is the curator of a new art exhibition at Boom Gate Gallery at Sydney's Long Bay gaol, showing art from people incarcerated around the world. My Thing...is using art to talk about gambling harm. All his life, Nelson Nghe has seen up close the harm caused by gambling on poker machines, or 'tiger machine' in Chinese language. It's cost members of his family and his wider community a lot -- even homes. Nelson explores this in his powerful installation artwork I Bet You, on display at The Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC). Triple J's Stacy Gougoulis visits an exhibition of the late Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta and Barkindji artist Josh Muir, who died at age 33 in 2022. In his neon street art-style prints and projections by The Art Show
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Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani + Anna Park flip the script: Saudi-Palestinian artist Dana Awartani studied at a famously conceptual art school, before learning traditional Islamic crafts and principles, like sacred geometry. Now Dana is exploring the destruction of build heritage in the Arab world, most recently the devastated city of Gaza. Her work is being shown at Adelaide's Samstag Museum of Art and at the Venice Biennale. Rosa visits the Melbourne studio of ceramic artist Georgia Harvey. Taking influences from Mesopotamian art and our cross-cultural obsession with lions, Georgia tells us about her 'cauldron' of inspiration. Artist Anna Park was first exposed to American culture through Disney. By the time her family migrated from Korea to Utah, USA, she was a keen observer and prodigiously talented drawer. Anna's satirical and masterful charcoal drawings capturing online life, are the focus of Look, Look. Anna Park, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. by The Art Show
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Archie Moore wins at the Venice Biennale + Leonardo Da Vinci + Nikki Lam: Archie Moore has won the top honour at one of the world's most prestigious and oldest art festivals – the Venice Biennale-- for a monumental work showing thousands of years of family lineage, and invoking lives lost under the colonial state. Monsignor Alberto Rocca is an Italian priest and art curator who has a singular job: accompanying pages from Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, to the other side of the world. This Codex is the largest collection of Leonardo's drawings and notes, made up of thousand pages. After spending so much time with Leonardo's works as curator of the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, Rocca has some theories about the Renaissance polymath. 'Unshakable destiny' was how democracy and self-rule was supposed to manifest for the people of Hong Kong, according to the last British Governor. Nikki Lam has been working on a trilogy of art films about that promise, as personal tragedy and the i by The Art Show
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Kandinsky: the visionary artist 'brought back down to earth': Vasily Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstract painting, writing influential theories on spirituality and colour. But for all his correspondence, his inner life can be hidden to art historians, the Guggenheim's Megan Fontanella tells Daniel. And with the discovery of earlier abstract painters like Hilma Af Klint and Georgiana Houghton, does labelling Kandinsky 'the first' still apply? Daniel speaks to Megan on the new eve of an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Inside the Victorian Spiritualist Union in north Melbourne, sits the largest collection of artworks by Georgiana Houghton. Her ecstatic, abstract paintings of spirit messages and visions from the 1860s are truly remarkable. Daniel speaks with Rev Lorraine Lee Tet and Jeff Stewart about the collection and their own beliefs about her art. by The Art Show
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An outback monastery hides the biggest art heist you've never heard of: The town of New Norcia in WA is a monastery in the bush, home to a community of Benedictine monks and a treasure chest of 17th and 16th c. European religious art -- all of which was stolen in a brazen heist in 1986. It's an art crime that RN's Marc Fennell set out to unpack with art historian and fraud expert Dr Pamela James in a new SBS TV series. My Thing is… The Resilience Coat. Rowena and Angela Foong, from the label High Tea with Mrs Woo, have designed a coat for all bodies, all trends and all of life's upheavals, complete with an in-built repair kit. It's been shortlisted for a national craft award. The mining town of Broken Hill might still be best known for Pro Hart and his 'Brush men of the bush' but Barkindji artists David Doyle and Krystle Evans are part of a thriving contemporary art scene influenced by Barkindji stories and art practices. Producer Rosa Ellen visits their respective studios after the by The Art Show
54 min listen

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Hetti Perkins and Australia's 40,000 year history of artists as cultural activists

Hetti Perkins and Australia's 40,000 year history of artists as cultural activists

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