Back in black

ON the way to the studio today I found a large one-eyed smurf.
It was a nice comfort for my black skivvy deprivation syndrome.
Today was also the first day in 3 months where I haven't worn a black skivvy.

I wanted to write along bit about my eperiences at KIASMA and ARS06 in Helsinki. but my jetlag is starting to hit.

so I'll just stuick in 2 quick diary notes for this week - that we forgot to menin on the show.

TOMORROW NIGHT, TUESDAY 7TH MARCH
Is a show not to be missed at KUDOS - the COFa studnet glalery in Paddington.
(I wish I'd checked my email beore going on air - but there go, failed again)


In response to the Federal Government's VSU legislation that passed in
the 11th hour of Parliamentary sitting for 2005, the UNSW College of
Fine Arts Students' Association have invited all COFA students, staff
and Alumni to create a piece of work utilising Chinese bank notes in
reference to counterfeit money, for a giant fundraiser opening at Kudos
Gallery next week. All work will be sold under $50 with proceeds going
to Kudos Gallery through the Students' Association in an effort to
establish a fund to help support the future of this student service.

In 2006 Kudos Gallery celebrates it's eight year of thriving under
Universal Student Unionism in a twenty-one year history of student run
initiatives supported and subsidised by the COFA Students' Association.
Kudos Gallery is an autonomous, independent, and professional
exhibition space, run by students for students in St Sophia Hall, a few
minutes away from the College of Fine Arts campus in Paddington.
Established in late 1998 by COFA Students’ Association, Kudos aims to
provide COFA students with an accessible gallery space off campus to
develop an exhibition profile whilst still at University. Kudos plays
host to approximately thirty diverse exhibitions and up to 10,000
visitors to the gallery each year. COFA SA encouraging all students
from first year to PhD level to submit proposals for solo, group or
curated exhibitions.

The implementation of Voluntary Student Unionism in July this year will
not only force many changes to the accessibility of student services,
it will result in a catalogue of lost opportunities for the arts in
this country; lack of exhibition spaces for emerging artists,
publications for emerging writers and journalists, and venues for
emerging performing artists, actors, directors, producers, and
technical crew; extracurricular activity that, after all, defines the
quality of on-campus life. Kudos, like many student galleries, provides
a space for emerging artists, designers and curators to learn and
develop their work and experience in a competitive and expensive
industry.

Under VSU, many student organisations will no longer have the funds to
support these arts and cultural services, facilities, activities and
events. Most of these services, including Kudos Gallery, are not for
profit, and thus are unsustainable under this legislation. A user-pays
system would mean that for many students, access to galleries,
theatres, publications and radio stations will be near impossible for
both artists and their prospective audiences. The result of this
inaccessibility would of course be the demise of these services,
facilities, activities and events. The introduction of VSU is not a
political triumph, it is an artistic catastrophe.

A sales desk will be set up within the gallery during the opening and
throughout the two weeks of exhibition to take deposits and for works
and donations for the gallery. Please forward this invite to your
friends and family and help support Kudos Gallery by buying a piece of
work next week! thank you


MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND opens 6-8pm Tuesday 7 March
Kudos Gallery
6 Napier St. Paddington NSW 2021
exhibition continues to 18 March 2006
open Wednesday to Friday 11am - 6pm, Saturday 11am - 4pm

Kudos Gallery is a UNSW College of Fine Arts Students' Association
service threatened by the Fed. Govt.'s VSU legislation
http://www.cofasa.unsw.edu.au



since Student Run Initiatives are a rapidly dying species, I've made a new years resolution to review one Student Gallery show each week before the hammer comes down.


Here are a few more details for the Kylie Wilkinsons thing at Performance Space on Wednesday.

'Nationalism: What are you talking about?'  is the title of Wilkinson's work which she'll be discussing at the Performance Space opening of the Asia-Pacific Documentary Film Festival on Wednesday 8th March at 6pm.  

WHERE: 
Performance Space 199 Cleveland St, Redfern 2020 
Phone: 02 9699 1503 
WHEN: 6 p.m, Wednesday 8th March 

Drawn from an international survey of  video & film from the Asia-Pacific region by curator, Binghui Huangfu , five artists give insight into the specific context, politics and pleasures of their video vision. 
This collection taps into ancient places, for example Tiananmen Square and the old capital of Thailand, Chiang Mai as they surface in the modern world. These places are revealed as sites of incredible change as culture flows through them and the new  values of societies become apparent. 
From the human effects of mobile labour to global tourism, meditations on nationalism and the playful moral redress of corruption in big cities, each artist presents a highly individual response to the economic and  social changes taking place in our world.
This selection stands out for its acute energy and wide historical and cultural references and is presented in collaboration with Performance Space.

I hope to be at both of the above. Depending on body clock.