'no thing after another' : acab collective

'no thing after another' was a site specific installation created by ACAB collective for Trocadero Art Spaces in Footscray. Drawing on the spatial landscape of Footscray, a work was created that merged video installation with sound art and found objects. Construction sites and vacant lots represent zones of transition common to the landscape of the western suburbs. These places exist on the periphery of our awareness, prompting a simultaneous attraction and unease in those that come across them.
'no thing after another' locates the viewer within a transitory space and aims to preserve the unique poetic identity of the current Footscray-in-transit.

Today we de-installed the work, which was a challenge in the 35 degree heat.The exhibition went well though, and I'm very thankful to all who came along to take a look.
For those that missed it, here are some photographs of the installation...

xo

ben johnson and nickk hertzog : residency

Ben Johnson and Nickk Hertzog of ACAB Collective held a studio residency at Blindside Gallery this summer. The resulting installation was created using materials from all over the city and the Nicholas building and explored the complex relationship between place and context in the studio. The studio echoes the logic of spatial peripheries - it is a complex and organic whole. To remove a garbage bag is just as incongruous an action as removing a painting. The work was indelibly linked to the edifice of the studio. Ben Johnson and Nickk Hertzog’s assemblages cohere into a sort of DIY post apocalyptic desert island, where accumulation and entropy have become implicit in the studio space.

end zone (always do the bad thing) a performance by blaine cooper

Went to a really great performance at Blindside last week:


End Zone (Always Do the Bad Thang) is a new performance work by Melbourne-based video and installation artist Blaine Cooper, in collaboration with guitarist Nicholas Lam. Get set to see the artist running (via treadmill) from a wall of cinematic explosions, with wailing blasts of electric guitar highlighting the contrast between the always energetic, indestructible screen hero and the reality of a sweaty mess trying desperately to escape imminent destruction.


The performance went over a two hour period with Blaine Cooper running on the treadmill and Nicholas Lam playing more or less continual awesome classic guitar solo. As it went on the room (gallery 2) became heavier and drippier with airborne sweat. There was Guns n Roses, Kiss and cheap beer....it was the ultimate cheesy manly man action movie experience. Blaine was dressed (as most men in action movies) in leather shoes, trousers and a white singlet, clothing at odds with the act of running on a treadmill. As it went on the details became more and more interesting.....droplets of sweat beaded and dripped in his eyes and drenched his clothing; the heat emanating from his body doused the room....I felt like I could smell the leather of his shoes with the heat of continual movement. By the end he looked grey and exhausted.

nausea's reprieve winter carnival at topshed

Installation at Topshed, a warehouse in Fitzroy. The work was part of a night of theater, music and drinking with sounds by Pikelet and Rat vs Possum; video installation by us and Projector Obscura; and performances by the cast of Nausea’s Reprieve an absurdest comedy by James Khoo.
There was also vodka punch. Funsies!

chiharu shiota : detached gallery : hobart

ed. I finally got some photos developed from this exhibition......they're pretty blurry as I was using a camera without a flash....but they really do remind me of being there....







This exhibition was awesome.
The first room contained one image, of a burning piano positioned in front of the gallery. the second was spectacular and dizzying, with the burnt piano surrounded by an immense spider web of black wool. It was difficult to focus my eyes with all the strands- like standing in a cloud of smoke.



Up a flight of stairs were two performative video works. The first, a projection, was of a woman lying naked with coils of plastic tubes surrounding her body. Red liquid would flow through the tubes, giving the appearance that she was being drained and refilled systematically.
In the second video, a woman sits in a bath of mud and pours dirt and water over her face and shoulders. it reminded me of death and being buried alive with all the clumps of dirt catching on her face, but at the same time was very beautiful. There was sound accompanying both videos. long melodic notes. I'd like to start making work with a more complex use of sound.