Melbourne Art Fair Lecture
Monday 28 July
6.00pm - 7.30pm
BMW Edge
Federation Square
Cnr Flinders & Swanston Streets
Free Entry
Melbourne Art Fair 2008 Lecture presented by David Elliot, Artistic Director of the 2010 Biennale of Sydney.
The Melbourne Art Fair 2008 Lecture is presented by Melbourne Art Fair Foundation, the City of Melbourne's Melbourne Conversations program and Monash University's 50th Anniversary Public Lecture Series.
Melbourne Art Fair Forums
Melbourne Art Fair presents an afternoon of lively discussion, coordinated by Dr Daniel Palmer, on the alignment of art and environmental awareness, new models of public engagement and possible futures for contemporary art practice.
Wednesday 30 July
12.30pm - 5.00pm
Clemenger Auditorium
NGV International
Free Entry
Download Forum Program Audio file
Session 1: Art and its Publics: New Modes of Engagement
Chair: Charlotte Day, Independent Curator, TarraWarra Biennial 2008
Edward Colless, Head of Critical and Theoretical Studies, Victorian College of the Arts
Pat Foster, Melbourne-based artist
Danae Mossman, Co-Curator of 2008 SCAPE Biennial of Art in Public Space, Christchurch
How does art create its publics? What does public art look like now? This panel will consider the relations between art and its publics, and how artists and organisations are developing and negotiating new configurations of public engagement. The discussion will cover examples such as the new public artworks created for EastLink in Melbourne and the Melbourne Art Fair commissions. Speakers will also address the 2008 SCAPE Biennial of Art in Public Space in Christchurch - which proposes 'a new culture of space' to reinvent democracy, equality and 'publicness'. This panel explores the shifting relationships between what defines public and private space in relation to art, and how this impacts the shape of contemporary practices.
Download this session mp3 audio file
Session 2: Spheres of Influence: Art and the Environment
Chair: Guy Abrahams, National President, Australian Commercial Galleries Association
Geraldine Barlow, Curator, Monash University Museum of Art
Lyndal Jones, Melbourne-based artist and Director of Research, School of Creative Media, RMIT University
Kerstin Thompson, Principal Kerstin Thompson Architects
The environment has long been a subject matter of art, but has been drawn into focus with increased societal concern over global climate issues and disasters. Also, for the first time in Australia, art and the environment fall within the same portfolio at the Federal level. Is this merely coincidental? How are creative practitioners engaging with environmental issues? What role can art and design play in addressing the issues and posing solutions? How powerful are art and design in influencing local and global policy? This forum considers the notion of spheres of influence: the role and value of creativity in exploring environmental issues, provoking debate and offering solutions. An artist, architect, curator and a gallerist will discuss recent developments and practical approaches, and consider the potential for art and design to influence policy, politics and communities.
Download this session mp3 audio file
Session 3: Beyond the End of Art
Chair: Daniel Palmer, Lecturer in the Theory of Art & Design, Monash University
Sean Cubitt, Director, Media and Communications Program, University of Melbourne
Toby Kamps, Senior Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Justin Paton, Senior Curator, Christchurch Art Gallery
In an age in which culture is everywhere instantly, what can we expect of art? What are the possible futures for art in relation to entertainment and digital culture? Will it be collectable? And what does the rise of the amateur in the age of these networked zones mean for art practice? Can we have art without artists? Has contemporary art blurred with the spectacle or is it stuck in 'high-concept pointlessness'? Or, in an age of relational and critical 'aesthetic services', are we beyond the end of art? Is art, in its radical plurality, a redundant concept? Are curators the new artists? This panel considers emerging trends in contemporary art in order to speculate about its future.