Artlink Lauch: “THE SOUTH ISSUE: NEW HORIZONS” (vol. 27 no. 2)

AUSTRALIA
Brunetti City Square, 214 Flinders Lane,
7.30-9.00pm, Monday 9th July 2007
To be launched by: Juan Davila

Artlink magazine in association with The South Project invites you to attend the launch of its latest issue (Vol27#2). The launch will immediately follow the South Artists in Conversation talks at the City Library.

Artlink magazine, well known for tackling big issues, has taken on the Southern Hemisphere. Inspired by the celebrated South Project initiated and managed by Craft Victoria, we went on a journey to document contemporary art beyond the well-trodden Northern hemisphere centres.
In this issue, Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and writers in South Africa, Chile, the Maldives, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and Australia propose a SOUTH which goes beyond geography, extending old boundaries and ideas through south-south dialogue.

Ex-colonies, diasporas, translations and exiles form part of the conversation. Issues of curating outside the mainstream mingle with audacious new works which bring the viewer into unfamiliar territory.

Editor Stephanie Radok travelled to Santiago in Chile to join the third South Project gathering and meet with the practitioners who bring us face to face with situations and regions which we do not often hear about…yet. Coming out of several years’ research and discussion, this action-packed issue of Artlink offers a new matrix for the art world.

This special issue will be launched by renowned Chilean-born Melbourne artist Juan Davila, whose work is featured in this issue. Juan will briefly reflect on the relevance of SOUTH and the timeliness of south-south dialogue.

Light refreshments will be served during the launch. To RSVP, please email info@southproject.org. Copies of Artlink will be on sale at a discounted price of $10 during the evening, or alternatively, receive a free copy with any new subscription to Artlink.

South Artists in Conversation @ City Library

AUSTRALIA
South Artists in Conversation @ City Library
City Library, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne,
6.00-7.30pm, Monday 9th July 2007

The South Project, supported by the Centre for Adult Education, is delighted to present two artists in conversation at the City Library this July; Claudia del Fierro (Chile) & Clifford Charles (South Africa). Both artists will describe their creative processes and the experience of international residencies & cultural exchange.

Highly regarded Chilean artist, Claudia del Fierro, is currently completing an artist residency at RMIT in partnership with the South Project. While in Melbourne, Claudia has considered migrant voices, cultural transliteration, language, and identity, drawing on one-on-one interviews and ongoing collaborations with a diverse group of people now resident in Australia. Her residency will culminate in an exhibition from Monday 2nd to Friday 20th July at RMIT’s Project Space/Spare Room, The Sweet Promise.

Clifford Charles is a renowned South Africa artist, writer and community activist, currently in residence at Monash University in partnership with the South Project. Clifford’s residency is driven by explorative research into communities in transition, with specific references to the impact of globalisation, memory & migration. Clifford is engaging with diverse audiences during his residency, from working with young people in Melbourne’s inner suburbs (through workshops at ArtPlay as part of the South Kids program) and collaborative art projects with young local artists, to art talks sharing the South African experience.

Claudia & Clifford reflect on the South Project and the experience of creating art in another city of the south:

Claudia del Fierro: In my experience as an artist in Chile I find that there are not enough spaces where exchange among artists of the Southern Hemisphere takes place. I think the South Project is a potential space for reflection on the production of art in a post-colonial era, as well as a possible forum for a discussion on the sustainability of art that does not need to look at the north for making itself valid.

Being outside of my home country has given me a bigger perspective on my practice, it has made me question my strategies and it has been a chance to get to know a different art circuit. I would have not been able to access Melbourne without this residency. Since my residency takes place in a university campus, I also have been able to understand a bit about art education in this context and how it relates to the way art is produced here.

Clifford Charles: South Africa, like most countries of the South, has immediate issues to redress. Therein lies the importance of the South Project’s shared experience; connecting networks of communities for exchange & the chance to debate the localism of their parallel histories.

Travelling to other cities of the south as part of the South Project provides a reflective distance from one’s own city while at the same time exposing one’s work to new audiences, making local issues global concerns.

These artist talks will be immediately followed by the launch of the latest Artlink magazine issue at nearby Brunetti City Square.

"The Sweet Promise" @ RMIT

AUSTRALIA

"The Sweet Promise"- Visiting Chilean Artist, Claudia del Fierro

RMIT Project Space/Spare Room, Monday 2nd - Friday 20th July 2007

Highly regarded Chilean artist, Claudia del Fierro, is currently completing an artist residency at RMIT in partnership with the South Project. While in Melbourne, Claudia has considered migrant voices, cultural transliteration, language, and identity, drawing on one-on-one interviews and ongoing collaborations with a diverse group of people now resident in Australia.

Claudia’s residency will culminate in an exhibition entitled The Sweet Promise, opening on Monday 2^nd July at RMIT’s Project Space/Spare Room, and running through to Friday 20^th July.

The Sweet Promise presents an installation featuring multiple parallel projection and elements of audience interaction. Its content is at once local and global, relating to unique migrant experiences and broader preoccupations of the artist:

The Sweet Promise is an ongoing video installation that began by approaching people in Melbourne from various migrant backgrounds. The project developed through a series of conversations with a dozen local migrants who collaborated by sharing personal views about loss, longing and their sense of identity. The Sweet Promise has made it possible for me to engage with the local community from a privileged place: that of ‘the other’.

As an artist from Latin America, my intention was to develop a collaborative work in Melbourne as a way of approaching some of the issues surrounding recent migration. The Sweet Promise mirrors my own past experiences as a migrant and premises strategies for an art practice that considers ‘cross border’ concerns.

My initial wish to attempt to place my practice in a ‘situation of risk’ has led me to experience displacement through the experiences of others, who have in turn shared their insight, helping to reformulate my work in unsuspected ways.

Claudia Del Fierro, 2007

The Sweet Promise will be launched at RMIT Project Space/Spare Room on Monday 2^nd July. A catalogue essay by Tony Birch will be available on the night.

RMIT Project Space/Spare Room, Monday 2^nd – Friday 20^th July 2007

23-27 Cardigan Street, Carlton, RMIT University, Melbourne

(Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 9:30am-5:00pm)