Art and Architecture related events this week.

A heads up about a couple of art and architecture related events on this week. I am hoping to get to both.

Amelia Douglas
Recipient of 2009 Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD, University of Melbourne

Pierre Huyghe and the Association of Freed Time

Pierre Huyghe is one of the most significant artists of the 21st century. His work – encompassing film, architecture, situations, installations and events – has been shown at the TATE Modern, Centre Pompidou, the Guggenheim Museum, the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and recently at the Biennale of Sydney (2008), where Huyghe transformed the Opera House into a tropical rainforest. This lecture focuses on a few of Huyghe’s major works, including A Journey That Wasn’t (2005) and Streamside Day Follies (2003) and will include clips from several of Huyghe’s works not previously exhibited in Australia, courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery, New York and Paris.

What is at stake in the making and recording of history, and what does it mean for a contemporary artist to work as an historiographer? The contemporary French artist Pierre Huyghe is well-known for his multi-faceted works that operate in the gaps between history and story. In this lecture, Huyghe’s practice is shown to facilitate a new model of contemporary history. History as a discursive concept is pliable; its meaning shifts depending on contexts. In presenting an historiographic reading of Huyghe’s practice, this lecture reflects upon how the coalescence of story and history may be a key factor in pulling together the diverse strands of Australian and international art histories.

6.00 pm Tuesday 17 November (drinks from 5.30)
Prince Philip Theatre, Architecture Building, University of Melbourne
All Welcome

More details here http://fineartsnetwork.wordpress.com

AND

The Secret Life of the Shrine

Presenters: Prof. Bruce Scates and guests
Venue: BMW Edge Federation Square

Wednesday 18 November 5:30pm

Bruce Scates, author of A place to remember: a history of the Shrine of Remembrance, will be joined by a panel of leading historians to reveal some of the stories from the Shrine’s rich history. Guests will discuss many of the remarkable events that have taken place at the Shrine of Remembrance and reflect on the Shrine’s changing role in the community.

Bookings essential, click here for more detail.

Artists in Prison and weekend reading

A reminder about the lecture next week by Sophie Matthieson (curator of International Art at the NGV).

Captive Markets: Artists in Prison in the French Revolution

Hundreds of artists found themselves in prison during the French Revolution. While confined surprising numbers resumed painting, sculpting, drawing and even engraving. Few prisons were without some level or artistic production and exchange. Based on unpublished research of French prison archives and prison-made works of art, this lecture addresses some basic questions.

Who were the artists, and why were they imprisoned? What did they make and for whom? Using select case studies, this talk will propose some basic categories and functions of the prison-made object and present a model for its interpretation. It will also consider some of the wider implications of this curious and little-known area of cultural production for our understanding of the political prison in France in the period 1793-5.

Sophie Matthiesson is Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has taught art history at the universities of Sussex, Manchester and Leeds. Her most recent publications are in the field of British Modernism, Surrealism, and cubism. The topic of the 2009 Margaret Manion lecture is drawn from her doctoral research on the artist in prison in the French Revolution.

6.30pm Tuesday 13 October 2009
Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre
The University of Melbourne

Weekend Reading

Some articles and blogs on art, architecture and gardens that have caught my eye over the past week. To be enjoyed with a cup of tea and possibly some kind of delicious cake.

Tom Turner "Rescue garden archaeology before the Olympic equestrian event in Greenwich" via Gardenvisit.com

Martin Bailey "Secret scandal of British Museum director’s masterpiece" via The Art Newspaper.

Three recent blog entries from Plinius at Some Landscape on Chinese landscapes and poetry:
The landscape of the bland
The Peach Blossom Spring
On a Tower Beside the Lake

Regency Conference 8-10 October, Melbourne and Lecture

Another conference and a lecture. Also being held at the University of Melbourne, details below.
As one reader commented on the below post it is a pity that it can be so hard to find out about various events to do with the arts, art history etc. I will try and post them here when I hear about them but it would be good to have something that was more devoted to it. I have a few ideas and am trying to get a sort of arts/art history diary going with another organisation I am part of and will post about it if/when it is up and running. Please leave a comment if you ahve any thoughts on the matter and whether you would be interested in subscribing to something like an arts/art history diary. Also, for now at least, if you know of an event or are organising an event that has anything to do with art, art history, gardens, architecture I would be more than happy to feature it here. Let me know.

But for now here are some upcoming October delights in the are of art and history!

The program and the registration form here.

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Also of interest is this upcoming lecture by Sophie Matthieson (senior curator at the NGV).

Sophie Matthiesson

Curator, International Art, National Gallery of Victoria

Captive Markets: Artists in Prison in the French Revolution

Hundreds of artists found themselves in prison during the French Revolution. While confined surprising numbers resumed painting, sculpting, drawing and even engraving. Few prisons were without some level or artistic production and exchange. Based on unpublished research of French prison archives and prison-made works of art, this lecture addresses some basic questions.

Who were the artists, and why were they imprisoned? What did they make and for whom? Using select case studies, this talk will propose some basic categories and functions of the prison-made object and present a model for its interpretation. It will also consider some of the wider implications of this curious and little-known area of cultural production for our understanding of the political prison in France in the period 1793-5.

Sophie Matthiesson is Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has taught art history at the universities of Sussex, Manchester and Leeds. Her most recent publications are in the field of British Modernism, Surrealism, and cubism. The topic of the 2009 Margaret Manion lecture is drawn from her doctoral research on the artist in prison in the French Revolution.

6.30pm Tuesday 13 October 2009
Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre
The University of Melbourne

All Welcome

FAN Members Drinks from 6.00pm in foyer. RSVP by Wednesday 7 October: registrar@hildas.unimelb.edu.au

Dinner with the speaker afterwards. Bookings by Wednesday 7 October: registrar@hildas.unimelb.edu.au

The British Empire and Visual Culture 1850-1950

John White - Queen Victoria Monument, Bendigo Vic. 1903: “An Empire Upon Which the Sun Never Sets”
(Photo: Bronwyn Hughes) via Symposium website.

An upcoming symposium at Melbourne University that may be of interest. It is completely free and members of the public are very much encouraged to attend. Full details can be found at the website here.

A Symposium
Hosted jointly by the Art History Program, School of Culture and Communication and The Australian Centre, School of Historical Studies,
The University of Melbourne

Lecture Theatre A, Elizabeth Murdoch Building
1-2 October 2009
Informal site visits will be incorporated into the final program

Convenors: Dr Alison Inglis (Head Art History Program): Prof Kate Darian-Smith (Professor of Australian Studies and History) & Dr Bronwyn Hughes (Art Historian and Heritage Consultant).

This two-day symposium presents papers from range of disciplines, including art history, architecture, design, literature, social and cultural history, media studies, museum studies and Australian studies. Speakers include academics and museum professionals from Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Great Britain, such as Dr Anita Callaway (University of Sydney); Dr Caroline Jordan (LaTrobe University); Dr Andrew Montana (Australian National University); Associate Professor Catherine Speck (University of Adelaide); Associate Professor Mark Stocker (Otago University); Professor Bruce Scates (Monash University); Dr Matthew Potter (Leicester University).

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A FREE EVENT THERE IS NO REGISTRATION CHARGE FOR THIS SYMPOSIUM.
However the audience is encouraged to arrive in good time so that a name tag can be provide.

Sessions include:

Performing Empire, War and Commemoration
Geographies of Empire, Institutions and Ideologies
Imperial networks and exchanges, Aesthetics of Empire
Collecting Empire, Heroes and Monarchs

A snapshot, a gallery, a lecture

I have been a bit slack with the ole bloggy blog this past fortnight. I have been scrambling to finish the drafts of three chapters and start editing another. Plus a lot of reading for another project. But I don't wish to let my virtual Bosco languish from lack of cultivation so here are some bits and bobs that have taken my notice...

A Melbourne snapshot. The back of the Windsor Hotel in late afternoon Autumnal sunshine,from Lt Collins St. I just liked the patterns and textures.


A Gallery Re-opening. Uplands Gallery in Prahran has moved round the corner into High St. Re-opens tonight with a group show.

Image Uplands Gallery Website.

An upcoming lecture by Heide Museum of Modern Art director Jason Smith on the artist Francis Bacon.

Jason Smith -Director, Heide Museum of Modern Art

Dark Thoughts and Erotic Intensities: some thoughts on the works of Bacon,
Henson, Booth and Boynes

6.30 pm Tuesday 26 May 2009

Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, University of Melbourne
Presented by the Fine Arts Network in collaboration with the Art History Discipline, School

of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne

All Welcome

FAN Members Drinks from 6.00 pm in foyer