During a previous visit to Sydney, he noticed from his weekly grocery-shopping trips that these retailers habitually spoke Malay amongst each other. This micro-community of Chinese-Malaysians illuminated how a ‘secret’ language could be used as an identifying factor and is particularly interested in examining and looking further into the lives and habits of these vendors; their families, their homes, hopes and dreams, as new migrants. Here, the ‘secret language’ that was initiated through maritime Southeast Asia, is invested with a new agency and purpose, becoming a means of camaraderie adopted to stand for a communal sense of belonging that layers their multiple identities as Chinese, Australians, Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Ise describes his modus operandi as ‘making friends and talking to people’. His practice often utilises an extensive network of collaborators all over the world he calls his ‘superfriends’ and often deals with the personal experience of urban communities through his interactions with different participants.

His recent installation project for Singapore Biennale 2011 explored a cross section of Singaporean domestic lives through an installation of six refrigerators storing groceries that the participating families would normally buy. The project provides an intimate portrayal of the way people live that is reflected through what they buy and eat.

Ise has participated in the Singapore Biennale, 2011; Asia Triennale, Manchester, 2011; Jakarta Biennale, 2009; Istanbul Biennale (with Ruangrupa), 2005. In 2006 he was the Australian High Commission resident at the Gunnery Studio, Art Space, Sydney and held his first solo exhibition at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in 2007.

During his stay here, Ise has been artist in residence at the National Art School. He will be speaking at an art forum there on 16 May from 1-2pm at Cell Block Theatre, National Art School.

EVENT: Art Forum with Roslisham Ismail ‘Ise’
VENUE: Cell Block Theatre, National Art School Gallery, cnr Forbes & Burton St, Darlinghurst
MAP: Link
DATE & TIME: 1-2pm

Artists in Variable Truth include Tony Albert, Brook Andrew, Melissa Howe, Roslisham Ismail (ISE), Michael Lee, Greg Semu, Alexander Seton, Tim Silver, Tony Twigg.

Thai-na-town – Little Oz is the latest in 4A’s Chinatown Mapping Project series, which addresses the changing nature and identity of Chinatown.  Vipoo’s project will revolve around a series of Thai restaurants located on Campbell Street – fondly known as “Thainatown” by local residents – as the base for a series of workshops that ask questions about the nature of, and longing for, home.

Over the course of one week, Vipoo will create a series of ‘pop-up’ studio’s at different restaurants along Campbell Street. The artist will use this as an opportunity to speak with local residents and workers about something that they miss or had to sacrifice when they came to Australia. Vipoo will work with participants to mould these into miniature sculpture, which he will then send back to participants family or friends.

Vipoo would like to invite you to come, have a chat and share a story about your journey to Australia. This will be a chance to meet with Vipoo, and create a small token of your own wishes and dreams, to send back to your home.

Each session will take between 15-20 minutes.

Dates and Locations:
@Bangkok Restaurant, Capitol Theatre Arcade – Thursday 14 June, 2-6pm
Chon Siam, 38 Campbell Street, Haymarket – Friday 15 June, 12-5pm
House Restaurant, 202 Elizabeth Street, Haymarket – Saturday 16 June, 12-5pm
House Restaurant, 202 Elizabeth Street, Haymarket – Sunday 17 June, 12-5pm

If you would like more information, or to register for a workshop, head to Vipoo’s Thai Na Town Facebook Page or call (02) 9212 0380.

Thai Na Town – Little Oz is supported by the Commonwealth through the Australia-Thailand Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

4A invites Expressions of Interest from curators at the beginning of their careers who would benefit from direct access to industry professionals to progress their curatorial vision. As part of the application process, respondents will be required to submit an overview of their current curatorial research which, if successful, will be the central focus for critical development throughout the program.

Taking place over two sessions between July and December 2012, this strategically developed framework will critically engage 8 participants  through a range of activities based on curatorial concepts, contexts and methodologies, and will be presented by key industry professionals. Participants are provided with the opportunity to  develop their individual curatorial  ideas  and practice as well as broaden their professional networks in a constructive and nurturing environment.

In its inaugural year, the Emerging Curators’ Intensive will be led by Qiu Zhijie – an internationally renowned artist, curator and educator. Qiu is a professor at the School of Inter-media Art at the China Art Academy, the Director of Total Art Studio and member of the supervisory team at the Art and Social Thoughts Institute. As an active artist, Qiu’s artworks take a variety of forms such as calligraphy, painting, photography, video, installation and theatre and have been shown at a large number of art museums across the world. Appointed the Artistic Director of 9th Shanghai Biennale 2012, Qiu will draw on  his extensive experience and  lead the  group with his critique of contemporary  curatorial practices and issues currently  relating to them.

Qiu’s works are collected by individual and institutional collectors home and abroad. His solo exhibitions are held in art museums such as Haus of World Culture in Berlin 2009, Ullens Contemporary Art Center in Beijing in 2009 and Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai in 2008. He participated in exhibitions such as the 53^rd Venice Biennale, 25^th Sao Paulo Biennale and “New Art in China, Post-1989”. Qiu has previously curated “Phenomena and Image” in 1996, a series of exhibitions with the theme of “Post-sense Sensibility” between 1999 and 2004, “Long March, A Walking Visual Display” in 2002, the video part of the First Guangzhou Triennial and “Archeology of Future: The Second Triennial of Chinese Art” in 2005. He is also a prolific and influential writer and has published many art theory books such as “Image and Post-modernism”, “Give Me A Mask”, “The Boundary of Freedom”, “The Scene is Most Important”, “Photography After Photography”, “Basic Course in Total Art Creation”. His latest book “On Total Art” will be published soon.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

• Keynote lecture
• Workshops and seminars led by Qiu Zhijie and supported by industry professionals providing broad perspectives on curatorial practice and ideas
• Gallery, museum and  studio visits led by Qiu Zhijie and supported by industry specialists
• Roundtables and peer group work
• Delivering a presentation during stage 2 of current research to select group of Australian industry professionals.

KEY DATES FOR 2012

14 May  - Applications to be submitted in full by close of business
1 June – Successful applicants notified and provided with a preparatory reading list relating to the program  and detailed program schedule.
3-7 July – Stage 1 of the Program*
3-5 December – Stage 2 of the Program*

*Please note successful applicants must be available for these dates.

HOW TO APPLY

As part of your submission you will need to include:

1. A Cover Page with your name, address, phone number and email

2. A Letter of Intent addressing:

·         Reason for interest in the program

·         What you hope to take away from the experience

·         Describe your understanding of the role of the curator and expand on your  aspirations, and what you hope to bring to the field

·         Demonstrate this rationale through a previous visual arts project that you have either curated or participated in.

          Please provide no more than a page.

3. Statement of current curatorial research:
Please provide us with a concise insight into your current curatorial research and interests.  This may relate to particular concepts, artists, curators  or theoretical ideas and should  help further define what you believe the role of the curator is. Please provide no more than a page.

4. CV
Please provide a one page CV showing relevant curatorial projects or work experience

4A welcomes interstate applicants and will provide one travel stipend for an outstanding application from outside NSW.

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

Send your application via email to

summar.hipworth@4a.com.au by 6pm Monday 14 May 2012.

or via post to

Summar Hipworth
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
PO BOX K1312
Haymarket NSW 1240

This initiative is supported by Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and ARNDT Fine Art.

Growing up in Singapore and Malaysia before moving to Sydney, Teik-Kim is an interdisciplinary performance and installation artist and theatre pedagogue whose early solo work looked at identity transgression within popular culture tropes. He continues to be invested in intercultural dialogue and its role in engendering communal arts practice, partly through his other work as a drama teacher and as Outreach Coordinator at Playwriting Australia. As part of the Next Wave Festival in May 2012, Teik-Kim will be mentoring Perth visual artists Abdul Abdullah, Casey Ayres and Nathan Beard in their performance
installation, the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere at the NGV Studio, Melbourne.

This morning tea offers an opportunity for participants to find out more about the projects 4A is developing as well as gain insights into Chinatown’s socio-cultural make up.

For this morning tea, we would like to invite you to meet Sydney based Teik-Kim Pok who will speak about The Urban Co-Apprentices Project, a series of match made creative collaborations between a local expert and a community participant which will take place in 2012. These pairs of individuals will meet and research ways of repackaging their cultural skills or expertise, and discuss ways of sharing them within the greater community. Each collaboration is a chance to examine how social arts practice, through curated collaborations, can spark new conversations.

We also hope you will be able to bring along any information (flyers, brochures, media kit, catalogues) about your organisation or projects that you would like to share with other attendees. The morning tea presents a great networking opportunity and chance to meet other like minded individuals in the local community.

Please feel free to invite you friends along via Facebook as well or share on Twitter.

If you are able to join us please RSVP to yuye.wu@4a.com.au

On for only a short time at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Haymarket, this is the first solo exhibition in Australia by this provocative, 25 year old Beijing artist He Xiangyu. Developed in 2008, Cola Project is an audacious and ambitious work that investigates material transformation, the products of global capitalism and the impact that its images have upon human culture. In 2008, the artist worked with factory workers to boil up thousands of litres of cola drink over a period of a year. It’s an exciting opportunity to see contemporary art and ideas being produced in Beijing, by a younger generation of artists.

4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is located in Haymarket, on Hay Street, between Pitt and George Streets.

Free event. Bring a small group along or just yourself. Light refreshments will be provided.

RSVP by email to yuye.wu@4a.com.au or contact 02 9212 0380

Cola Project – He Xiangyu
Exhibition Dates: 16 March – 5 May 2012
Lunchtime Curator’s talk: 12.30PM Friday 20 April

Venue:
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
181-187 Hay Street, Haymarket
Map

Facebook Event Page

But we’re keeping the line up of artists a secret. Three times a year you will receive something unexpected and exclusive. All will be revealed when the artwork arrives on your doorstep every few months!

It’s a fun way to not only support 4A but contemporary Asian artists as proceeds from sales will go back into 4A’s exhibition program.

Previous Edition artists in 2011 have included – Vernon Ah Kee, Jason Wing, Vipoo Srivilasa and FX Harsono. To see the 2011 EDITION visit the 4A SHOP

The 2012 EDITION is set to be just as amazing and will be even more exclusive limited with only 50 subscriptions available.

4A EDITION Vol 2, 2012
$550 for Members / $600 for non Members

Visit the 4A SHOP

For further enquiries please contact Summar Hipworth 02 9212 0380.

Survivor by Dadang Christanto is a performance by contemporary Indonesian-Australian artist Dadang Christanto and continues his interrogation of disaster and its human impact through a performance based on events in the Sidoarjo region of East Java where hot volcanic mud has wiped out 11 nearby villages. Unrelenting, the mud continues subsumed livelihoods, memories and futures.

In this touring performance and exhibition, volunteers will silently occupy the gallery space, covered in mud from the neck down and holding a photographic portrait. Over the course of three hours the participants will maintain a silent vigil, memorialising this catastrophe and its continuing consequences. The performance is followed by a visual exhibition consisting of detritus from the performance, video and photographic documentation memorialising the catastrophe and its ongoing consequences. As a key part of Christanto’s artistic practice, Survivor continues a line of enquiry that the artist developed in response to his father’s disappearance under the Suharto regime in the mid-1960s.

This project was originally presented as an exhibition and performance at 4A in 2009 and was developed from a previous performance by the artist in Jakarta in 2008.

The exhibition will tour to the following galleries. Please check back for updates on performances.

Gosford Regional Gallery
1  April- 20 May 2012
Performance: 1-4pm, Sunday 1 April

Lismore Regional Gallery
20 July – 25 August 2012

The Glasshouse Regional Art Gallery
15 October – 2 December 2012

Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
1 April – 31 May 2013

Devonport Regional Gallery
1 June – 31 July 2013

Pinnacles Gallery
23 November – 15 December 2013

Presented by Kultour in partnership with 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and toured by Museums & Galleries NSW. This exhibition is supported by the Contemporary Touring Initiative through Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program, and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government and state and territory governments.