BEN ALI ONG // DECISIVE MOMENTS

Ben Ali Ong, Refluent Hours #15, 2007, pigment print, edition of 8, 40 x 60cm.

Ben Ali Ong has been invited to participate in Decisive Moments, a photography exhibition at Contact Sheet gallery.

Curated by Sandy Edwards and Paul McDonald, the exhibition contains a single photograph from each artist - selected by the artist. Each work represents a decisive moment within the artist’s practice, which informed their future work or career.

Exhibiting artists include: Matthew Abbott, Ben Ali Ong, Jim Anderson, Christian Blanchard, Anthony Browell, Steven Cavanagh, Catherine Cloran, Jill Crossley, Lynn Daryl Smith, Ruby Davies, Jagath Dheerasekara, Ella Dreyfus, Sandy Edwards Phillip George, Helen Grace, Tim Hixson, Bob Kersey, Kellie Leczinska, Jon Lewis, Glenn Lockitch, Thomas Luscombe, Paul McDonald, Robert McFarlane, Peter Milne, Tony Nolan, Ian Provest, Lynne Roberts-Goodwin, Moshe Rosenzveig, Michael Snelling, Rob Scott-Mitchell, Peter Solness, Julie Sundberg, John Swainston, Jenny Templin, Gordon Undy, Fiona Wolf-Symeonides, William Yang, Anne Zahalka.

As part of the exhibition Ben Ali Ong will be exhibiting an early work from 2007 entitled Refluent Hours #15.

The image in this show is from my 2007 series Refluent Hours. It was the first body of work that I exhibited in the “blurry, grainy and scratched” style that I am now associated with.

At the time I was looking at a lot of etchings and was obsessing over Francisco Goya. I had always liked low-key, grainy monochrome work, and I wanted to distinguish myself in terms of style. So I thought to try to find a way to marry these two qualities that I liked about etchings with that of photography. 

After having a go at sand papering and scratching the negative that you see here, I scanned it, and as soon as I saw the preview on the computer, I knew that with a bit of work and finesse I could make it work. For me this was my decisive moment.

The original base image is an old shot of a girlfriend.  I have a lot of Persian carpets in my place, and the blanket she is wrapped in was just an old cloth for paining on, hence the drips and marks on it. She was just lying on the floor nude one day and wrapped herself in it, and I thought she looked particularly beautiful so I just took a quick snap. It ended up perfect for the treatment I would later apply, as it has quite a flat two dimensional composition about it - which I think lends itself to the painterly style that the scratching and marking enhances." (Ben Ali Ong, 2015)

Decisive Moments runs from 11 October 2015 - 31 October 2015 at Contact Sheet in St Leonards.

HYUN-HEE LEE FINALIST IN THE SUNSHINE COAST ART PRIZE AND JADA

108 Defilements_2013_Hanji paper, ink, pencil, silk, cotton thread, canvas_47 x 96cm

Confessions_2013_Hanji paper, ink, cotton thread, canvas_100 x 100 x 5 cm

A big congratulations to Hyun-Hee who has been named as a finalist in The Sunshine Coast Art Prize and the JADA Drawing Award!

Now entering into its ninth year, The Sunshine Coast Art Prize draws applicants from the best contemporary and emerging artists working within Australia. From nearly 300 applicants, Hyun-Hee has been selected among 40 finalists. The winning work will be added to the Sunshine Coast Art Collection and the artist will recieve $15,000 and a two week residency at The Old Dairy at Arley Farm, Maleny.

The exhibition of finalists will run at the Caloundra Regional Gallery until 26th October.

The Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (JADA) is a biennial event that showcases the most innovative in contemporary drawing practice in Australia. From 345 entries Hyun-Hee is among 50 finalists whose works will tour regional and metropolitan areas until 2016. On October 17th Grafton Regional Gallery will host the official opening party with live music and catering. The exhibition will stay at Grafton Regional Gallery until December 7th.

ART FOR THE ANIMALS

The Stable Boy_2012_Pigment in ink on cotton rag paper_Edition of 5_80 x 80 cm

Hayden Fowler's work being auctioned on opening night

Liam Benson and Hayden Fowler were recently invited to contribute work to Compassionate Voices, an innovative exhibition advocating animal rights.

Compassionate Voices is the result of a collaboration between the animal protection institute Voiceless and Australian furniture and homeware designers Koskela. Liam and Hayden were among 31 Australian artists and designers invited to partake in the exhibition, curated by artist and environmental activist Liane Rossler. Through multiple artistic disciplines the exhibition promotes a vision of a world where animals are treated with compassion and respect.

Both artists marked their contribution with photographs of horses. For Liam it was The Stable Boy (2012), a warming photograph depicting the tender relationship between a man and his horse. Hayden's work Second Nature iv (edition 1/5) 2008 captures a white horse leaping in an elaborate choreographed set.

Compassionate Voices opened with a unique gala evening coloured with live entertainment, a children's craft workshop and vegan cuisine courtesy of Kitchen by Mike. Ten of the thirty one works were selected and sold in a silent auction on opening night. A percentage of sales and ticket proceeds are put towards the Voiceless initiative as they work toward the alleviation of animal suffering through social change.

Sales of remaining works will close on the 7th of September. They are available online here: http://galabid.com/auction/compassion

'MIRAGE' BY SVETLANA BAILEY

13/11, 2013, c-type print, 120x150cm, edition of 8.

Svetlana Bailey is currently exhibiting her photographic work entitled 'Mirage' at the Queensland Centre of Photography. The work will be on display until October 20th 2013, bringing with it an investigation of the paradoxical desire for freedom and belonging by examining empty interiors and vast, somewhat other-worldly landscapes.

The interiors were photographed during the artists recent residency in Chongqing, China and are that of the studio in which Svetlana Baily worked with artist Li Junyi to study the medium of the 19th century process of daquerreotype photography. The subject of  interiors and the process of the daguerreotype is linked by the intimacy one experiences within their surroundings and the intimacy that the viewing of a daguerreotype demands, as one traditionally holds it in their hands, touching it and looking closely at the image to see the fine negative and positive details. However, this intimacy is contradicted by the artist as she enlarges the daquerreotypes, changing the way we see the image and revealing the imperfections of the hand made process. The silence of the interiors are combined with large colour prints of Chongqing's fog-encased landscapes, forming a relationship of  limitlessness and fragile environments. The artist considers one's experience of the surroundings and the interaction between the inner experience and external environment.

Svetlana Bailey is also currently exhibiting 'Mirage' at Artereal Gallery until October 26th, acting as her second solo exhibition with the gallery. 

Come along to Artereal Gallery this Saturday 19th at 3pm for Svetlana Bailey's artist talk where she will discuss and answer questions on her current work. The talk is free and all are welcome.

LIAM BENSON AT THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENTAL ART FOUNDATION...

Liam Benson_True Blue (video still)_2005

Liam Benson is currently included in Tough Love, a group show curated by Christine Morrow at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF).

Tough Love is an exhibition that explores dysfunction. The work of six Australian artists variously embody imagery of suffocating relationships, problematic behaviours, vulnerability, anxiety or suffering. Artists include Liam Benson, Romi Graham, amira.h., Kate James, Tiffany Parbs and Fiona Roberts.

"Liam Benson reinvents himself as a new character in every work of art. Sometimes he even reinvents himself within a single work. In the video True Blue, in which he sings the John Williamson song of the same name, he starts off as a character that is equally an average guy in a hoodie and a biblical Jesus. Gradually, he transforms into a transgender patriotic mascot for Australia. In True Blue, and his other video Sirens in which he sings the Fleetwood Mac song Dreams, Benson is not being ironic, or witty or camp. He looks directly at the camera, channels enormous power and honesty, and sings out searing emotional pain. So fluid, it seems, is his subjectivity and selfhood that he even multiplies his own image and voice, in the work Sirens, to provide his own back-up singers. Sirens, of course, are sexually alluring creatures and lead men to their death. A song sung by a siren is the inverse of torch song; the implication is that it is the musical equivalent of a snuff movie." (excerpt from catalogue by Christine Morrow)

The exhibition runs from 8 June - 7 July 2012. 

AZIX + CUCHER AT THE INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART

Aziz + Cucher_In Some Country Under a Sun and Some Clouds

A solo exhibition by Artereal artists Aziz + Cucher has recently opened at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Entitled Some People the exhibition features a new body of work by the New York-based collaborative of Anthony Aziz and Sammy Cucher. Working together since 1992, Aziz + Cucher are widely recognized as pioneers in the field of digital imaging. 

Through the use of digital animation, performance, video, and sound, Some People situates recent and current conflicts into a never-ending narrative that exists outside of a specific place and time. The outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006 profoundly affected the artists, who have cultural and familial ties to the area. This conflict, in addition to witnessing firsthand the catastrophic events of 9/11, inspired Aziz + Cucher to embark on a new body of work exploring a cycle of tragic and absurd inevitability begun in antiquity that continues today. Some People was inspired in part by the late Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska's poem by the same name first published in 2001.

To hear Aziz + Cucher talk about their new work see the below video. The exhibition runs until 21 October 2012.

STEVIE FIELDSEND IN 'THE BLOCKS PROJECT' AT PIER 2/3...

Stevie Fieldsend_Solve et Coagula_install shot

 Stevie Fieldsend_Solve et Coagula_install shot

Stevie Fieldsend_Solve et Coagula_install shot

Penfolds and renowned London-based designers Studio Toogood have collaborated to create an ambitious multi-sensory environment dedicated to wine and creativity called THE BLOCKS. Through art and design, THE BLOCKS encourages visitors to discover their palettes using sight, touch and smell before tasting some of the world's greatest wines all matched to distinctive foods.

"Perhaps it's the rich history and exclusivity - not to mention secrecy - that makes people (myself included) feel intimidated when faced with a tome-like wine list in a restaurant or the mile-long shelves at the local wine merchant. In a world full of choice, we feel more comfortable making decisions on what to wear, what food to order or which perfume to buy than we do selecting which wine to drink."

Faye Toogood, Director, Studio Toogood

While discovering THE BLOCKS, visitors will be greeted by trained sommeliers who will guide guests on a journey through five imperious wooden totems impregnated with different bespoke scents produced in conjunction with a perfumer for the event.

Not content with stimulating the nose, Studio Toogood asks guests to drink with their eyes by revealing glass cabinets filled with highly visual, poetic interpretations of the terminology normally associated with describing wine by five emerging Australian artists and designers.

Included amongst these artists is Stevie Fieldsend, who will next month be showing a new body of work in a solo exhibition at Artereal Gallery. Stay tuned for some install shots of Stevie's works within The Blocks Project setting!

THE BLOCKS will be live in Sydney for 3 weeks before exhibiting in major cities around the world.
Bookings are recommended.

LOCATION
From March 16 - April 5 at Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay

OPENING HOURS
Wednesday – Friday 4pm to 11pm
Saturday – Sunday 1pm to 11pm

To find out more about THE BLOCKS and to make a reservation visit www.theblockslive.com or contact 0407412640

KEN + JULIA YONETANI FEATURED IN THE ART NEWSPAPER...

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works Industry of all Nuclear Nations (Germany, Japan)_2012

Ken + Julia Yonetani were recently interviewed by Elizabeth Fortescue about their new series of work, Crystal Palace: the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nuclear Nations, which features installation based sculptures made from Uranium glass exploring the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan and contemporary issues surrounding nuclear power.

To read their interview in The Art Newspaper click here. And keep an eye out for more sneak peaks at this work which will be exhibited at Artereal Gallery in October this year.

Ken + Julia are also included in a group show entitled Keeping Up Appearances at Nassauischer Kunstverein Gallery in Wiesbaden, Germany where they will exhibit a number of new Uranium works. The exhibition runs from 18 March - 6 May, 2012 and  addresses the issues which surround deception in all its different facets; from the question of originality and plagiarism in art, to the manner in which illusion has become an accepted part of everyday life...

Exhibiting artists include: Erik Blinderman & Lisa Rave / Matt Golden / Jeremy Hutchison / I. Helen Jilavu / Oliver Laric / Lech Majewski / Jenny Michel / Adrian Paci / Wilfredo Prieto / Susa Templin / Robert Voit  and Katrin Wegemann.

QUEST...

 

Thank you to everyone who participated in Nola Diamantopoulos's interactive performance QUEST. We have had an amazing response to the performance.

See what some of the participants had to say about being part of QUEST.

And don't forget to keep an eye out for Quest in 2012...

SIMONE DOUGLAS & ZHANG HONGKUAN IN 'UNDER THE WILLOW'...

                      

Zhang Hongkuan_Power Nest #9_2010

Simone Douglas and Zhang Hongkuan are currently included in Under the Willow: 3 years of the Willow Art Group and the works they didn't buy - a group show at Flinders Street Gallery which has been curated by Virginia Wilson.

"The Willow Art Group was established in early 2009 both as a way to support the grass-roots art scene and to give collectors the chance to purchase new work by innovative and exciting artists. There are 2 rules - no discussion of investment potential and no requests for discounts.

Over the last 12 months, I realised works overlooked by the group were worth a second look. I send images and information about artworks via email but sometimes what attracted me most to the work is lost in that process. This, coupled with the members of the Willow Art Group being incredibly busy, meant good works were slipping through. As a result, Under the Willow is anti-curated by the members of the group - it's the works they didn't buy." - Virginia Wilson, Art Consultant and Curator.

The exhibition includes work by artists such as: Stephanie Monteith, Ben Cauchi, Matt McWilliams, Paul Wells, Tori Ferguson, Simone Douglas, Sarah Newall, Jessica Maurer, Eliza Hutchison, Luis Martinez, Sherna Teperson and Eric Niebuhr.

PHOTOS FROM THE NATIONAL ART SCHOOL GRAD SHOW...

Artereal artist Hyun-Hee Lee's recent installations as exhibited in the 2011 National Art School Grad Show... 

One Thousand Wishes - Artist Statement

This installation is very personal to me as it embodies much of who I am and much of the memory of the cultural traditions very close to Korean people. The work in its physical sense consists of one thousand written wishes cut out of white paper each measuring two or three metres long. This work parodies many of the religious and cultural rituals which still exist in Korea today.

Hyun-Hee Lee_One Thousand Wishes_2011

Hyun-Hee Lee_One Thousand Wishes_2011

Hyun-Hee Lee_One Thousand Wishes_2011

Innocence - Artist Statement

This work started one day when I inadvertently found a piece of origami flattened between the pages of one of my old diaries. It immediately brought back a flood of wonderful memories relating to my daughter and that short period of time when such sipmle things as folding paper could occupy a child's interest and attention. This work reflects the memories of those times.

Hyun-Hee Lee_Innocence_2011

Hyun-Hee Lee_Innocence_2011

QUEST - FEATURED IN 'TIME OUT' MAGAZINE

In the lead up to her exhibition at Artereal Gallery this December, Time Out magazine spoke to Nola Diamantopoulos about the Quest concept and upcoming performances.  To read the article in Time Out click here.

Nola will also be featured in the December / January issue of Time Out magazine which is out on 30 November. Make sure to pick up a copy!

WHAT IS QUEST?

An experimental work of performance art, Quest will focus on opening up one-on-one dialogues between the artist and individuals in an attempt to get to ‘the heart of the matter’. Interested members of the public are invited to participate in a ten minute session with Nola in which complete silence will be observed. Participants will begin by writing a question on a piece of paper. In response, the artist will reflect on this question before replying with a question of their own. And so the performance will continue for the full ten minutes. A process of Q and Q, rather than Q and A.

WHEN AND WHERE IS QUEST HAPPENING?

The performance itself will take place from the 7 - 17 December, on Fridays and Saturdays between 11am and 4pm at Artereal Gallery, Sydney. Elements of the performance will also be ongoing, with Nola taking the performance out of the gallery and into various corporate locations over the next few months, allowing a different audience to engage with the work in their own environment. Prior to each performance, Nola will spend half an hour in the environment, meditating peacefully in order to create a space of silence and reflection for participants to walk into

Follow Nola’s Quest on Twitter: and via the Quest  Blog.

NOLA DIAMANTOPOULOS - QUEST

This December Sydney based artist Nola Diamantopoulos will launch a performance piece entitled Quest.

WHAT IS QUEST? HOW DOES IT WORK?

An experimental work of performance art, Quest will focus on opening up one-on-one dialogues between the artist and individuals in an attempt to get to ‘the heart of the matter’. Interested members of the public are invited to participate in a ten minute session with Nola in which complete silence will be observed. Participants will begin by writing a question on a piece of paper. In response, the artist will reflect on this question before replying with a question of their own. And so the performance will continue for the full ten minutes. A process of Q and Q, rather than Q and A.

WHEN AND WHERE IS QUEST HAPPENING?

The performance itself will take place from the 7 - 17 December, on Fridays and Saturdays between 11am and 4pm at Artereal Gallery, Sydney. Elements of the performance will also be ongoing, with Nola taking the performance out of the gallery and into various corporate locations over the next few months, allowing a different audience to engage with the work in their own environment. Prior to each performance, Nola will spend half an hour in the environment, meditating peacefully in order to create a space of silence and reflection for participants to walk into.

WHAT ARE THE IDEAS BEHIND QUEST?

The challenging format of this performance belies the answer driven society in which live today. By deliberately focusing on the question rather than the answer, the performance forces participants to stop, pause and reflect – a process which in many instances leads individuals to the realization that the initial question with which they began, is not in fact, the real question which lies at the heart of the matter after all.

An antidote to contemporary society’s obsessive compulsion to constantly find and focus on answers, Quest re-focuses our attention on the importance of the questions we ask in life. Through the experimental dialogue of the performance, emphasis is placed on the importance of learning to question yourself, others and everything around you. Subverting the commonly held concept that the stories or answers behind an artwork can be found within the work itself, the focus here is fixated on the performance and the participant. Rather than claiming to hold all the answers, the artist concentrates instead on the idea that the answers to all of our questions lie within ourselves. We are the source of our own answers.

Inevitably, the performance often brings to the surface personal and emotional issues of which the participant was unaware. Epiphanies seem to occur frequently throughout the course of the performance. The symbolism of the coloured ink splots, which the artist has, in preparation for the performance splashed across the pages upon which the written dialogue is recorded, are significant visual references to the idea of the Rorschach test with its psychological overtones.

As a performance, Quest is essentially an interactive and collaborative social project or experiment focused on community involvement and engagement. Drawing on the ideas behind relational aesthetics, the outcome of Nola’s performance is the creation of a social environment which brings people together to participate in a shared activity (or quest). The artwork is not about an encounter between the viewer and a static art object, but is instead an encounter between the artist and audience.

By redefining our concept of art, Nola’s performance suggests that artist can be facilitators, rather than just the makers of objects. Art can therefore become an interaction or exchange of information between artist and audience – in this case a common quest to ‘get to the heart of the matter’ undertaken by both artist and participant. Marked by its open-endedness, the performance becomes about providing participants with new ways of thinking - a new way of viewing the questions that arise in our life. In this sense, through the exchange of information the artist gives the audience access to powerful tools which provide them with the means by which to change their world.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED WITH QUEST?

If  you would like to book in for an individual ten minute Quest session with Nola during the exhibition please contact the gallery.

Companies interested in participating in the Quest performance are also encouraged to contact Artereal Gallery to make a booking for a full or half day performance on-site (in your foyer, an empty office, boardroom, canteen, etc...). For bookings or more information contact: 02 9818 7473 or contact the gallery.

FOLLOW QUEST

The Quest performances will be accompanied by a Quest exhibition at Artereal Gallery in the Project Space from 7 to 17 December 2011. The exhibition will feature the many text journeys created by participants as well as a text based video artwork recording individual experiences of the performance.

Follow Nola’s Quest on Twitter: and via the Quest  Blog.

GLEN HENDERSON SCREENING AT FEDERATION SQUARE

Throughout November, Glen Henderson's moving image work The Lightness Matrix 2: SPACE will be screening in Federation Square in Melbourne.

The Lightness Matrix 2 : SPACE is a solo exhibition of work developed for public screen by Glen Henderson. In a search for mastery of some kind at the risk of metaphorically crashing to the ground Henderson employs transitions reminiscent of puppet theatre. In introducing each scene, her characters are more like scaled up figurines than puppets as they command centre stage before flying off to sit within the props to watch. This unfolding story of selling one's soul for knowledge and skill ensues until the curtains are drawn to a close and the story unfolds again. A beautiful creative work.

Screenings will be at 5pm and 9.30pm every evening on the Plaza screen and 12.30pm each day on the Atrium screen. For further information on screening times click here.

GILES RYDER AT ARTEREAL...

Sydney based artist Giles Ryder's current exhibition which opened last night at Artereal Gallery and runs until 3 December 2011....

Ryder’s works are hybrids of the found and the factory-made. He uses only recycled neon tubes and electrical elements, yet implements his honed industrial skills to custom-make machine tooled metal forms and apply meticulous auto-lacquer finishes. He takes a reductive approach to form, colour and line; in many instances, often distilled and pared to the minimum, yet always cognisant of ‘affect’.

Giles Ryder is currently Asia-Pacific Artist-in-Residence at the National Studio, Seoul, Korea.



KEN + JULIA YONETANI - FROM MILDURA TO LONDON

 Ken + Julia Yonetani_Sweet Barrier Reef_ install shot

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Still Life: The Food Bowl_install shots

After the success of their recent exhibition Still Life: The Food Bowl at Artereal Gallery in Sydney, Ken + Julia Yonetani are currently exhibiting their recent body of salt works as part of Palimpsest #8: Collaborators and Saboteurs.

This opportunity to exhibit Still Life: The Food Bowl in Mildura is particularly poignant and relevant for both the artists and local community, given that in 2010 the artists completed a Synapse art-science residency awarded by the Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT) which resulted in a three month collaboration on location in Mildura, with scientists at the Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre and Sunrise 21. Still life: The Food Bowl is the resulting body of work. It is made entirely from groundwater salt that as part of salt interception schemes has been pumped out of the ground around the Murray-Darling in an effort to try and reduce salinity in the river system.

On the international stage, Ken + Julia Yonetani have just opened their new exhibition Sense of Taste at GV Art in London. The exhibition which opens on 6 October and runs until 22 November will, for the first time, show the artist’s recent salt work alongside their sugar series Sweet Barrier Reef (previously exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2009).

Following their exhibition in London, Ken + Julia will then spend two months in Finland as part of an artist residency awarded by the Kone Foundation before travelling to Portugal in early 2012 as part of an Inter-Arts Residency awarded by the Navegar Foundation.

On a local level, Ken + Julia will be exhibiting in a number of upcoming regional and institutional exhibitions over the next twelve months including Ultrabuddha at Glasshouse Regional Gallery Port Macquarie from 7 October - 4 December 2011; Arboreal at Macquarie University Art Gallery in Sydney from 26 October - 15 December 2011; 2112 Imagining the Future at RMIT Gallery in Melbourne from 2 December 2011 – 28 January 2012 and That’s not how you make porridge, a group exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery to be held from 7 December 2011 – 14 January 2012.

Ken + Julia Yonetani are also current finalists in the 2011 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize which will be announced on 21 October 2011.

Liam Benson - Fisher's Ghost Art Award...

Congratulations to Liam Benson, who is a finalist in the 2011 Fisher's Ghost Art Award for his video work Mrs Bosse Slays the Malevolent Scoundrel.

The Fisher's Ghost Art Award will be announced on 5 November 2011. The exhibition can be seen at Campbelltown Arts Centre from 5 - 27 November 2011.

Liam Benson will also be part of the artist talks held on Saturday 5 November from 11 - 1pm. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn more about Liam's practice!

Ken + Julia Yonetani on the international art stage!!

Our intrepid artists Ken+Julia Yonetani have been traipsing around the world of late, with a residency in Finland and the launch of their exhibition at GV Art Gallery in London.

To see what they have been up to (as reported in The Australian newspaper) click here.

In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people...

What: Performance
When: Saturday, 15 October
Time: 1.00 to 1.30pm
Where: Brenda May Gallery, 2 Danks Street Waterloo

As part of a group exhibition Body Language,at Brenda May Gallery, Sylvia Schwenk will also direct the reperformance of In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people, which encourages people to become performers in the everyday.

The work draws attention to ordinary events or actions that normally go unnoticed, in particular tradesmen installing and removing sheets of glass - reminding us in a small way that history is the total sum of ordinary things: life is not the result of significant events, but the culmination of small, everyday acts, things, coincidences and encounters.

A special thanks to Blundstone Boots, Hard Yakka and O'Brien Glass who are sponsors of this performance

Ken + Julia Yonetani at Rio Vista House in Mildura

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Still Life: The Food Bowl_2011_

install shots from Rio Vista House in Mildura

Ken + Julia Yonetani's recent series of salt works, Still Life: The Food Bowl, are currently installed at historic Rio Vista House in Mildura as part of Palimpsest #8.

Ken + Julia Yonetani recently completed a Synapse art-science residency awarded by the Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT) which resulted in a three month collaboration, in late 2010, on location in Mildura, with scientists at the Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre and Sunrise 21. Still life: The Food Bowl is the resulting body of work. It is made entirely from groundwater salt that as part of salt interception schemes has been pumped out of the ground around the Murray-Darling in an effort to try and reduce salinity in the river system.

Don't miss the chance to see this stunning installation in such an incredible and poignant setting... Still Life: The Food Bowl can be seen at Rio Vista House until November 13, 2011.