On Friday 20 July, Lismore Regional Gallery hosted the Survivor performance which involved 24 local participants and the artist, Dadang Christanto. Survivor is a major performance that was initially developed by Christanto in 2008 as a live protest against an environmental disaster in East Java which saw hot volcanic mud wipe out eleven villages and destroy many lives.
Like the original performance, volunteers from the local community covered themselves in mud and held photographic portraits of faces lost in the disaster, enduring and maintaining a still silence for two hours to memorialise the event and its ongoing impacts.
Following this significant and moving performance is the exhibition of the untouched remaining detritus, photographic documentation and video footage – showing at Lismore Regional Gallery until 25 August 2012.
To follow a ‘day in the life’ journey of one of the Survivor participants, see the video below. ABC Open North Coast producer Catherine Marciniak and contributor Jenny Grinlington follow Rebecca Kinsey as she takes part as a volunteer in a performance artwork.
To hear more about the performance from the artist and Lismore Regional Gallery Director, Brett Adlington, see video below.
Courtesy of Echonetdaily. Video by Sharon Shostak.
Winner of the 2012 Archibald Prize, Tim Storrier and his wife Janet in front of his work,The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch). Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery.
The NSW regional tour of the 2012 Archibald Prize kicked off in Newcastle last week. Always a crowd pleaser, some 400 guests assembled to hear new Director of the Art Gallery of NSW, Michael Brand, open the show. Brand spoke eloquently about the importance of galleries in the context of community and culture. He acknowledged the superb work undertaken at Newcastle Art Gallery and commended Ron Ramsey and his team as they move towards work commencing on a $21M redevelopment.
Opening of the 2012 Archibald Prize at Newcastle Art Gallery. Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery.
Prize winning artist Tim Storrier also spoke, recounting humorous anecdotes about life as an artist with particular reference to the winning work. Thirty five guests, many associated with the Gallery Foundation and Society, then adjourned to the grand surrounds of The Newcastle Club to enjoy a delicious dinner, more conversation and to hear Michal Brand speak ‘off the cuff’ about his ambition for the Art Gallery of NSW.
Tim Storrier during his speech at the 2012 Archibald Prize opening. Image courtesy Newcastle Art Gallery.
Following Newcastle the Archibald heads to Cowra Regional Gallery where anticipation and excitement are already building. The exhibition then travels to Dubbo, Grafton, Hawkesbury and Armidale. Catch it if you can!
Mukurtu is new content management freeware created with Indigenous protocols in mind. Ahead of M&G NSW workshops in Sydney and Wagga in August we asked Mukurtu team leader Kim Christen from the Washington State University how Aboriginal communities across NSW could apply this digital tool to their collections.
What has been the Australian experience so far of Mukurtu? (feedback)
Mukurtu began with the Warumungu community in Tennant Creek, this year is the first opportunity for us to make the software available free to anyone. We have worked over the last year to produce a system that will work for any community in Australia and elsewhere who want to have an archive for their materials using their own protocols.
Can I learn to operate Mukurtu if I have only basic computer skills such as Word and email?
Yes, it is designed to be user-friendly. It also depends on the level at which you will be using Mukurtu. Someone in your organization needs to set up the system on a server or on a dedicated computer, there are some steps to doing this and we have help along the way. We have worked hard to make it as easy a process as possible.
Can other people, for example in my organisation, other Mukurtu users elsewhere or even the University of Washington, access my stored material?
No, your material is housed on your instance of Mukurtu either on your own server or your own hard drive. Even if you choose to host your material on one of our Pantheon servers only your system administrator and you have your user name and password to access your materials.
How does Mukurtu safeguard my copyright and intellectual property rights?
No piece of software can actually protect your intellectual property rights alone, what Mukurtu does is give you a step by step process to license your materials in your own way, either using traditional copyright, creative commons licenses or our traditional knowledge licenses and labels. You can license your materials within Mukurtu to make it very clear what your intentions are with every piece of content.
As a non-Indigenous person, can I attend a workshop with the intention of finding Aboriginal people in my community that I can help use the system ata later date?
Yes, anyone is welcome.
Will there be more workshops?
We hope so and there will be online tutorials and educational materials as we progress on our website www.mukurtu.org
M&G
NSW is organising Mukurtu workshops during August with support from the State
Library of NSW, Charles Sturt University (Wagga Campus) and the Aboriginal
Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA) at UTS. For info, contact
Aboriginal Sector Development Program Manager Steve Miller stevem@mgnsw.org.au
So it’s refreshing that Debbie Abraham, Director at the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, recently took a different tack in combining Indigenous leadership with working with your Aboriginal community. Like many great opportunities it was born out of adversity and credit to Regional & Public Galleries NSW (RPG NSW) for picking up on the initiative when it didn’t get the green light elsewhere.
I was part of this inaugural workshop at Lake Macquarie Gallery and can report it was successful at both an individual and group level. Mark Wright from People Create UK, fresh from running the Accelerate Indigenous Leadership Program for the British Council and Australia Council was a wonderful facilitator. He allowed the discussion to open up around issues of working with Aboriginal communities from both sides and brought us back to leadership tools and techniques that might help as needed.
Mark’s leadership tutorials and exercises really formed the spine and core interest for all in attendance, an even split of four and four between Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Mark opened by explaining working with Indigenous communities was not his background but he was aware of sensitivities and learning a lot as he went. The 'British' thing never came up again, though I mentioned in passing that the goal of two weeks in UK for successful Accelerate participants wasn’t my cup of tea.
Mark explained that much of leadership theory wasn’t new and cited Alexander the Great as a student of Aristotle as an example. Over the next two days we charted a path not unlike the classic Hero’s Journey. So it was no surprise really when the Hero’s Journey was offered as a leadership template. What surprised was how effectively it worked, whether the goal was long term of short project, personal, organisation or community.
The Hero’s Journey has been made popular by US scholar Joseph Campbell is a classic narrative found in stories around the world: the hero lives in a normal world (for them), receives a call to adventure but has “threshold guardians” before he venturing forth, receives instruction from a mentor, refers often to a talisman symbol, faces various trials and tribulations including nemesis and temptations from Sirens before obtaining an elixir which will be well received by their community, creating a new normal world.
See how easy it is? Now put down that Siren (cup of coffee, email distractions) and find that elixir!
Steve Miller, M&G NSW's Aboriginal Sector Programs Manager
On Thursday 28 June, 30 representatives from 11 museums and historical societies converged on Rouse Hill House and Farm for a workshop on Collections Management.
The new Visitor Centre on Annandale Road provides a wonderful venue for delegates from Western Sydney to get together and discuss common issues.
Rouse Hill House & Farm Visitor Centre: Delegates warming up at the start of the day
Delegates started by sharing stories about their own museum and collections and with little prompting from presenter Margôt Jolly, the contributions kept rolling in throughout the day, providing entertainment as well as information.
Margôt Jolly presenting an “Introduction to Collections Management”
A Museum Advisor for the Bland/West Wyalong Shire, Margôt is familiar with the trials and triumphs that the smaller community museums face. Her PowerPoint presentation started by asking delegates to consider the difference between a collection and a museum. When asked what museums are most impressive and why, the Berrima District Museum got strong reviews for its thematic approach. Other organisations that rated highly amongst the delegates included the Wollondilly Heritage Centre, the Lady Denman Heritage Complex and the Tarella Museum (Blue Mountains Historical Society).
The sessions were very interactive and feedback indicated that delegates appreciated the opportunity to workshop thorny issues such as what to do when offered an object that doesn’t meet your collecting themes, reasons for deaccessioning objects and methods of disposal. These issues roused a lot of discussion, and in the end there was general agreement that while museums are custodians of community history, they are not the nation’s attic. Don Graham of the Blue Mountains Historical Society has had success finding an alternative home through using a list of specialised museums that he put together.
Breakout session on veranda at the Visitor Centre at Rouse Hill House & Farm
The following organisations were well represented: Fairfield City Museum and Gallery, Penrith Museum of Printing, The Oaks Historical Society, Brislington Nursing Museum, Blue Mountains Historical Society, Prospect Heritage Trust, Hawkesbury Regional Museum, Nepean District Historical Society, Parramatta Heritage Centre, Riverstone Historical Society and the Blacktown and District Historical Society.
M&G NSW expresses their appreciation to the National Library of Australia for funding this workshop through a Community Heritage Grant.
As part of a follow up to our 2006 Standards Program, Tamara and I travelled up to the Northern Rivers to put on a Collection Management workshop with Museum Consultant Margot Jolly. The three of us flew into Ballina airport, and had a lovely drive south to Yamba where we met up with Marea Buist, President of the Port of Yamba Historical Society.
The next morning we sourced an excellent coffee from town, and made our way to the Museum to set up for the workshop. We were delighted to see that we were to hold the workshop in the beautiful little church on the side of the museum.
Margot Jolly outside the church at the Yamba Museum
Delegates from all across the Northern Rivers began to arrive and were greeted with an amazing morning tea!
Morning tea is set up as delegates arrive at the Museum
We began the day hearing a brief report from each museum present, and were really impressed to hear about all the hard work that has been going on since the Standards Program. Some museums had updated or developed new policies such as Marketing Plans, Collection Policies and IT Policies. Others had conducted Significance Assessments of their collections and several had been undertaking Strategic Planning.
Marea Buist (Yamba Museum) and Dr Richard Gates (the Evans Head Living Museum) share their museum's achievements since completing the 2006 Standards Program
Margot Jolly then began her lively presentation on the basics of Collection Management, which was highly interactive and encouraged a lot of group participation and feedback. A highlight was her talk on how to diplomatically say ‘no’ to potential donors of collection items! There was also an interesting discussion as people shared their experiences of deaccessioning, why it is important and how to go about it.
We are looking forward to getting together again with everybody for a workshop on Preventive Conservation in September in Alstonville. Thanks so much to Marea and the team at Yamba Museum for hosting us and for such a lovely day!
Below are various presentation from the all day symposium Digitising Collections (31 May 2012). M&G NSW would like to thank the Powerhouse Museum for making these videos available.
The sound is sometimes very low, we would recommend watching the videos with headphones.
Ryan Donahue, Senior Information Systems Developer, The Museum of Metropolitan Art
Ryan Donahue is Senior Information Systems Developer at The Museum of Metropolitan Art, and Director of the Spinny Bar Historical Society. Previous to taking his position with The Met, he was with George Eastman House, the oldest and best museum of photography and film. You can follow Ryan via Twitter - @ryand.
Scott Wajon, Manager, Digitisation, State Library of New South Wales
Scott has been working in photography and imaging at the State Library of NSW since 1989 and has been critically involved in all aspects of the Library’s reformatting and digitisation programs. Scott has given talks to Librarians, local historians , professional photographers on a range of issues relating to photography, archival permanence, collection reformatting, digitisation workflow and digital preservation. In his current role as Manager, Digitisation, Scott is responsible for shaping the current and future digitisation priorities of the State Library of NSW to deliver client-focused, digital collections and services.
Keir Winesmith, Manager, Digital Media, MCA
Keir has a wide and diverse background in new media acquired during his work at the Centre for Art and Media in Germany, the Mixed Reality Laboratory in the United Kingdom, the iCinema Centre of Interactive Cinema Research and the Special broadcasting Service (SBS) in Australia.
Keir completed an interdisciplinary New Media Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales's College of Fine Arts in 2008. In contrast, his undergraduate degree was in Physics and Computer Science at the University of Sydney.
Although his interests and practices cut across art, technology, design and education, Keir's main interests are interactive digital media experiences, supporting the interpretation of art, video production, postgraduate teaching, augmented reality technology, smartphone apps and graffiti in Sydney's inner west.
Paula Bray, Manager, Visual & Digitisation Services
Powerhouse Museum
Paula Bray is the Manager of the Visual and Digitisation Services department at the Powerhouse Museum that includes: Photography, The Image Resource Centre, The Photo Library and Rights and Permissions and Audio Visuals. Paula is responsible for managing the digital collections to the highest standard whilst coordinating photographic and AV projects for exhibitions, publications, events and the website. Paula runs a blog for the Museum and manages the Museum’s two Flickr accounts.
Paula has several years of experience in the creative concept, production and delivery of digital projects and services that are cross media and cross platform. She is passionate about building communities, networked audiences, technology, linked open data and geo-location services that are all changing the way that content is consumed and shared.
Robyn Ayers, Executive Director, Artslaw
Robyn has been a lawyer for over 20 years and the Executive Director of Arts Law since 2003. She is committed to ensuring that artists and arts organisations properly understand their rights as well as their legal responsibilities and are fairly rewarded for the work they do. Robyn is currently the Deputy Chairperson of CLCNSW. Prior to joining Arts Law, Robyn spent a significant part of her legal career working to achieve social justice for different groups in the community, including as a lawyer with Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1988-1991), a Public Interest lawyer at the Aboriginal Legal Service WA (1993-1998); and as Executive Director of the Mental Health Law Centre WA from 1998 to 2002. Robyn has Bachelors of Arts and Law from the University of NSW.
