In the spotlight: fashion and the swimsuit

Join Dr Christine Schmidt at 2PM this Saturday 30 July 2011 for the first in a series of 3 public programs developed in conjunction with In the spotlight: Anton Bruehl, photographs 1920s-1950s

Christine will discuss the influence of the fashion model and body revealing swimsuits together with women’s desire to imitate and conform to a feminine ideal. In addition, how fashion magazines and images created for editorial and advertisements, by photographers such as Steichen, Bruehl and Horst P. Horst, contributed to narratives knitted to beauty, physical fitness and the modern body.

Christine Schmidt worked as a fashion designer internationally for number of years and completed a PhD in fashion in 2009. She is a fashion and cultural historian and independent fashion and concept consultant. Her current research investigates the evolution of the modern swimsuit and Australia’s contribution to global fashion.
Her forthcoming publication in 2012 with Berg Publishers is titled: The Swimsuit: Fashion from poolside to catwalk.

2pm Saturday 30 July 2011
FREE

image:
Anton Bruehl Swimsuit advertisement 1951
dye-transfer colour photograph
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc., New York NY USA
made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006



_

Real photographer or phoney?

You may have seen copies of this poster around town. I've been thinking about it for days, and photographed it this morning with my iphone, driving down Toorak Road. The poster is a direct provocation to those of us who now use our smart phones, with their five-megapixel cameras, to record our daily lives. "Get a real camera!", it screams. Moreover, with its challenge to our virility (those limp two minute noodles...) and integrity (are you "real" or "phoney"?), it suggests a picture of the hard-nosed photographer that many of us assumed had passed away. I know it's an ad (for Olympus) and chock-full of irony, but it got me thinking: is the challenge posed by the smart phone to the veracity and identity of the photographer real, or simply a cute line thought up by clever marketers?

Chris Marker at 40th Rencontres d’Arles

One of the world's most prestigious photography festivals, Les Rencontres d'Arles this year presents a Chris Marker retrospective. Presenting 300 works, produced between 1957 and 2010, the show includes his ground-breaking work in Korea in the late 1950's to his Passenger series and films including La Jetée (1962). Curated by Peter Blum the exhibition also features a project by Marker on Second Life

Kimberley Munro at Obscura Gallery

Kimberley Munro exhibited as a VCE student in MGA's inaugural Topshots exhibition way back in 2008. Since then Kimberley exhibited in CCP’s Kodak Salon in 2009 and 2011, the National Gallery of Victoria’s Top Arts in 2008 and has had a solo exhibition at Queen Victoria Women’s Centre in 2010. She is an award-winning photographer and has had particular success in the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) award season in 2011 with Gold and Silver awards, the VPPY Student Photographer of the Year and as the runner up APPA Student Photographer of the Year. Munro is in her final year of study at the Photography Studies College in Melbourne, phew!

Tonight her work can be seen in a group show at Obscura Gallery titled Non-Fiction with Gillian Fletcher and Cam Scale.

Opens Thursday 21st July
6:30pm - 8:30pm

Address: First Floor 285 Carlisle Street East St Kilda
Postal: Suite 11, 285 Carlisle Street East St Kilda VIC 3183
Phone: +61 3 9525 9377
Email: info@obscuragallery.com
Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 12pm – 6pm, Saturday 2pm – 5pm or by appointment

Selina Ou

With news that the current 200 Gertrude St building is up for sale and rumours of new premises circulating, Gertrude Contemporary seem certain to be on-the-move in the near future. With strong arts and government support Gerty is destined to remain one of Melbourne's most important contemporary art venues.

Support the gallery and one of our favourite contemporary photographers by getting along to Selina Ou's show in Studio 12, opening Friday 22 July 2011. Selina is currently a resident studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary.

MGA has two works from her 2003 series "Work" in the MGA Collection.


http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/gentrification-imperils-fitzroy-art-institution-20110531-1feog.html

Selina Ou
"New York"
Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary
200 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065
Exhibition Dates: 22 July - 18 August 2011
Opening: 6-8pm, Friday 22nd July 2011
Gallery Hours: Tue-Fri 11am-5:30pm; Sat 11am-4:30pm.

Ballarat International Foto Biennale

The Core Program at the BIFB’11 includes photographers well-known to MGA audiences, Alfred Gregory, John Gollings and Chris Budgeon.

The program is supported by a publication with excellent essays by many renowned Australian and international writers, academics and curators. Included is MGA Director Shaune Lakin and local independent publisher and writer Dan Rule. Also included are:
Anthony Haden, guest British-American writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet and socialite who has contributed to magazines and newspapers including the Financial Times, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Rolling Stone.
Helen Trompeteler, Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, UK.

Ballarat International Foto Biennale runs from 20/8/2011 to 18/09/2011. All info available from their website
http://ballaratfoto.org/

Burrinja Community Celebration

Our favourite gallery in the Dandenongs, Burrinja is holding their much anticipated opening of a new theatre and gallery spaces on Saturday 30 July.

Designed by Gregory Burgess Architects, the new 400 seat theatre will be used by regional schools, professional and community theatre, music groups and children's theatre.

Additionally, the Art of Place Garden, created in the grounds surrounding Burrinja is an Indigenous cultural and environmental place for learning, reflection, gathering, creativity and celebration of local Indigenous culture and country.

On Saturday 30 July, Burrinja will be holding a free celebration with performances and activities from local performers and artists of the Dandenong Ranges.

Burrinja is a community cultural centre that encompasses arts activities and events including an indigenous gallery, collection and cultural education, contemporary arts gallery, performing arts, art studios, live music, youth arts and a cafe.

Burrinja was awarded The Archival Survival Award for Small Museums, 2010 by Museums Australia (Vic), for its Exemplary Public Programs.

More details from http://www.burrinja.org.au/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burrinja/94949823167

Jesse Marlow takes out International Street Photography Award

Jesse Marlow is well known to MGA audiences through his photographs in the MGA Collection and the recent MGA touring exhibition Australian rules: around the grounds

Anna Pappas Gallery has just announced that Marlow won first prize in the International Street Photography Awards 2011. The award was announced last night (30 June) at the launch of the London Street Photography Festival. Marlow, whose image was chosen from 1600 international entries, won a return trip and accommodation to London, a cash prize of £1,000 as well as an Olympus PEN camera and a £100 Blurb voucher.

Marlow is a member of both The International Street Photographers Collective and Oculi, Australia's leading documentary photography agency. In 2006 he was selected to participate in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam and in 2002 he was the inaugural winner of the Australian Hasselblad X-Pan Masters competition.

Marlow has published several books and he is represented by Anna Pappas Gallery.

IMAGE:
Jesse MARLOW
White cat 2011
Courtesy of the artist and Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

National Histories of Photography

The Australasian Photography Research Network present National Histories of Photography, a photography symposium at Monash University on 4 August 2011.

Prof Geoffrey Batchen, Victoria University of Wellington and Dr Tanya Sheehan from Rutgers University join locals Dr Melissa Miles, Monash University and Elizabeth Gertsakis, University of Melbourne to "reconsider what a nation-based history of photography might look like in the twenty-first century."

Date: Thursday August 4 2011, 1.30-5pm
Venue: Building S, 2nd floor, Room S232, Monash University, Caulfield Campus