Where do art and politics meet?

Arena Project Space arts program launch and fundraising event TONIGHT!

Arena Project Space asks the question - where do art and politics meet?

Tuesday 17 May, 6 pm,
2 Kerr Street Fitzroy (between Nicholson and Brunswick streets)
Bookings are NOT required. Entry will be $5 at the door. Refreshments will be available.
Zoe Hatten and Jessie Boylan (coordinators)
For further information: 9416 0232 or 0437 960 510, or go to


Arena Project Space is a new exhibition and forum space, which has grown out of the work of Arena Publications, a broad left political and cultural project that has been running for over 30 years in Melbourne.

This space aims to widen Arena's critical sphere and to facilitate and create dialogue about political and cultural interpretation through arts practice. Arena Project Space has the potential to provide a focus for politics as a context for creative practice. In an age of managerialism, it offers a space beyond the business plan for alternative world views

To launch the arts program planned for this space, the Arena Project Space arts board is organising a forum to consider the relation between art and politics today.

Forum participants are Simon Cooper, Rayna Fahey (aka Kakariki), Lyndal Jones, Robert Nelson and Tom Nicholson. The session will be chaired by Kevin Murray.

Speakers will give a brief response to the questions:
How might artists respond to the social transformations occurring today?
Can artists take on a political agenda without compromising their creativity?


Simon Cooper teaches cultural theory at Monash University and is an Arena Publications editor and author of the 'Cooper's Last' column in Arena Magazine. He is a regular commentator on cultural issues on radio.

Rayna Fahey is editor or RADICALCROSSSTITCH: seriously seditious stitching, and co-founding producer of the Melbourne Craft Cartel.

Lyndal Jones is an artist with an interest in context, place and empowerment, involving performance and video installation. Her ‘Avoca Project' addresses climate change action from the perspective of a small country town.

Kevin Murray is a writer and curator with an interest in south-south dialogue. He is convenor of Southern Perspectives and on-line editor of the Journal of Modern Craft He is an adjunct professor at RMIT, where he coordinates the Ethical Design Laboratory.

Robert Nelson discusses cultural values in education at Monash University and is the Age art critic. His most recent book is The VIsual Language of Painting: An Aesthetic Analysis of Representational Painting.

Tom Nicholson is an artist who lives in Melbourne and teaches Drawing at Monash University. One of his recent collaborative projects was Camp Pell Lecture, with Tony Birch. He is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery.