1993
1993
Australia Gold: Contemporary Australian Metalwork
Asialink’s third touring exhibition was of a different order: major group exhibition. Australia Gold presented work by Australian Metalsmiths, made in partnership with the leading tertiary institution of the day teaching in this media. Metalsmithing remains one of the key media of the design/ craft area in Australia, with many highly accomplished practitioners.
Curators: Ray Stebbins, Peter Timms
Artists: Susan Cohn, Mark Edgoose, Mari Funaki, Marian Hosking, Junji Konishi, Andrew Last, Carlier Makigawa, Christopher Mullins, Miyuki Nakahara, Beatrice Schalabowsky, Janine Tanzer
Dates and venue: Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul and Melbourne (1993-1994)
Partner: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne
The team was led by Ray Stebbins, then head of RMIT’s Gold and Silversmith Department and curator Peter Timms. The success of the exhibition was evident, with it being requested and seen in seven cities over two years. The curators and artists traveled with the exhibition, often giving workshops at each host city.
The interest in the work was reflected by attendance, with on average 4,500 per day visiting the Singapore Design Centre, reporting it as the highest attendance of any show in the venue. Ray Stebbins reported that the opening ‘was packed as was the seminar conducted by Beatrice Schlabowsky and myself.’ Artist Junji Konishi accompanied the exhibition to Tokyo and commented:‘l4,000 people per day saw the exhibition at Daimaru. We then moved the show to the Australia Embassy and asked our special guests for an opening party there. Many remarked on the quality of the exhibition. Ray Stebbins gave a lecture (which I translated) at Tokyo University of Fine Art and the staff told me later it was the best lecture by a foreign guest in recent memory.’
Location: Contemporary Photo Based Work from Australia
Location: Contemporary Photo Based Work from Australia presented the work of twelve artists who work with photography and explore the notion of 'place'. Exhibiting artist Ian North in Jakarta commented: ‘Lively interest on the part of the media, plus conversations with various Indonesians … and the attentive audience at the symposium generally, all indicate that the exhibition is having some impact and that it will continue to do so…’
CURATOR: Juliana Engberg
ARTISTS: Ed Burton, Rozalind Drummond, John Dunkley-Smith, Graeme Hare, Paul Hewson & Linda Maria Walker, Geoff Kleem, Ewen McDonald, Ian North, Robyn Stacey, David Stephenson, Kevin Todd, Anne Zahalka
TOUR: Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo (1993 - 1994).
6x6: A Selection of Contemporary Australian Prints
The first Asialink touring exhibition was curated by experienced prints curator Anne Kirker, as a tight but lively exposition of a variety of leading Australian artists working within this particular medium.
Artists: Ray Arnold, Diane Mantzaris, Milan Milojevic, Ann Newmarch, Graeme Pebbles, Judy Watson
Curator: Anne Kirker
Exhibition dates and venue: Bangkok, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Brisbane (1992-1993)
Touring partner: Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
It was known that there was interest in Bangkok in particular in exploring the capacity of printmaking to communicate issues of the day. And indeed reports reflected the success of this initial venture: the ‘exhibition was an important contribution to the life of the university’ (President of Khon Kaen University, Vanchai Vatanasapt), ‘received enthusiastically’ with ‘several hundred students and staff viewing the exhibition during the first few hours. Students who attended made comment about the exhibition’s originality and value to them as a learning experience’ (Robert Pounds, Australian Embassy). In an associated public program, Roger Butler, curator of Australian Prints from the National Gallery of Australia, led a week-long workshop on art museum curatorial issues for twenty art curators, directors and artists in Bangkok, a very early initiative in arts management engagement in Asia.