NGA Announces Summer Blockbuster, 'Versailles'

These mesdames and messieurs showED off the pomp and ceremony of the French court

A harp player and a handful of frilly French aristocrats helped announce the summer blockbuster 'Versailles: Treasures From the Palace' at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Opening December 9, the exhibition will showcase the astonishing luxury of French high society with a number of personal items belonging to King Louis XIV-XVI and Marie Antoinette, lent by the the palace museum, Château de Versailles. 

Addresses were given by the French Ambassador Christophe Lecourtier, the President of the Versailles museum Catherine Pegard, and Director of the NGA Dr Gerard Vaughan. All three distinguished speakers reflected on the timeliness of the exhibition and the recent terror and political disquiet seen in France. The exhibition aims to celebrate what Versailles represents for France: strength, creativity, innovation. But Vaughan also promises a healthy dose of sex and passion to balance the politics. 

This will be an exhibition to book early; it's sure to seduce!

Gerard Vaughan, Beatrix Saule, Catherine Pegard, Andrew Barr and Christophe Lecourtier

Drill Hall Gallery Reopens After Extensive Refurb

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Visitors at the 'Streets of Papunya' exhibition showing at the Drill Hall Gallery, canberra

Canberra's heritage-listed Drill Hall Gallery unveiled its recent AU$2 million face lift last night. The military training hall turned slick art gallery installed a climate control system, state-of-the-art lighting tracks and a purpose-built exhibit dedicated to the hero of the ANU Art Collection, Sidney Nolan's Riverbend. 

The renovation has truly transformed the building and maximises the Gallery's new potential as an acclaimed contemporary art space. Freshly polished dark wooden floorboards reflect the crisp white partitions that stretch to the ceiling high above. The space is elegantly broken up by the exposed brick of the building, a reminder of its entrenched history.

The gallery launched with travelling exhibition 'Streets of Papunya', and artists Linda Tjunkaya Syddick Napaltjarri and her sister Martha McDonald Napaltjarri were at hand to see it open. Curated by esteemed Papunya scholar Vivien Johnson, the show seeks to frame contemporary work against the historical establishment of Papunya as an epicentre for Aboriginal art. Women artists feature more conspicuously across the current generation. The show presents a number of visually stunning painted works as well as video, sculpture and collage.

The gallery has extended its hours and will now be open 10am-5pm Wednesday-Sunday.

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Linda Tjunkaya Syddick Napaltjarri and her sister Martha McDonald Napaltjarri, both around 80 years old, at the opening of 'Streets of Papunya'

'Tough and Tender' opens at National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

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Robert Mapplethorpe, Sebastian, 1980, silver gelatin photograph, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 1980

The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra has opened their most recent exhibition, 'Tough and Tender'. Curated by, and emerging from the doctoral research of Christopher Chapman, the exhibition examines the complexities of youth, masculinity and gender. The works poetically reflect on the inherent vulnerability of innocence and beauty to corruption. Guest speaker Christos Tsiolkas (author of 'The Slap') launched the show with these insightful words: "Toughness is being brave in the world as you are." 'Tough and Tender' runs until 16 October.

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Entry and title wall to exhibition

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Christos Tsiolkas toasting with artists Warwick Baker and Rozalind Drummond

A.C.T. ‘Grants In The City’

Activate Canberra! Australia’s capital has launched a funding program calling out for ideas, from anybody, to help shape and enliven the CBD. ‘Grants In The City’ aims to activate Civic through citizen-based place-making. Make the city yours.

There are three grant tiers available: Public Grants (anyone may apply for up to $2000); Popular Ideas (proven deliverable projects may apply for $2000-$10,000); and Professionals (wide impact projects coordinated by professionals may apply for $10,000-$50,000).

For more info, visit the website. http://www.inthecitycanberra.com.au/grants-in-the-city/

Caitlin Seymour-King

Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award

Image credit: © Justine Varga ‘Marking Time’ (2016). Type C hand print, 122 x 98.5cm Courtesy of Stills Gallery, Sydney and Hugo Michell Gallery

A big congratulations to Justine Varga for her second win of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, hosted by the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. Varga created the spectacular photogram without the aid of a camera. Check out Stills Gallery and Hugo Michell Gallery for more of the artist's work. Justine was also featured in our April 2016 issue.

Caitlin Seymour-King

Behind Your Eyes, Between Your Ears: Neurofeedback portrait project

Image: Behind Your Eyes, Between Your Ears: Neurofeedback portrait studio, George Gnut with David Morris-Oliveros, Performance Space, Carriageworks, 2015. Photography Amanda James

Head down to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and watch this amazing interactive artwork being made by UNSW Art & Design researcher, Dr George Khut. 'Behind Your Eyes, In Between Your Ears' is an ongoing digital portraiture project where Khut experiments with biomedical technology to visualise the brainwaves of his subjects. His interest is in mapping the space between thinking and being, through light and soundscape. On display until 17th July!

Head to the website for more info on the project. http://www.georgekhut.com/behind-your-eyes-between-your-ears/

Caitlin Seymour-King 

Colonial Imperialsim and Indigenous History

Greg Semu, The Arrival, diptych, 2014–15
type-C photograph, 126.5 x 168.7cm (image and sheet);
Collection of the artist, Sydney;
image courtesy Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; © Greg Semu

Check out Greg Semu's 'The Arrival, Diptych', at the National Gallery of Victoria, on until 11 September. In this large-scale photographic series, Greg Semu explores issues of colonial imperialistic representations of indigenous histories. Semu poignantly re-positions two hallmark works: 'The Arrival of the Maori's in New Zealand' by Louis John Steele and Charles F. Goldie of 1898, and its predecessor, 'The Raft of the Medusa' from Théodore Géricault in 1819. Read Dylan Rainforth's interview with the artist in our current June/July Pacific issue.

Caitlin Seymour-King