[THESE PAGES CONTAIN ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES AND ONLINE.]
Top image: Title page (detail), ‘Urbane epicurism’, Indesign magazine no.43. © Indesign Group, Sydney.

JamFactory’s ‘ART DESIGN ARCHITECTURE’ series leads the way
[Article first published in Eyeline magazine no.87, 2017, © Eyeline Publishing Ltd.]

From the outset of his tenure in 2010 as CEO of Adelaide’s JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design, Brian Parkes had wanted to develop a series of media-specific exhibitions; each show in the series would authentically and scholarly explore a particular material. The four exhibitions would need to be both curatorially demanding and appeal to a broad audience, include a prudent mix of objects, perhaps with some tangential or poetic aspects and, importantly, tour nationally. The material on Parke’s mind for the first show was wood . . .  [More]

‘TUZLU SU’ (SALTWATER): 14th Istanbul Biennial
[Article first published in Eyeline magazine no.85, 2017, © Eyeline Publishing Ltd.]

 The 14th Istanbul Biennial, ‘Saltwater: A Theory of Thought Forms’, was spread across this vast city of 14 million, a city that, for most of its long history, has remained one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and most visited. In her opening statement curator, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, said this: . . . you will spend quite a bit of time on salt water. There is a slowing down of the experience of art due to the travel between venues, especially on ferries. This is very healthy: salt water helps to heal respiratory problems . . . as well as calming the nerves . . .
[More]

The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art: In conversation with curator Aaron Seeto
[Article first published in Broadsheet magazine no.44.3,2015, Contemporary Art Centre of SA Inc.]

Ian Were: Aaron, in what position do you think the Asia Pacific Triennial (APT) series of exhibitions stand right now in the world of contemporary art?
Aaron Seeto: Let’s look at the legacy of the APT . . . I have only just joined the [Queensland Art] Gallery, so I have the benefit of viewing this from a slightly outside perspective – the APT has substantially driven the discourse around contemporary art from the region and it is one of the most important periodic exhibitions which Australia produces . . .  [More]

14th Istanbul Art Biennial: ‘Armenian shadows and whispers’
[Article published @ Kulture/Pulse magazine, 26 October 2015, Sydney.]

The 14th Istanbul Biennial was spread across 36 venues in this vast city. Two venues were linked to Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was shot in Istanbul in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist. At his funeral 100,000 Turkish citizens marched in protest of the assassination. Curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has done a remarkable job of integrating artists with Armenian backgrounds and ideas.  [More]

Henri van Noordenburg: Landscapes of Fact and Fiction
[Article published in FABRIK magazine no.28, 2015, Los Angeles.]

Who or what inhabits these places? It looks like winter: white, crisp and maybe inhospitable. There are signs of habitation: ruins of farm house and barns . . . a pile of boxes near a lone chair in one. People have lived here but is anyone still left? Van Noordenburg invites us to speculate. Maybe not the citizens who inhabit the landscapes of TV series like Lilyhammer or Fortitude, where the winter-white masks a host of indiscretions, but there is evidence of drama . . . [See Fabrik mag no.28, then go to pp.46-53.]

New Design on the Cusp: Into the Next Decade
[Article first published in Eyeline magazine no.82, 2015, © Eyeline Publishing Ltd.]

‘Cusp’, I soon discovered, is less of an exhibition and more of an encounter; the kind of show you’ve got to spend time with, both at the venue and later, online, where there’s substantial material to consider . . . If you saw ‘Cusp’ at the JamFactory in Adelaide, as I did, you may have had some initial disappointment, particularly if you were expecting to see an array of well-crafted items. The JamFactory after all, is well-suited to exhibitions of fine objects and ‘Cusp’ was not that.  . . .  [More]

‘Common Ground’, 13th International Architecture Biennale, Venice
[Article first published in Eyeline magazine no.80, 2014, © Eyeline Publishing Ltd.]

The two remarkable things about the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale were its adherence to the theme, ‘Common Ground’ — at least on the face of it — and the similarity of many presentations to previous art biennales including Venice. Indeed, several artists seen in recent art biennales were conspicuous: Thomas Demand, Olafur Elliason, Ai Weiei, Peter Fischli/David Weiss and Thomas Struth for example . . .  [More]

Focused business opportunities or the chance for a new guard?
[Article published in ‘Design Online’ (Queensland State Library), January 2013]

What do the recent mergers between well-known architectural practices suggest for the profession? Is this a new era of focused commercialism or a chance for a new guard to take the mantle? ‘The number of firms merging in quick succession is a surprise but the partnerings are not’, says museums consultant Michael Barnett . . .  [More]

All is not what it seems:Through the glass with Nicholas
[Article first published in Eyeline magazine no.76, 2012, © Eyeline Publishing Ltd.]

Ideas, like rabbits, abound in Nicholas Folland’s art, but, in his care, they breed at a more thoughtful pace and hop about a lot less. Rather than having a practice built around a central idea, he has several overlapping interests: there are, however, themes in Folland’s work that he has explored extensively over the last decade and a half . . .  [More]

Urbane epicurism
[Article first published in Indesign magazine no.43, 2010, © Indesign Group.]

The original Urbane restaurant in the heart of Brsbane was an icon of the city’s dining scene with a substantial reputation and several awards; it was also, I’m told, a place to be private, for people to go for long business lunches where they would not be seen. The recent redevelopment of Urbane extends these concepts. It began as a refurbishment of the existing restaurant with the addition of a brasserie within adjacent premises . . .  [More]