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October 24, 2007
I watched the second part Marcus Westbury's Not quite Art---The New Folk Art --- on ABC TV last night. This series explores how the art world looks from the other side of the art institution. Westbury began The New Folk Art -by exploring the street art of Hosier Lane, Melbourne. His argument was that this kind of art is a messy, dirty thing that comes from the bottom up, refuses to behave, is borderline illegal, and is very transitory. Stencil graffiti is art.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, spacecraft, Adelaide, 2007
Westbury, the founder and manager of This Is Not Art Australia’s premier independent, emerging and experimental arts festival in Newcastle, NSW, reckons that art should reflect, reject, dissect and infect the way the world does business. It's unpopular culture created by vandals, deadbeats and trespassers, because they are creating the kind of art he was most interested in.
This is placed in opposition to the echoes of the past---cover bands such the symphony orchestras and opera companies and the state theatre companies--- that produce comparatively little in the way of original, innovative or even Australian work. The innovative street art is also juxtaposed to the high art in the white walled art institution.
Update
I've been playing around with the video file as I wanted to hear the video again. My attempt to play the downloaded MP4 in Apple's Quicktime didn't work. I've finally got Windows Media Player working so that I can watch the video on the ABC site. I've also downloaded the video file as WMV so that could listen to the segment on painting the walls of soon to be demolished derelict building and factories.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, face, Adelaide, 2007
I was hoping that this kind of work--The Empty Show --- would be digitally archived in some form--- I saw a shot of images on a portable Apple computer. I wanted to have a closer look at the site-specific works, as The Empty Show movement was born in Melbourne when a group of street artists did up the interior of an abandoned hotel.
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Gary,
you can download the program from the ABC site onto your computer, and then onto your video ipod and so watch it at your leisure.