The inaugural Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival demonstrates the breadth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island contemporary and traditional artistic expression. 

 There’s something for everyone, with three days of dance, cabaret, visual art, theatre, comedy, films and live music.

Mick Wallangkarri Tjakamarra Kukatja/Ngalia c.1905-96 Bush tucker story 1972 synthetic polymer paint on composition board 72.0 x 77.0 cm Hugo Le Roux Guthrie, Melbourne © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd

The next Aboriginal Art Reading Group meeting will be 16 January 4:30-5:30pm in room 106, John Medley Building, University of Melbourne.

We will be reading a number of selections from Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Art, including Philip Batty’s “‘Artefacts’ as Art: ‘Art’ as Arefact” and “Catch a Fire” by John Kean. If you have not yet seen the exhibition please try to do so before the meeting. A copy of the reading will be circulated to the electronic mailing list.

Looking forward to seeing you then!  ~ Kira

We will be reading Chris Healy’s Forgetting Aborigines “Chapter 3: Old and New Aboriginal Art.” I will email members of the reading groups’ electronic mailing list a PDF of the reading. Looking forward to seeing you then!   ~ Kira

Garrnyal Bukulatjpi and Djawa Dhaawiringu, Milingimbi, NT, September 1935 Source: Courtesy of the Thomson family and Museum Victoria (TPH363)

A symposium hosted in association with the exhibition, Ancestral Power and the Aesthetic.

This symposium presents a series of papers with a diverse group of experts from Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Paris, who are prominent in their area of Aboriginal art practice and passionate about the importance of Yolngu art from Arnhem Land, and particularly bark painting.

Professor Howard Morphy, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Research School of Humanities and the Arts at the Australian National University, will deliver the keynote address.

The exhibition, Ancestral Power and the Aesthetic: Arnhem Land Paintings and Objects from the Donald Thomson Collection is now showing at Melbourne Museum until 12 February 2012.

We will be reading the introduction of Ian McLean’s recent book: How Aborigines Invented The Idea Of Contemporary Art: An Anthology Of Writing On Aboriginal Art 1980-2006.

I will email members of the reading groups’ electronic mailing list a PDF of the reading. Alternatively, you may make a personal photocopy from the copy  posted on the bulletin board outside of the photocopier room on the third floor of the East Tower of the John Medley Building.

Listen to Ian McLean and Margo Neale interviewed on ABC Late Night Radio from 9 November, 2011 here.

2-day Symposium: Conflict and Conciliation Across Empires: Objects and Performances in Historical Perspective

Date: 17-18 November 2011

Location: Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre, University of Melbourne

Convenors: Professor Kate Darian‐Smith (Director, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne), Dr. Julie Evans (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne), and Dr. Penny Edmonds (School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne) in conjunction with the Department of Indigenous Cultures, Museum Victoria.

Hosted by the Australian Centre, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne.

Tjukurrtjanu
Speakers Fred Myers, Silver Prof & Chair, Department of Anthropology, New York University; Dr Philip Batty, Senior Curator, Anthropology (Central Australia), Museum Victoria; Dick Kimber, historian & catalogue contributor; Prof Paul Carter, Chair in Creative Place Research, Deakin University; Paul Sweeney, Manager, Papunya Tula Artists; Bobby West Tjupurrula, Papunya Tula artist

A range of speakers will discuss the origins and evolution of the Western Desert Art movement.
NGV International 180 St Kilda Road
Clemenger BBDO Auditorium
Level G

$75 Adult / $69 NGV Member / $72 Concession (includes lunch and afternoon tea, bookings essential)

Event Code
P11246

Information & bookings
Ph +61 3 8662 1555
10am-5pm daily

Don’t miss the inaugural, multidisciplinary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Research Symposium on 3 November.

Date      Thursday 3 November 2011
Time      8.30am to 5.00pm
Venue    Law Building, 185 Pelham St., Carlton
The University of Melbourne

PUTTING ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER RESEARCH TO WORK

The inaugural, multidisciplinary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Research Symposium will showcase current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research by staff and graduate students from across The University of Melbourne. All are welcome and lunch is included.

The Symposium has a special focus on research bringing benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We invite you to register, attend and participate in the discussion.

There is no fee but registration is essential.