MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY SYDNEY FESTIVAL

In a ground breaking initiative, the Sydney Festival has developed a three-year partnership with Campbelltown Arts Centre and Gallery 4A to engage communities in Western Sydney and Sydney in contemporary art projects with artists from across Asia and the Pacific.

Edge of Elsewhere is a key project of the Sydney Festival’s program for three consecutive years in 2010, 2011 and 2012, that will present work by artists that have been developed in partnership with Sydney’s communities in response to the cultural demographic of metropolitan and suburban Sydney. In 2010, the project is comprised of a major exhibition across two venues at Campbelltown Arts Centre and Gallery 4A, a 200 page publication, and a series of public programs including forums and artists’ talks.

Edge of Elsewhere is curated by Thomas J. Berghuis, lecturer in Asian Art at the Department of Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney; Lisa Havilah, Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre; and Aaron Seeto, Director of Gallery 4A.

“Western Sydney and communities from Asia and the Pacific will be brought into sharp focus for the Sydney Festival, and beyond, which will open up the Festival for many more people to engage with the very best in contemporary arts from across Asia and the Pacific,” says Sydney Festival Director Lindy Hume. “There are two million people living in Western Sydney
and this important project collaboratively examines some of the questions that shape us as individuals and communities in a rapidly changing environment.”

Chinese artist Wang Jianwei, who is widely respected as one of the leading video and installation artists working today, will be prominently featured. Also in the artistic lineup are: Brook Andrew (Australia), Arahmaiani (Indonesia), Richard Bell (Australia), YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (Korea), Dacchi Dang (Australia), Newell Harry (Australia),Shigeyuki Kihara (Aotearoa New Zealand), Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa New Zealand) and Khaled Sabsabi (Australia).

Each of the individual artists in this project are well-known for extensive work as coordinators of complex artistic projects that have a performative cross-over in their work. Each artist will invite other artists and collaborators to develop new works with them, which will premiered each year with the Sydney Festival.

Shigeyuki Kihara, an internationally acclaimed artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, has been commissioned to produce a new performance work for January 2010 as part of her ongoing series Talanoa: Walk the Talk. Inspired by her Japanese/Samoan background, Kihara’s work is based on research relating to the Indigenous cultures of the Pacific. In Samoa the concept of “talanoa” is a process of discussion between two parties to find a mutual ground through the exchange of ideas. Kihara’s 2010 Edge of Elsewhere commission will present a new performance work in collaboration with a Chinese dragon dance group and Tahitian drummers in Sydney’s Chinatown in partnership with Gallery 4A.

Wang Jianwei’s major installation work Hostage will be presented at Campbelltown Arts Centre and will be the first major showing of Wang’s work in Australia. Beginning his career as a social-realist painter in the late 1970s, since the 1990s Wang’s artistic output has developed into a multifaceted practice as he adopts various forms, ranging from cinema, theatre, multimedia,painting and public art. Wang has exhibited at the 3rd Seoul International Media Art Biennale, 2004; the Venice Biennale, 2003; Documenta X, Kassel, Germany, 1997; as well as galleries and museums across China, the USA and the Netherlands.

Newell Harry, a Sydney based artist who works in a variety of mediums and explores themes and issues relating to identity, colonialism, culture and globalisation, will further develop his links with local communities by collaborating with the Pacific Women’s Tapa Group in Campbelltown in a long-term series of workshop programs which will see a new work premiered in January 2011.

“Campbelltown Arts Centre has a strong history of producing major contemporary art projects that bring together contemporary artists from the Asia Pacific region and Australia to develop work in partnership with Sydney’s communities. It’s important that we examine and articulate the questions of culture that represent the demographics of the area,” says Lisa Havilah, Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre. “We are excited to produce a project of such magnitude that will create a whole new body of work in relation to contemporary urban and suburban environments across Sydney, and to link these to contemporary art practice in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.”

“Gallery 4A has developed a reputation for its important work with the contemporary art from the region, profiling cultural discussions that affect Australia and its understanding of its history and place,” says Aaron Seeto, Director of Gallery 4A.

“Working on a project of this scale allows 4A to make significant and long-lasting connections between some of the most significant artists working globally and the diverse local communities that make up our vibrant cities”.

Edge of Elsewhere has been produced for Sydney Festival by Campbelltown Arts Centre in partnership with Gallery 4A; Australian Centre for Asian Art & Archaeology, University of Sydney; and is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

Campbelltown Arts Centre
16 January–7 March 2010
Project launch: Friday 15 January, 7pm
Asia/Pacific Cultural Futures Forum:
Saturday 16 January, 2pm
Cnr Camden & Appin Rds, Campbelltown
Open daily 10am–4pm Admission free
Tel +61 2 4645 4100

artscentre@campbelltown.nsw.gov.au
www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au
Gallery 4A
16 January–6 February 2010
Project launch: Thursday 14 January, 6pm
181-187 Hay Street, Sydney
Tuesday–Saturday 11am–6pm Admission free
Tel +61 2 9212 0380
info@4a.com.au
www.4a.com.au