Friday, August 12, 2016

ARI REMIX LIVING ARCHIVES & SOCIAL MEMORY PROJECT - Clutch Collective - Australian Artist-Runs Now - remix.org.au




Q. What, who, when, why and where is Clutch Collective?

A. CLUTCH Collective is a Brisbane-based ARI that runs one night shows in the back of a three ton truck. We are Holly Bates, Naomi Blacklock, Tayla Haggarty and Annie Macindoe. Our exhibition program runs shows each month. Why? Because we can, because we set out with an ambition to do something exciting, something other than another Brisbane house ARI, and we think it’s working, so why not? Where? Anywhere (kind of). We have no fixed location and each of our shows has been at a different site – from residential backyards, driveways and apartment blocks to public parks…

Q. Tell me about the fabulous name of your collective, it’s mechanical moniker, and tell me a bit about you too?

A. CLUTCH Collective was named following extensive synonym searching around concepts of feminism and female anatomy. The idea of the truck came after the establishment of our name and turned out to be a rather serendipitous and perfect match for the term CLUTCH – relating also to the mechanics of a vehicle. And here’s a bit about each of our creative practices;

Naomi Blacklock is a current PhD candidate who primarily works with sound art and objects as a way to enact the contemporary witch figure through ritualised installations in order to fragment and examine the positive possibilities of the fury, superstitions, knowledge, and agency of wild women archetypes.

Annie Macindoe is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts and is interested in the use of text and moving image in her work. She uses text and video installation to explore themes of personal narrative, loss and trauma, and the inherent difficulty of articulating these experiences.

Holly Bates uses mediums such as painting, installation, performance and video to challenge pre-conceived notions of female sexuality depicted by patriarchal culture. Holly also works together with Tayla as the collaborative art practice Parallel Park.

The focus of Parallel Park is concentrated on playfully exploring the external influences that impact lesbian sexuality and the intricacies of the artist’s romantic relationship. The collaboration heavily employs play as process, which takes form through found objects, performance, video and installation.

Tayla Haggarty’s practice explores the complex question of what constitutes a lesbian feminist artwork, and more specifically, how one can effectively represent the personal lesbian erotic. These investigations take form through installation, sculpture and durational performance.

Q. Why an artist-run collective?

A. As well as being practicing artists and regular attendees of and exhibitors at local art events, artist-runs, we started CLUTCH because we saw an opportunity to contribute to the Brisbane ARI scene in a new and innovative way. We wanted to challenge ourselves and our artists to create new works that effectively utilize the space of the truck, which has certain limitations that other spaces don’t have. For example, we can’t screw directly into or attach anything to the body of the truck, which forces artists and ourselves as facilitators to think literally outside of the box, to find creative solutions and new ways of presenting works that respond directly to the limitations and new opportunities that a space like this presents. I guess you could say that CLUTCH is inspired by the work we see around us, our peers and those we look up to as artists, curators and directors of ARIs past and present. We have taken this inspiration and turned it into a drive, both literally and figuratively, towards invigorating the Brisbane ARI scene with an alternative, unconventional and experimental approach to exhibiting.

Q. Tell me about Clutch Collective artist-run projects so far? What are some memorable moments?

A. As well as being involved in the HOMEGROUND project at Boxcopy recently, which was a really important project for us in terms of cementing our emergence in the Brisbane ARI scene, we have hosted four shows that have all been exciting, moving, sensitive, beautiful, funny, inventive and outstanding in their own way.

Our first show, which presented works by Callum McGrath, comprising a lot of memorable moments. Namely it was the first time that we had coordinated the hiring, driving and successful delivery of the truck from one side of Brisbane to the other to park at the location of the show – an effort that was justifiably awarded with applause many sighs of relief. On top of that, we had a total time of less than one and a half hours to install the work which was pulled off perfectly in time for the due start of the show (credit to the artist’s prime organization skills). The show presented two highly saturated videos projected onto screens built to fit the exact dimensions of the truck. The pink glow from the work could be seen from quite a distance as the audience approached the truck down a long driveway. It was a really beautiful and ideal way to kick of our exhibition program for the year.

It also confirmed to us that our ambition to present shows in the back of a truck was not out of the scope of what is possible even though it might’ve seemed so at times.

Another memorable moment for CLUTCH was when we presented Louise Bennett’s site-specific video work ‘The Sun From Your Past’. It stood out because it was the first time we fully utilized the mobile attribute of the truck and took it out of a residential setting and into a public park location. Parked adjacent to the Government House property at Norman Buchan Park in Bardon, the somewhat isolated and nature-surrounded site of the show enhanced the ability for the light of the projected video work to travel out of the truck and contrast against the dark landscape. There were common challenges that came with being offsite such as power access and limitations to beverages being served, but this all ended up working out to strengthen the experience of the show and it’s site-specific nature.

Q. Tell me a wee bit more about the Clutch three tonner's most recent exhibit?

A. CLUTCH most recently presented the work of Brisbane-based duo SHATRICK (Shannon Tonkin and Patrick Zaia). The truck was located in a backyard of a friend’s house, which was convenient for the set up of the work and also allowed for alcohol consumption and a sizeable crowd. The work, GORGEus, saw SHATRICK sat atop a paper-mache feast. A table ran the length of the truck and was cluttered with all kinds of sculpted paper-mache food/cutlery/dish/creature hybrids. The medieval setting was confirmed by the constant rhythm of a melodic, repetitive and almost sinister soundtrack. Banners were hung from the inside frame of the truck and paper-mache chairs with faces were scattered across the yard.

If the feast vibe wasn’t already obvious to the audience – it only took a proper look into the back of the truck to see what the work was really about. SHATRICK positioned themselves at the head of the table – overlooking their creations – with baked dough-like bras and strapped on bellies. The bellies, filled with all kinds of ingredients, became the substance that enabled the performance, which SHATRICK devoured consistently from each other’s bodies for the duration of the show. The artists presented a work that was equally as seductive as it was repulsive – it was amazing to stand back and watch a constant crowd of people enter the truck, look intently at the smaller objects on the table, and almost cower away as they approached the performers at such an intimate proximity. The tension however was inevitably broken by a few brave viewers/participants who decided to jump right in and sample the delicacies for themselves.




Q. The seems to be an abundance of artist-runs unfolding/generating in Brisbane this year, why so?

A. This is very true! It seems as if a current of change has been brewing – perhaps something about moving from the art-saturated environment of our university institutions out into the everyday world for the most part is what inspired a variety of Brisbane ARIs this year, largely run by university graduates, emerging onto the scene in 2016. We are close friends with many of our fellow ARI directors, which has been mutually beneficial in terms of cross-promoting clashing exhibitions and literally working alongside other ARIs through being part of the accumulative HOMEGROUND project at Boxcopy this year.

On top of this, as artists we have each presented works with multiple other Brisbane ARIs. Collectively, as well as in group and solo exhibitions, the CLUTCH directors have had past exhibitions/are due to exhibit at the following Brisbane ARIs: Boxcopy, Cut Thumb, The Laundry Artspace, FAKE Estate, Kunstbunker, In Residence, ORAL ARI and Aggregate Projects. So obviously we have close ties to the following ARIs but we are also very excited to see even more new initiatives popping up around Brisbane and can’t wait to see how their spaces and exhibition programs develop.

We would, however, like to give a special mention to FAKE Estate, who, unknowingly, we had organised our most recent exhibition on the same night as theirs. FAKE Estate jumped right on board with cross-promotion even without a conversation about it. Because of the close location of the shows, as directors we were able to attend each other’s exhibitions (albeit briefly) and had a crowd of keen art goers walk between the two locations. We thought it really showed the spirit of what an arts community should be like, a place where ARIs are mutually supportive rather than competitive, and where an audience is committed to attending and supporting a multitude of events that can sometimes occur on one night.

Q. Wow,  so many different models and methods being used today, one nighters, three tonners, multiple loci, and globally too?

A. Our model of running an ARI is something that in some ways is quite standard in terms of opening up applications, selecting the artists that we think are the most appropriate for the space, confirming our exhibition program of monthly one-night events and also leaving space for other opportunities that might pop up along the way. The difference with CLUTCH is in our space and its nomadic nature. CLUTCH, while as organized as we can be, does however rely on the support of a broader network of friends, family, our university connections and other supporters to pull off the logistical challenge of driving and parking a large vehicle at a specific location for which we (sometimes) require permission, and facilitating works with technical equipment and supplies borrowed from necessary sources. From what we understand, these kinds of networks are used by most emerging ARIs who are similarly self-funded and ambitious as we are.

Because of the social aspect of the Brisbane art scene and our networks that have developed through university and broader art contexts, we have the benefit of having regular and sizeable crowds of friends and art show regulars (which for us are one in the same, really) that support our shows. As well as self-promoting through social media networks, CLUTCH is regularly supported by the Brisbane Art website and social media pages who share our events at a broader audience than any of us are able to personally. Again, this is a method that is fairly standard for local ARIs as a way of spreading the word about upcoming shows and sharing documentation and essays of past exhibitions too.

Artist-run initiatives matter for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, they are the most accessible and unpretentious format of exhibition space that is available to emerging artists. They are spaces where practices develop and find confidence in the freedom of peer critique and encouragement. They are affordable, DIY, community-based, open environments that truly foster experimental practices in ways that art institutions, commercial galleries and other organizations don’t.

Q.  Did the Clutch crew manage to visit the Ephemeral Traces exhibition about 1980s Brisbane artist-runs at the University of Queensland Art Museum April- July this year?

A. Yes we did! It was a really inspiring show in terms of placing ourselves amongst such a rich history of Brisbane ARIs. It was almost chilling to take a step back and think that in 30 years time another retrospective could potentially present an archive (probably online, however) of our contribution to the ARI movement, which seems to be having another strong resurgence not unlike what happened with the emergence of spaces and activities in the 1980s.

We were especially excited to see hiding away off to the side of the first main exhibition space, documentation of a work by artist Mark Webb. Mark was a supervisor to all of us throughout our Honours projects, and as long as we’ve known him has kept his practice very much a secret. It was amazing to see his work, as we had assumed, as part of a truly strong movement of rather radical work happening throughout the 80s.

Another aspect of the show that resonated with us was the rebellious nature of a number of activities that were happening during the 80s. For example, artists reacting to lack of funding and exhibition spaces for emerging practices by hosting shows in abandoned buildings or office blocks that were due to be demolished. We related most definitely to the experience of a lack of funding in the arts as well as a strong ambition to find alternative spaces and potentially disobey the law in terms of seeking (or rather not seeking) permission to park our truck in public or private spaces.

Q. Brisbane has such a wellspring of artist-run heritage since the late 1979s, in a similar way, what are your enjoying about the ARI Remix Project here, artist-led archives 1980-1990 in development now?

A. We find the richness, quantity and quality of content in the project amazing, and think it’s a really necessary part of any arts community to archive an ongoing history. As active members of a current arts environment in Brisbane that we believe is pretty thrilling in terms of ARI activity lately, we think it’s essential to understand the historical context in which we exist. Without projects like ARI Remix, it’s impossible, especially for many of us as young ARI directors and artists, to grasp the width and breadth of what has come before us in terms of experimental, guerilla and total anti-establishment ARI histories in Brisbane. ARI Remix brings a new life to past ARIs, exhibitions, activities, artists and audiences, and allows for current initiatives to draw connections and parallels to a shared and timeless experience of a desire for artist-run and non-institutional spaces to contribute to the development of experimental arts practices.



Q. Thanks, Im sure the ARI Remix Collectve will be chuffed to hear this testimony, and what enticing bits n pieces is Clutch Collective planning for 2016 and 2017?

A. CLUTCH has another great show planned for September – so keep your eyes peeled! We are in the process of planning a show to be included in the BARI exhibitions program running in October, which could see the truck parked at a landmark Brisbane location. As well as this, we are excited to be contributing to a panel discussion as part of the BARI festival program.

In regards to longer-term plans, we will soon release a call for applications for our 2017 exhibitions program, and are in discussion with a fellow ARI regarding a collaborative curatorial project and location coordination. We feel like our wheels have only just scratched the surface in the Brisbane ARI scene, and we can’t wait to really dig in and have a number of equally great shows and artists as what we’ve presented so far in 2016.

Q. Are you hopeful for the future of artist-runs, how so, why so, what value do you feel they bring to the knowledge base, to arts and culture heritage that institutional spaces like the IMA, QAG or GOMA don’t offer or provide?

A. YES! We absolutely are. We think there is a new air of ambition and passion around Brisbane ARIs, not just because there are a lot of them, but because artists are making strong works that are being presented by ARI directors who are equally as passionate about art as their exhibitors, and who know the ins and outs of their spaces and their networks. It is the combination of these elements that we believe makes things work, and what is driving an exciting flood of artist run activity in Brisbane as of late and will continue to drive things into the future.

A. As ARI directors, it is clear to us that our fellow directors and artists are mutually concerned with continuing to support each other’s projects in order to contribute to the livelihood and longevity of local artist-run activity. We KNOW that without ARIs, many artists wouldn’t have an opportunity to get their foot in the door (or in the truck) and are left feeling pretty disconnected without the opportunities that ARIs offer to emerging arts practices. For many artists who have recently completed university degrees, it’s quite obvious that there’s a long journey that comes between leaving the safety blanket of an art school and the convenience of the facilities and exhibition spaces it provides before being able to even fathom the idea of presenting in an art institution like IMA or GOMA (if that is even the goal of an individual at all).

We see artist-run initiatives as an experimental and safe space for the development of emerging practices. A lot of ARIs and artists alike approach projects as works or bodies of work in development rather than a final iteration of a fully developed and resolved exhibition. The social nature of and peer support that is prevalent at ARI shows is fundamental to the working process, support and critique that is a necessary and ongoing step for any developing practice. While more established artists also show at local ARIs, the spaces maintain a total non-pretentious feel and are always open to discussion of an artist’s ongoing growth and refinement of concepts and installation methods. Institutions such as the IMA and GOMA are not accessible in this way. They are much less about supporting open environments of critique to assist the growth of local artists as they are about presenting well established early/mid/late career artists with generously funded projects and publications.

From our perspective – ARIs are significantly more valuable to emerging artists than art institutions ever will be because they are run BY ARTISTS, FOR ARTISTS, and are supported largely by the attendance OF ARTISTS. This is not to say that ARIs present and exclusive arena for artists only, in fact it’s quite the opposite. ARI events are as much about socializing and networking as they are viewing the work of an emerging artist. We believe that the value they hold is immeasurable, but certainly is something we can say we’ve all felt as exhibiting artists and as the directors of CLUTCH Collective.

As the crowd gathers eagerly around a work, as they applaud the end of a two-and-a-half-hour endurance performance, as they generously donate a little extra in exchange for a wine that’s in reality at least a third of the cost, as an artist expresses gratitude for an opportunity to finally share the work they so meticulously put time, money and tears into…. that’s what the value of ARIs feels like to us, and why we believe their impact on the cultural heritage and the arts community of Brisbane is immense and will continue to be for as long as we can imagine.




RELATED LINKS

Read More:
http://clutchcollective.org

Parallel Park:
http://www.parallelpark.org

Clutch Collective – Artist’s Websites:

http://www.naomiblacklock.com
http://www.hollybates.com
http://www.taylahaggarty.com

HOMEGROUND at Boxcopy

https://boxcopy.org/projects/homeground

Brisbane ARIs Now:

https://boxcopy.org

http://www.cutthumb.org

https://thelaundryartspace.com

http://www.fake-estate.com

http://www.kunstbunkergallery.com

http://inresidence-ari.com

http://www.oralari.com

http://aggregateprojects.weebly.com

Brisbane Art:

http://bneart.com

Read More about Brisbane’s Artist-Run Festival here:

http://www.bari.com.au

To read more about Australian Artist-Run Heritage:

http://remix.org.au/

Thursday, August 04, 2016

Yielding with Artist Jacqueline King - Northern Rivers Community Gallery Ballina until August 28, 2016 - INTERVIEWS


Hope, (detail), 2016

q. Jacqueline Hi and thanks for your time today. Tell me about your background as an artist working with glass and sculpture?

a. It began in 2006 as a form of self therapy if you will. I was in the early stages of coping with the aftermath of a traumatic period in my life and learning to live with Complex PTSD and a friend suggested I find something to do with my hands so I did and glass was it! Slowly the process of what began as very simple hand cut glass stars became a source of peace...a meditation if you will, playing with colour and patience.

I’d moved to my little home in Dalwood, Northern NSW as an escape and the ‘shed’ became consumed by my pursuits within a couple of years. Glass became my lifeline and literally saved my life, reformatted my brain and gave me a gift I did not expect.

The imaginings come to me in the space between wakefulness and sleep and although I often used to lose hope during their creation I have learned to have faith and persevere and so the imaginings continue to flow. Almost as if I am just the tool...my body, my existence became the tool for simply trusting the flow and making it real. Largely being self taught meant I had to learn a whole lot of new skills in order to see each vision made visible.


Yielding, Glass Installation, Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Ballina


q. How did this fabulous exhibition on now at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina come about?

a. Looking back on my work it became apparent I had two themes appearing unintentionally. One was the fragile beautiful environment we experience here in Australia and the other the fragile nature of my own mental health. I had long held hope that one day I could merge these themes and create a body of work that truely put voice to what I had no words for.

After ten years of experimentation in glass ‘Yielding’ is as close as I’d ever imagined I would come.

Each glass form has been intuitively created to reveal the tension of my own existence, indeed perhaps all existence, where safety and permanence are illusion yet equally present in each magnificent breath we take.

q. Perhaps one the most astonishing aspects to your installation is the inherent fragility of the works?

a. The fragility is definitely intentional and integral to what I was trying to whisper and shout.

q. Tactility. I found myself both seduced and captivated by this fragility and while observing the works I felt an overwhelming need to touch them, a taboo in the art gallery more often than not?

a. I hope it is the organic aspect of the works that originally draws you in. I held vision for each to not seem made of glass but rather something elemental, dew, ice, lava, blood, snow, gold, spun silk. I hoped they became so visceral that they were magnetic and this was my delight when on the first day I wandered around the gallery space anonymously and observed a group of mature visitors (who usually are those well versed in the usual rules of galleries where touching works has long been forbidden, hearing words from stern parents of “look with your eyes not your fingers”) and held my breath as each one touched several works including some of the most fragile. My job was done!

q. In some measure we as humans have this innate dual sense of creation and destruction, and I wonder whether this sense of tactility that your works produce is in some way tapped into this innate sensibility in some deep archetypal way, the tension we feel throughout our lives with the shared capacity/ simultaneity for creation and destruction?

a. I love that you’ve raised this in such an insightful way...it is the essence of the experience of deep trauma and the breakthrough that is possible, the re-birthing that is both violent and divine. This is accessed by all who would seek that most universal truth of love (what we must learn in order to fully live and transcend our sleeping states) as love will destroy if it deems this is the way to wake us, just as surely as it will fill our hearts with awe.


48 Threads, 2016

q. Can you tell me in some detail about your process, from concept to creation?

a. The vision side I’ve pretty much covered already but in this body of work all the pieces were deliberately kiln formed work rather than the cold glass work I also do. This also was intentional as I wanted some kind of alchemy in play that I felt only the heat of my kiln could deliver. Each piece has had multiple firings to temperatures ranging between 565 degree Celsius (in the case of the glass nest ‘Hope’ to 790 degrees Celsius for full fused works. Many include multiple techniques from flame working, powdered crackle glass through to pattern bar inlays.

q. Artist Julianne Zoviar Clunne was telling me about one particular work, 48 Threads that has a series of tender "tendrils" signifiying each year of your life?

a.  True,  ‘48 Threads’. It’s a vessel made from 48 flame-worked hand pulled canes of clear glass, one for each year of my life so far, held together by kiln firing at tack fuse temperature variable sized clear frit in the centre and again on an uneven edge. It is approx 16” diameter and has then been slumped into an irregular form created in fibre blanket. I wanted it to appear unspeakably fragile yet compellingly beautiful so as to reflect my journey so far on this place we call earth which itself spins miraculously at the edge of oblivion.

q. As a sympatico artist here equally inspired and transformed by the effects of trauma, I was intrigued to read something about your own direct lived experience of living with CPTSD and how it influences your work as an artist, in particular the choice of your medium Jacqueline, and the intrinsic fragility of glass. Tell me about this impulse in your work?

a. Glass chose me rather than the other way around. Call it serendipity but there is a connection between the two best characterised by something I heard once on the radio by a leading UK Trauma Psychiatrist who described PTSD something like this...


“Imagine you are a beautiful glass vase with exquisite colour and form sitting on a sideboard and much admired. When major trauma happens the beautiful glass vase that you are gets knocked off the table and smashes on the floor splintering into thousands of pieces. Most rush quickly to gather the pieces and try valiantly to hold it all together, to appear like they used to be by holding all the pieces together with anything they can. But there is no way to do this of course.

Some, with good therapeutic support coupled with the support of loving family and community, will slowly learn that there is no becoming what they were...but they just might become a beautiful mosaic instead!”


​q. Thanks Jacqueline, wow,  and tell me something of the most challenging aspects of making these distinctive glass works?

a. The most challenging aspect was ensuring each piece was really raw and really me. Two works were held back from display by the Director, Lee Mathers who described them as ‘restrained’ and she was absolutely right...I wanted to stretch every skill I had in each work...synthesize 10 years of glass making and squeeze all its juice into new territory using all the experience, all the pain, all the magnificence, all the qualities unique to me and to glass into each piece. May I be blessed to live another 10 years to try again.

q. And one or two of the most satisfying and/or consoling aspects of making these exquisite works?

a. Ahh, what I feel inside is made visible! I watch my hands do things to make what is in my fibre and barely know how it occurs...like breathing.

q. What are you working on now Jacqueline?

a. I’m about to start a commission window, right off track from this series, but it’s for a well loved an respected author who has a home north of here and it has been commissioned by a circle of women who radiate love.

It will be made from the last batch of Spectrum Waterglass in the world as sadly one of the worlds best glass manufacturers has recently shut its doors in the US so I’m excited to get this project underway.

Yielding:

http://www.nrcgballina.com.au/v1/exhibitions/2016-exhibitions/258-yielding

Jacqueline's Artist Website:

http://www.jacquelineking.com.au/

Read more INTERVIEWS by Paul Andrew here:

ARI Remix - Australian Artist-Run Heritage

Monday, August 01, 2016

ARI REMIX - Interview with artist and designer Angelina Martinez- INTERVIEWS - remix.org.au

Angelina Martinez, That Space, 1987 PHOTO: Lisa Wicks



BIO

Angelina Martinez is an award winning graphic designer with over 10 years experience in all aspects of design for print, with specialist skills in publication design.

Previously Angelina was engaged as a graphic designer at the Queensland Art Gallery for over 7 years. This experience, combined with her BA in Fine Art from QCA, has provided her with a unique understanding of communication design for museums and the arts and cultural sector.

Angelina has furthered her professional experience in the corporate sector through working for two of the best design studios in Brisbane.

Recently taking the step to self-employment, Angelina is dedicated to providing her clients with creative, considered, brilliantly executed design outcomes that communicate effectively to its audience and straight-forward, concise, timely project management and delivery.
Angelina is based in Brisbane, Australia.


Interview

PA:

Angelina Hi and thanks, remix.org.au, why does an artist-led archive mapping artist testimonies and artist histories about the ephemeral nature of the vibrant Queensland 1980-1990 artist-run scene matter to you?

AM:

I too am very interested in this public archive project as I believe it’s important these untold stories are put on the public record.

I was directly involved with several Brisbane/ QLD artist-runs during this era including as an practicing artist maintaining a studio and contributing as a committee member of That Contemporary Artspace collective, located at the rear of 20 Charlotte St, 1986-88.

I also exhibited my work in the gallery space downstairs and was involved in day to day activities and collaborated with the other artists. I was also involved in Bureau Shop 4, City Plaza, Adelaide St, in 1989 and exhibited my work there and I participated in the 1988 Axis Art Project Axis File which was exhibited in New York.

As a Queensland based artist at the time I was working in various media including painting, installation, drawing and sculpture and was focused on various subjects in my professional practice including exploring the contemporary ideas of feminism and female sexuality.

I also felt that women were completely under-represented and mis-represented in the art world during the 1980s.

From my perspective this plethora of artist-runs at this time provided many artists like me with a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a sense of the future, a sense of hope and opportunity.
Support and resources for young artists to develop and contribute to the cultural fabric of the city were non-existent. Many graduates from tertiary institutions felt, like myself, that we were on our own, with very little prospect of realising any sort of professional career let alone a career in visual art practice.

ARI’s or artist-run spaces as we called them also provided us with a place to exhibit, to network and to meet other contemporary artists. This was invaluable at the time as there were no venues, institutions or galleries that would even consider exhibiting my work or promoting my art practice, especially those of a young female artist like myself.

It is disconcerting that documentation and ephemera from this era has not been collected and published. This archive of material and resources and those of others like myself, deserves to have a place in the social and art history of the city.

It is important to document this history of ARI’s in Brisbane because of the unique political, economic and social circumstances at the time, and how this generated such enormous activity by cultural workers that was often critical, challenging and provocative.

REMIX is designed as an online project and what is terrific about this is that it will make these interviews and archives available to a wider audience online, from Queensland and elsewhere, and for much longer period than any exhibition can even attempt to provide. This is important to me.

Today I work as a freelance graphic designer specifically providing design services for clients in the Arts and Museum sector. I’ve also worked at the Queensland Art Gallery as a designer for over seven years.

I continue to be involved with local art practitioners, freelance curators and art administrators through my work providing specialised graphic design solutions and services.

Looking back now at my involvement with artist-run spaces like That Contemporary Artspace and Bureau with reflection – has provided me with an invaluable creative experience that continues to serve me well in my professional work and in my everyday life. It was an amazing and vibrant time.

Read more:
http://remix.org.au/interview-angelina-martinez/