Ephemeral Traces – ‘why the ephemeral trace provides a special insight into the past’
ephemeral traces documentation examples
2 April 2016 – 26 June 2016
ephemeral traces provided the first introductory analysis of artist-run practice in Brisbane during the final decade of the conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. The exhibition was curated by artist-poet Peter Anderson and focused on the scene that developed around five key spaces that operated in Brisbane from 1982 to 1988: One Flat, A Room, That Space, The Observatory, and John Mills National. It yielded one of the most important panel discussions in Queenland staged during the past 50 years. A lively collaborative reminscence and discussion about SEQ ARIs and DIY change agents. Curator Peter Anderson and artists Virginia Barratt, Brian Doherty, Jeanelle Hurst and Jay Younger deep dived and reflected on the Brisbane scene, the ideologies, artist-run variedness, strong artistic cross-pollination activity, ephemeral practices and social practices of Eighties artist-run spaces where a DIY punk, post-punk and new wave ethos was paramount.
A initial panel discussion about ephemera – exhibition invitations, leaflets, posters and other transient documents – and why the ephemeral trace provides a special insight into the past. Led by Fryer Library’s Simon Farley, speakers include curator of ‘ephemeral traces: Brisbane’s artist-run scene in the 1980s’ Peter Anderson, artist and collector Malcolm Enright, Fryer Library Librarian Cassie Doyle, and curator of ‘Barjai and Miya Studio’ Michele Helmrich.
An International Museum Day event presented by UQ Art Museum in partnership with Fryer Library and Art Monthly Australasia.
Recorded 18 May 2016, UQ Art Museum.
A complementary SEQ ARIs-driven panel discussion connected and resonated with recent, new and emerging SEQ ARIs in 2016.
Weeping Woman Performance collaboration and happening, 1986. That Space, Brisbane Magandjin. The high-profile heist and the subsequent bizarre ransom concerning Pablo Picasso’s Weeping Woman (1937) a famous Cubist painting, where demands made by a group calling itself the Australian Cultural Terrorists to the National Gallery of Australia became one of Australia’s most sensational unsolved crimes. Mask making by artist, designer and That Collective member Jane Richens. Performance artists including Brian Doherty, Adam Boyd, Paul Andrew, Hiram To among others.
‘ephemeral traces:
Brisbane’s artist run Scene in the 1980s’
UQ Art Museum
2 April 2016 – 26 June 2016
OPENING
Friday 8 April 6.15 for 6.30 pm
to be opened by
Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh
Executive Co-Directors and Curators of the Institute of Modern Art
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Saturday 9 April 2.00 – 3.30 pm
‘Artist-run initiatives: DIY change agents?’
Curator Peter Anderson and artists Virginia Barratt, Brian Doherty, Jeanelle Hurst and Jay Younger reflect on the Brisbane scene and its socio-cultural context.
Free. All welcome.
Friday 1 April 2016
Photo from ‘THAT Space’ Shared Camera, 1986
ARI REMIX POST 2025·
Hello, opening night at Ephemeral Traces 2016. ephemeral traces provided an introductory analysis of artist-run practice in Brisbane during the final decade of the conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. The exhibition focused on the ARI temporality that developed around five key spaces that operated in Brisbane from 1982 to 1988: One Flat, A Room, That Space, The Observatory, and John Mills National. Here are a few pics from opening night at UQAM courtesy of the museum. Artist Curator: Peter Anderson.
OPENING Friday 8 April 2016 6.15 for 6.30 pm opened by. Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh. Executive Co-Directors and Curators of the Institute of Modern Art.
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Saturday 9 April 2.00 – 3.30 pm
‘Artist-run initiatives: DIY change agents?’
Curator Peter Anderson and artists Virginia Barratt, Brian Doherty, Jeanelle Hurst and Jay Younger reflect on the Brisbane scene and its socio-cultural context.
Peter Anderson’s work was supported by a Siganto Foundation
Fellowship granted by State Library of Queensland for research conducted in the Australian Library of Art. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Opening night photos by Mick Richards here and UQAM link fyi…
Glenda Harward-Nalder with Jodie Cox and John Stafford. ‘ephemeral traces’ opening celebration
Photography: Mick Richards
Artists John Waller and Adam Boyd with Brian Tucker arts ARIs advocate and arts-based tax accountant.
ACCESS Brisbane-Magandjin based artist Mick Richards historic photos here;
For more insight into Brisbane’s rich and enduring counter-culture where radical actions are essential;
Moratorium demonstration in Brisbane on 18th September 1970 – part of national protests against Australia’s military involvement in the Vietnam War.
(Photo courtesy Fryer Library, University of Queensland – Grahame Garner Collection: F3400, Folder 20, item 11)
An archival resource focusing on radical activity in Brisbane and Queensland in Australia during the period 1965 to 1980