Arts Monday 14/10 – Surfaces, Ibis and Check-Ins

Maren Smith is filling in for Jane Raffan this week and hosting Arts Monday 14th October, 10:30am – midday on Eastside 89.7FM.

STREAM IT HERE – This episode of Arts Monday has already aired, but if you would like to stream it, it will be online for a limited time on the Arts Monday page, click the ‘Monday 14th October’ link on the Radio Replay player here –  https://eastsidefm.org/arts/artsmonday/

The show this week highlights three local exhibitions: ‘On the Surface of Things’ at Firstdraft Gallery, ‘Flight to the City’ at ESP Gallery and ‘Here You Are’ at Archive Space.

My guests include Isobel Parker Philip, Deb Mansfield, Grace Kingston, Cassandra Daw and Lou Steer.

On the Surface of Things, curated by Isobel Parker Philip, Firstdraft Gallery, 2013

First up, I’ll be talking to Isobel Parker Philip, curator of ‘On the Surface of Things’, and Deb Mansfield whose photo-tapestries from the series ‘Softening’ appear in the show. We’ll be discussing some of the ideas behind the exhibition which includes works of nine artists whose practice has ‘a preoccupation with surface, skin, screen and shroud’, explores the nature of the surface and the in-between.

On the Surface of Things, 16 October – 2 November

Firstdraft Gallery, 116-118 Chalmers St, Surry Hills

Curated by Isobel Parker Philip. Artists – Kate Beckingham, Bianca Chang, Deb Mansfield, Sarah Mosca, Tasha Ong, Isobel Parker Philip, Eloise Rapp, Jacob Ring, Justine Varga.

Opening- Wednesday 16 October, 6pm
Artist talks- Saturday 2 November, 2pm

Flight to the City, ESP Gallery, 2013

Next up, I’ll be chatting to Lou Steer and Cassandra Daw about the iconic bird, the ibis, a refugee from drought stricken wetlands whose long legs and beak adapted it perfectly to city living, to a decidedly mixed response. ‘Flight to the City’ at ESP Gallery celebrates the ibis, or ‘bin chicken’ through sculpture, drawing, poetry, prose and video and includes picture book ‘Poor Old Ibis’ by Vivien Johnson.

Flight to the City,  12 October – 27 October

ESP Gallery, 228 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville

Artists – Alex Avila, Simon Clarke, Will Coles, Cassandra Daw, Christopher Daw, Nicole Eggers, Geoffrey Goodes, Brian Martin, Heather McMahon, Juilee Pryor, Ebony Secombe, Anita Shirley, Lou Steer, MoBot, and others.

Here You Are, Grace Kingston, 2013

My final guest is Grace Kingston whose exhibition ‘Here You Are’ looks at the phenomenon of the social media “check-in”, the desire to use the virtual world to locate oneself in the physical world. Kingston has used her friend’s data to construct a representative sculpted map of the the locations tagged within a one kilometre radius of the gallery. This hangs alongside a neon installation that flashes the statuses accompanying the check-ins; self congratulatory, grammatically odd and self conscious half phrases made monumental and strange by their placement in the physical world.

Here You Are, Archive Space, Newtown

Here You Are, 9 October – 19 October

ARHCIVE_ Space, 5 Eliza St, Newtown

Grace Kingston, https://gracekingston.com/

To hear these interviews and some songs from the upcoming Global Rhythms world music festival, tune in to Arts Monday 14th October, 10:30 – midday. Listen online here.

Maren Smith is a filmmaker and art lover, co-producer’s of Thursday night’s Something Else your half hour dose of alternative arts, and co-host of Cinemascape.