Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Q+A: TAMARA MARWOOD

Co-curator, Tamara Marwood, recently spoke to NETS Victoria about the inspirations behind Come on the Scene and how this touring exhibition evolved.

NETS Victoria: So, how did you come up with the name Come on the Scene?

Tamara Marwood: Myself and Jeff Khan have always aspired to be rock'n'roll stars, just like the great Australian band, Magic Dirt. But then we realised that we really stunk as stars, but were OK as curators and that a lot of art is just like pop and rock culture - rough and ready, made in a garage, and mixing things up.

NV: What themes are explored in this touring exhibition?

TM: Trevor Flinn's larger than life Puma watching homemade music clips really sums this show up. It's about artists checking out and reinventing "how things are in regional communities". What I mean is the new, exciting and challenging isn't just in the cities. Come on the Scene is young regional artists blowing up Australia's regional mythologies.

The myth of the Grampians Puma becomes a rock'n'roll star; decorative bowls become paste-up wallpaper; a handmade quilt into an experiment on truth and lies; the internet becomes a world-wide confessional and coffee tables reveal the unspoken between farmers - fathers and sons.

NV: How were the artists chosen?

TM: The Come on the Scene artists were selected as they are extraordinary young regional artists turning regional communities into stages for really wonderful artistic experiments and activities. Like Ellen Coyle's Foma (little white lies), which is a brave social experiment that both covers up and also exposes the lies we all create to help us sail smoothly in day to day life.



Tam  
IMAGE: The lovely Tamara Marwood, Co-curator of Come on the Scene

 

NV: What attracted you to their projects?

TM: My relationship is a bit like a mummy with these projects. I was involved seeing these projects as infant ideas on paper, initally for the Next Wave festival and then working for nearly two years, witnessing the works evolve and grow... Until they left home, and now they are touring all by themselves around Victoria.

NV: As you've mentioned, some of the works were presented in Melbourne at the 2008 Next Wave festival so why was it important to tour this exhibition?

TM: It made sense to take the works back out of the city and into the regions where the work was first created.

NV: What do you hope visitors will take away with them after seeing Come on the Scene?

TM: Working regionally as a young artist is a tough gig - you need lots of guts, determination and a fearless belief in yourself. I hope that people coming to check out Come on the Scene come away with a sense of this and play with their own regional culture.

Melissa Hart
By Melissa Hart
10/03/2009 12:41:51 PM | Art, Come on the Scene, Emerging artists, Exhibitions, Festivals, Q&A, Regional Victoria, Touring exhibitions

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The Install and Opening Next Wave, NETS Victoria and Warrnambool Art Gallery staff install the first leg of the Come on the Scene regional tour, Friday 13 February 2009: Come on the Scene - Warrnambool from Next Wave on Vimeo.
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POSTCARD FROM RODERICK SPRIGG Multi-disciplinary artist, Roderick Sprigg, touched base with Melissa Hart from NETS Victoria to chat about his artistic practice and what he's up to at the moment. Check it out... Melissa Hart: Hi Roderick, last time we spoke you were overseas. Where are you now? Roderick Sprigg: Currently I'm in Vancouver, Canada. MH: What are you working on at the moment? RS: I've been here for a couple of weeks now after touring around the USA since February. I'm here to look around, visit friends and do as much research and gallery searching as possible. Because I'm here in Vancouver for longer it gives me time to meet artists, curators and sit and read. I've visited Emily Carr (University of Art and Design) and found their art specific library so it's a great opportunity to strengthen some of my thoughts. Today I actually met with the Professor of Sculpture and he took me for a tour, which was great. Quite a practical school considering its location - beside downtown Vancouver on Granville Island. MH: How would you describe your artistic practice from concept to making? RS: Many thoughts run through my head, like many of us, questioning myself and situations around me - from behaviour to colour theory. Because there is so much to learn and apply to art I have an internal battle of how appropriate some ideas are to art in general and my own practice. Some questions I ask to help me stay focused are: 'Who is my audience?'; 'What do I want them to feel?'; 'How does this fit into the art discussion?'. I suppose it's a bit like working backward from a situation. That reversal of the journey becomes the artwork that provides, hopefully, the "form". I believe my art is made in the daily world in which we all live. Sure it has connections to philosophy, ritual and adornment, but I want it to be more real than that - a form that follows function. MH: You focus on the politics of masculinity in your practice. Why is this important or inspiring for you? RS: I have no issues with dealing with subjects like masculinity. I think if you're honest with yourself then audiences will be honest in return. The subject is what I've been interested in on a personal level. I am a 29 year old, caucasian male - what does that mean? I live in a regional area - historically high in male youth suicide and mental health issues. I'm trying to be as real as possible about it. Not glorify it but certainly not de-humanise it. IMAGE: Roderick SPRIGG Occasional Tables 2008 installation, digital video and community art Installation view at Craft Victoria, as part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival Photographer: Jeremy Dillon Courtesy the artist and Next Wave MH: Could you please briefly explain Occasional Tables and what your intention was. RS: Occasional Tables is a good example of my thought processes in that it demonstrates creating an environment (situation) to guide the participants. Before the project I was taking photos of fathers and sons - staged "Father and Son outings". That led me to want to make it a little more real - to create a Father/Son Project. Could that project be an artwork? How could I get my number one audience, farmers (traditionally not gallery goers), involved? Getting my audience to be actively involved in the project would make a larger impression than any painting or even film. The resulting objects worked as form that follows function. I felt it worked on multiple levels. The intention [was] to view realistic relationships between fathers and their sons or daughters. Although perhaps more important to participants than to any others, viewers could feed from it. MH: Why was it important for you to facilitate this project in your hometown of Mukinbudin? RS: Probably the biggest importance to begin with was that it made logistical sense. It is where I work on my family farm so it meant less time away from work. Being involved in the project at the same time as the farm meant more versatility in applying the project. As Occasional Tables went through its first stages of finding willing participants, it was a huge advantage having people that I knew and their returning trust. They could've said no but I suppose they knew I wasn't there to trick them into portraying themselves in a bad light. Hence the people management was made much easier and I could try and focus on the artistic delivery. MH: Are there artists, writers or musicians who have inspired your own practice? RS: I love the freedom of Joseph Beuys and the subject matter that some of Matthew Barney's earlier work touched on - the psychological and the physical relationships of the body to achieve something. The video art of Bill Viola looks amazing with that spiritual insight. I try to read a little on philosophy - particularly with everyday happenings as art in regards to Occasional Tables. I think the book I got most out of is Linda Weintraub's How to Make Contemporary Art (sometimes called In the Making). It breaks down a concept and gives some examples of other artists. When I get stuck I always go back to that. It's very easy to read and simple to apply. MH: What do you hope visitors will take away with them after seeing your work in Come on the Scene? RS: I want the visitors to think of, or remember, their own paternal relationship situation/s. Regretfully, romantically, I don't mind. Just honestly. The tables and DVDs are only a small part of the work. More important is how they were made. Some are more complete than others, which points to a push for time for the makers. In the end it was discussion - a social interaction that hopefully people can relate to or access.

Georgia Cribb

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