It was great to have a working week in Sydney to catch up on some admin and see what the city has an offer at the moment for the punters keen to see some arts. On the agenda were the leftovers from the MCA young artist show (primavera) and a trip to artspace to see a piece of performance art that sounded a little weird.By the dates I had actually missed primavera, however, the MCA staged it outdoors this year as they don't actually have a gallery at the moment and I correctly gambled that they wouldn't have taken down the Eric Bridgeman posters by Monday lunchtime. There are 2 posters printed diptych fashion side by side (image above). Commenting on racism in rugby league one features Eric as an aboriginal player and the other as a white coach. It is meant to be influenced by the Andrew Johns / Timana Tahu incident of a few years ago and the text "Joey I'm not angry anymore" certainly had me humming that 1990 hit by Concrete Blonde for the next day. If it wasn't the middle of the day I would have tried to souvenir one!
"Expulsion" at Artspace was a test of endurance. Both for Fiona McGregor and the viewer. For 24 hours she would sit around, drink water and urinate into a fountain. Well for the punters who may visit I would estimate it is 97% sitting around, 2.8% drinking water and about 0.2% for the activity that gives the work its title. I think it is meant to shock but if you have (a) small kids, (b) been to the zoo recently, or (c) ever been associated with a rugby club then you should find the thought of it pretty tame. The venue had a sign outside warning against nudity but they perhaps should've warned against boredom instead. I hung around a little while and didn't see any 'art' being made ...
Points: Bridgeman will get the quinella here, 3 for the Timana Tahu (on the left) and 2 for the Johns (on the right). That leaves 1 point to be awarded and I will give this to anyone who can spend more than 20 minutes waiting for Fiona to make art!
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