The COFA Blog

COFA students working with Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro on, Life Span, 2009 at The Ludoteca, Castello 53rd International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.

When: Tue, 21 Jul, ‘09
Where: College of Fine Arts, cnr Oxford Street and Greens Road, lecture theatre: EGO2, 6:00 pm (please note new time)

The Venice Biennale is the world’s oldest and most prestigious biennial art exhibition. In the panel discussion, We Went to Venice, a professional artist, a curator and a current COFA student reflect on their experiences in Venice and the impact of this internationally acclaimed event on their careers.

Felicity Fenner
Felicity Fenner curated the Australian group show, Once Removed, at the 2009 Venice Biennale, which featured COFA alumni Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy. Fenner is a curator at COFA’s Ivan Dougherty Gallery. She also curates independently.

Bronwyn Bailey
Bronwyn Bailey Charteris is an editor, artist and also a current COFA Masters of Art Administration student. As part of her degree she went to Venice in 2009 to assist Felicity Fenner in installing the work and liaising with the artists.

Narelle Jublein
Narelle Jublein represented Australia in the 1990 Venice Biennale. She has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and is well known for her minutely worked petit points. Jubelin will be talking about the long term impact of representing Australia at Venice on her career.

When: Tuesday 21 July, 6:00pm
Where: COFA, Main Lecture Theatre (EG02)

FREE

For details on how to get to COFA and to navigate yourself around the campus, please visit: www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/about/location/

Shaun Gladwell, Apology to Roadkill (1 – 6), 2007–2009, production still, cinematography: Gotaro Uematsu, photography: Josh Raymond, courtesy the artist & Anna Schwartz Gallery

In terms of international art-world success, Australia has hit the big time.  This year in June, five Australian artists, a curator, five post graduate students and four undergraduate students will head to Venice to participate in the oldest and one of the most significant visual arts events in the world – the Venice Biennale.

For Australia, this is an important achievement.  But for COFA, to which each of these people can be connected, the achievement is even greater.  Never in the history of Australia’s involvement in major international art biennales has one educational institution been so represented.

The 53rd Venice Biennale is COFA’s time to shine. COFA graduate Shaun Gladwell is Australia’s formal representative at the Venice.  The national and international buzz around Gladwell and his riveting, street-smart art is considered by many to be unprecedented. Shaun Gladwell will return to Venice after receiving worldwide acclaim at the last Biennale exhibition. This year Shaun will present his work MADDESTMAXIMVS in the Australian Pavilion. Influenced by the Australian desert landscape and Mad Max movies, Shaun’s work is a suite of videos accompanied by sound, photographic and sculptural works.

Selected by the Australia Council to curate the associated Venice Biennale show, Once Removed at The Ludoteca, Felicity Fenner, is about to fast-gear the careers of four other Australian artists. They include the nationally celebrated artistic duo of Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, both graduates from COFA, Aboriginal-Chinese artist, Vernon Ah Kee, and Japanese-Australian artist, Ken Yonetani. Once Removed features three installations unified by themes of displacement and Indigenous and environmental issues. Claire and Sean’s installation is a five-metre tower of 195,774 video tapes commandeering a 16th century church.
Fenner, a lecturer and curator at COFA, is herself no stranger to acclaim after the curatorial success of her 2008 Adelaide Biennale.   Anyone who saw it would expect no less of Once Removed.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Australia’s participation in the 2009 Venice Biennale is the degree to which all parts of artistic endeavour, including the study and teaching of, will be represented.   Travelling to Venice to support the installation of the Australian artworks are two groups of specialist art students.  One group, on full scholarship supported by the Australia Council and COFA, will help install The Ludoteca show and Shaun Gladwell’s installation at the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini.   These COFA Master of Art Administration students include Marissa Bateman, Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, Marcel Cooper, Rebecca Goosen and Danielle Hairs.

The other group heading to Venice, including Jane Cleary, Elizabeth Thorpe, Jess Haley, and Lisa Rumble, is comprised of keen COFA undergraduate art education students. Tasked by the Australia Council to produce an educational toolkit on the Venice Biennale and Australia’s participation for use in all Australian schools, these soon-to-be art teachers are fulfilling an official role and will leave a lasting reminder of Australia’s growing artistic status in the world.

What: La Biennale di Venezia

Where: Venice, Italy:

- Once Removed, Artists: Vernon Ah Kee, Ken Yonetani, Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro

When: 7th June to November 27th 2009

Media Contact: COFA Marketing | 9385 0744 | marketing@cofa.unsw.edu.au
Click here to access the COFA Heads to Venice media release: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/newsevents/mediareleases/media_0028.html

Watch Mad Max, the desert and towering videotapes YouTube video here, A 3 minute video talking to Felicity Fenner, Claire Healy & Sean Codeiro and COFA Dean Ian Howard about the 2009 Venice Biennale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywC-SPJ5xrU.

Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Life Span (detail), 2009, VHS videos, silicone, 625 x 320 x 524 cm. Photo: Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro. Courtesy the artists and Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney.

Story by Fran Strachan