The COFA Blog

When: Tue, 1 Dec, ‘09 - Thu, 31 Dec, ‘09
Where: Locksmith Projects

When: Thu, 19 Nov, ‘09 - Sun, 6 Dec, ‘09
Where: Gallery Adagio, Glebe NSW

When: Fri, 27 Nov, ‘09 - Sun, 3 Jan, ‘10
Where: Campbelltown City Arts Centre

Britney Love, 2000, digital video still, 11 minutes

When: Fri, 20 Nov, ‘09 - Sun, 20 Dec, ‘09
Where: Artspace gallery, Woolloomooloo

Brad Miller, augument_me, 2008

COFA staff Brad Miller first began augment_me during a research residency at Artspace in 2004. As part of that research, he interviewed a number of young people about identity and materialism, leading to further research on the self in relation to additions or supplements. What Brad discovered is that it seems that the self must be augmented and the reason is that it is seen as inadequate as is for the tasks at hand.
augment_me is comprised of a database of images, sound and videos, accumulated over the past 8 years. Forming sequences in response to audience movement and position, these data ‘moments’ are animated by the augment_me software according to a set of rules applied to a live video camera feed, and then sequentially embedded into a strip of images presented horizontally. These ‘moments’ track relationships with people, places and moments of the everyday, intrinsically measuring change or transformation to produce a kind of memory machine — an attempt at resisting external ideas of what might be augmented.

What: augment_me
When: Opening: Thursday 19 November 2009. Runs from: 20 November to 20 December 2009.
Where: Artspace gallery, Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo

When: Sat, 14 Nov, ‘09 - Wed, 3 Mar, ‘10
Where: COFA, UNSW

Nick Waterlow in the Studio of Martin Sharp. Photo: Anthony Browell

It is with immense shock and distress that we heard news this morning of the death of Nick Waterlow,  Director of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery at COFA and a much loved and respected member of staff.

The death of Nick and his daughter are being investigated by police so we are unable to comment  on the circumstances of this tragic event.

Nick was  a leading member of Australia’s arts community, having curated three Sydney Biennales. He has been Director of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery since 1991 and was a senior lecturer in COFA’s School of Art History and Art Education. His current projects included a book exploring the place of Australian art internationally and he was of course closely involved in the planning for COFA’s new art museum.

Nick will be greatly missed by generations of students to whom he was a powerful  mentor, by his colleagues at COFA and many friends and supporters in the arts community.  We extend our deepest sympathy to his partner and other members of his family.

COFA graduate and video blogger Greer Cornish is on a mission to travel the world visiting 206 Countries in 365 days. Expedit 206 is a Coca Cola sponsored competition and adventure where a team of three people will travel the world in one year visiting 206 Countries acting as a happiness ambassadors on a mission to find out what makes people happy. Throughout the year-long journey, the travellers will be sharing their blog posts, tweets, videos, interviews and pictures so you can follow their adventures in some amazing events including the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the World Expo in Shanghai.

Three teams are in the running to go on the mission, taking them from Aruba to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between, and who will go is left up you. Voting closes on the 6 November, with the winning team announced on the 16 November 2009.

To vote visit: http://www.expedition206.com/Default.aspx

Go Team WOW!!!

Michaela Gleave, Snowdrift (test), 2009, Shovel & Snow, Photograph by Michaela Gleave

COFA graduate and artists Michaela Gleave will be making a snow storn on the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Head down to the Museum of Contemporary Art between 12:30pm to 6pm on Saturday the 14 November to see a Winter wonderland be conjured up a hot sunny Summer day*.

What: Snowfield
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art front lawn
When: 12:30pm to 6pm on Saturday the 14 November

*Weather permitting

The 2009 B.E.S.T. Contemporary Art Prize For Painting will be announced on Thursday 5 November, 2009 at MOP projects. COFA graduate and artist Tom Polo has been included as a finalist, along with other COFA graduates Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, and Tom Polo.
First prize is $10 000, generously donated by the TFP foundation of Australia. Judges are Glenn Barkley, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Vasily Kaliman and Joan Ross.

What: The 2009 B.E.S.T. Contemporary Art Prize For Painting, featuring Tom Polo
When: Announcement on Thursday 5 November 2009, exhibition runs until Sunday 22 November 2009. Artist talk Sunday 22 November 3:30pm.
Where: MOP projects, 2/ 39 Abercrombie St Chippendale NSW

Palmer Projects, a venue founded by a recent COFA graduate, will be hosting a group show opening Thursday 5 November, which will include COFA student Jedda Daisy.
Jedda Daisy also has a solo exhibition on at Chalk Horse Gallery, which closes on Saturday 14 November. Check them both out.

Where: Palmer Projects, 2/238 Palmer Street Surry Hills NSW
When: Opening night Thursday 5 November 6pm, to 8pm

For more information on Jedda Daisy’s exhibition at Chalk Horse, please visit: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/newsevents/events/event_0335.html