Previously, I showed some pix from the Biennale Art Show at Cockatoo Island, but the Biennale is presented at several other venues. One of them is the Carriageworks, formerly a factory for railroad cars, now an art and performance space. Like the huge shipyard factories at Cockatoo Island, Carriageworks (diff. link) provides a large space for art in an industrial context. The Biennale at Carriageworks took up only part of the available space, so this first set of pix is of the outside, entrance, and cafe there…

Allow me to include a review from the Sydney Herald to give some perspective on the show. Having been to two of the venues and having seen a lot of the art, I concur with the reviewers point about it being “obscure.” Many pieces seemed not to have cogent idea, or the melange of ideas lacked continuity. One, about the abundance of “disused” buildings in Taiwan as proof of corruption was targeted, another about Christmas Island had a focus, but both were also scattered in their presentation. None seemed to be about artistic technique or the creation of beauty, but that’d be OK if there was a salient message. Here are some pix of the art pieces for the Biennale at Carriageworks (“The Embassy of Disappearance” – each venue was a different “Embassy”). Among others, I liked the large wooden circle with the plants that were watered by soaking the plywood…

This set has more works in which I found something to appreciate. The giant sand sculpture/painting did have some grace to it. The broken pillars of reinforced concrete used as planters was nice and represented a favorite art message of mine: nature having her way with the works of man. The old Japanese postcards with tile shards was kind of nice. Gotta love floating pieces of paper. And the majesty of the space (heavy nod to the industrial architects of bygone days) added some gravitas to many of the pieces.

Happy Birthday to Greg Lekosis who has now joined the 50’s club. Here we (Greg & Jenny, Randy & Karen, Scott & Helen, ML & me, & Marcus [Bronwyn was ill]) are at one of the celebrations (with some fancy bubbly). Also in Greg’s honor, a pic in Newtown of two building facades of two different architectural styles…

Study Question:

1. Click on the many links about the Biennale and Carriageworks, and comment on art. What makes for great art, who decides, and how has that changed over time? Write a criteria for a judging an art contest. What should it include, and why?
2. You can make it if you’d like, but at least write a description of a large scale art piece. Or. write a description of a large scale art exhibition. How would you make/do it?