Time & Space
The ex-colony has colonised the coloniser! Well, not exactly. But the long and sordid history of the UK and Australia has certainly created a fascinating symbiosis between the two cultures, and a strong cultural osmosis from both sides. On Tuesday, Bargehouse opened a 15-artist exhibition, Time & Space, to showcase a cross-section of Australian artists, each of whom has completed a residency in London and many who continue to practice in the UK. The exhibition spans most conceivable medias and mixes artists of different generations to very good effect.
Included in the exhibition are Paul Knight’s intimate, erotic large-scale photographs, a participative painting by Tom Polo and ceramic sculptures by Michelle Ussher, a site-specific tribute to Bargehouse’s former use as factory by Lyndall Phelps and works by Daniel Crooks, Nicole Ellis, Patrick Hartigan, Jacki Middleton, Vanilla Netto and others. The overall effect is compelling, and one gets a sense of a very definite cultural signature that is at once uniquely Australian but clearly informed by British and European sensibilities.
The exhibition is currently running in the Bargehouse space on the South Bank, and is open until this November 11.
Tag Christof
