Past - Art in the Library

Banned Books

Baillieu 50th

Jan Palethorpe, Imago

Jan Palethorpe, Imago

Jan Palethorpe, Imago

Amy Rayner
Carry Your Heart

Amy Rayner
George George Weatherby Weatherby

Amy Rayner
Ying Yang

Photography by Sarah Dickson Hoyle

Photography by Tim White

Photography by Yuen Yi Ying

Photography by Zoe Lofts

Cover to Cover

Patrick Faulkner
Akira

Patrick Faulkner
The Pinnacles

Ana Susanj
On the Rocks

Image by Anna Cameron

Elizabeth Jess
Living Desert

Felix Tuszynski
The Swan and Leda

Trefor Prest
Volcano

Pia Wilkinson
Moving

Image by Thea Rechner

Gary Willis
Voss Door

Vincent Story
Canopy Brooch

Ben Mayes
Guitar

Past Exhibitions

2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

2010

The Power of Language: die Macht der Sprache

Baillieu Library (central stairwell, Percy Baxter Learning Centre and the 1st floor Atrium) 1 –30 November

This exhibition of photographs was part of the Berlin Dayz festival that was organised by the Goethe-Institut Australien; it included a program of cultural events held in various cities in Australia.

The University of Melbourne’s German studies department also hosted a literary/cultural symposium to coincide with this exhibition.

The photographs that formed this travelling exhibition were selected from the best of the more than 3000 photographs submitted in an international competition held in June - November 2006. Photographers were called upon to capture “the power of language” in one image. The resulting images encapsulated individual perspective on themes such as community feeling, passion and hope.

Some of the photographs can be viewed by visiting the Goethe Institute site:
http://www.goethe.de/lhr/prj/mac/pre/de2 281865.htm
http://www.goethe.de/lhr/prj/mac/fot/g ew/deindex.htm

ABR Radio National also featured Berlin Waves - a complementary programme of talks, forums, documentaries and drama.

Banned Books in Australia

Baillieu Library 7 June to late August 2010

Melbourne has a long history of banning books (both Australian and imported; past and modern) that reflects the transience of social norms and community values.

The exhibition highlighted the complexity of the state’s role in policing the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable publications and how Australian publishers have deliberately challenged the authorities. The exhibition incorporated books from the University of Melbourne collections and private collections as well as artists' representations of this theme.

This exhibition coincided with the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand’s Annual Conference for 2010 titled ‘To Deprave and Corrupt: Forbidden, Hidden and Censored Texts’ held at the State Library of Victoria.

Read the Art in the Library blog and send us your feedback and comments on the exhibition.

Delicate Territory: An exhibition of artist books by Kate Hughes

Baillieu Library (ground floor) 16 April to end of May 2010

"As an Australian woman working in the landscape tradition I feel little connection to the dominant masculine narratives of a nationalistic Australian landscape. The work seeks to forge a connection with an alternate history, that of the colonial lady amateur.

"Through examining the meeting of suburbia, industry and the bush my work recalls how colonisation was and is enacted with a specific view to how women's labour humanised and controlled a foreboding landscape.

"The format and small scale of the works replicates the intimacy of amateur art work, work that is made for loved ones to be passed from hand to hand and admired at close quarters. The textural embroidered covers recall sensations of touch, allowing the viewer to project their own sensual memory onto them. Contained inside is the personal subjective view of landscape, examining how intimacy with the land and an ideal of home are manufactured through the imposition of aesthetic choices and order. The embroidered maps continue this exploration, examining how women’s labour acted to codify the landscape into manageable quantities allowing the land to become personal."

Kate Hughes, February 2010.

Kate Hughes graduated from the VCA in 2006. She is currently enrolled as a Masters Student in Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne.

2009

Exposed

Baillieu Library, 25 November - 13 December

Exposed by Creative Arts students undertaking the third year photography subject Light Moves. The subjects chosen for our images may be subtle, reflective and intriguing, they may be confronting, thought provoking and controversial but they are, in whatever form or through whatever reaction they provoke, essentially an expose of our artistic expression.

It will be an opportunity to reflect on the end of an era and celebrate what has been a fantastic subject, now in its final year of teaching.

Mudfest 11

10-29 August Baillieu Library, Microforms Lower Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor and Third Floor

Forgotten Flowers - Jenny Zhe Chang

Forgotten flowers are created to explore images of microform. The black and white collaged images on semi-transparent paper are intended to reflect the characteristics of microform materials. The flower's spinning-out shape is to represent the vast knowledge one can exploit from a tiny microform. The mandala pattern of the art work is a reminder of our relation to the infinite world.

A Novelty Children of Letterboxers

Children of Letterboxers presents a unique interactive literature experience that meshes text and treasure hunt. A Novelty embodies a new kind of writing in which small chapters and written fragments are hidden in urban environments for participants to collect and collate. Find clues, maps and more information at our website.

Spider Spaces - Jessica Obersby

What draws us to hidden spaces? The mystery? The longing to know the unknowable? Know what is being kept from us, invisible to us? If we draw back the webs hiding these obscure places, the territory of small and secretive animals, if we look into them, what will we find?

Random Reading - Amy-Joy and Phoebe

The library is an intimate place for subtle discovery. We look at the ideas of expectation and revelation. Random reading is conducted when you pick a book off the shelf by chance, maybe you liked the title? Maybe you knew the author? Either way, this installation allows you to explore this phenomena and find hidden treasure. Just look for the ribbons hidden amongst the bookshelves???

Fotoholics

http://www.fotoholics.org/

The Book as Art Object: An Exhibition of Artists Books by Students of Creative Arts

Baillieu Library, 17 June-31 July

This exhibition showcases the work of students who have completed the Book as Art Object subject. It provides an exploration of visual narrative through a close study of theory and practice in visual media as it relates to the artist book.

A Storehouse of Wisdom: Celebrating 50 years of the Baillieu Library

Baillieu Library, 20 March to 17 May 2009

Art in the Library contributed to this major exhibition, a celebration of the Baillieu Library's history, its collections and treasures as well as its impact on and inspiration for its community of students and staff, past and present. The exhibition brought together photographs (past and present), realia, newspaper articles, prints, paintings, books and film drawn from various University of Melbourne collections such as Archives, East Asian, Rare Books, Special Collections and works from private collections.

Highlights of the exhibition were be the screening of the original footage from the official opening of the Baillieu Library in March 1959 and the recreation of the foyer display cabinet as it was originally intended.

The exhibition marked the beginning of a series of events throughout 2009 designed to celebrate the Baillieu Library?s 50th anniversary.

Curators: Jacquie Barnett, Morfia Grondas, Andrea Hurt, Stephanie Jaehrling, Pam Pryde, Kerrianne Stone.

2008

Into the Light

17 November-12 December, Percy Baxter Centre and Stairwell, Baillieu Library

A photographic exhibition by third year Creative Arts students.

Journeys

27 October-28 November, Baillieu Library First Floor Study Area

Fotoholics, the Melbourne University Photography Club, is a Union-affiliated club with over 200 members. As part of this semester?s activities a photography competition was held for their members. They received over 400 entries. The photos that were shortlisted are currently being displayed on the First Floor of the Baillieu, in the quiet study area. The theme was 'Journeys'.

'Journeys' is a theme with an open-ended interpretation. It can symbolise the past academic year that will be concluding at the time of the competition; how the world and individuals have changed on a macro or micro scale; objects partaking in journeys; or physical, metaphorical, or emotional journeys individuals have taken. The work is beautiful and inspiring. A thought-provoking distraction as exams draw closer.

Imago: The Collection

8 October-7 November

An exhibition of prints and drawings by Jan Palethorpe, Masters student.

Jan Palethorpe CV

Artist Statement

Imago the Collection

I have dedicated this exhibition to Ronnie Reinhard who so sadly in May metamorphosed into the great world of art, film and music in the sky. I first met Ronnie in the art room at McKinnon High School in 1969 when he was thrown out of Melbourne High for having his hair too long. Ronnie was a huge cultural influence in my life from rock ?n roll to Herzog.

He took me to Melbourne University on a date in 1972 ? the first time I had ever been on campus. The student Union had a great record listening room and we listened to Pink Floyd?s Umma Gumma with headphones on.

Our friendship and Ronnie?s spirit lives on.

The work in this exhibition focuses on a small section of Victorian and NSW endangered, threatened or vulnerable invertebrates. Unfortunately, due to the mass destruction of habitats there are now too many creatures without backbone on the endangered list for me to represent.

?Endangered likely to become extinct? is a label which fills me with deep remorse.

I have utilized various sources for this work - and owe thanks to the kind generosity of the following people:

Patrick Hoban, entomologist from the Melbourne Zoo is working with a team to breed and re-invigorate the population of the Lord Howe Island Phasmid. This is a fantastic story which I encourage all to read about and support his valiant efforts to change the refugee status of this fascinating insect. Thank you to Rebecca, Sarah and Howard at the Zoo for lending me the phasmids and egg to draw and include in the exhibition.

I visited the wonderful insect collection and garden of Tony Morton in Vaughan and have him to thank for lending me the Eltham Copper butterfly displayed on the ground floor. This endangered butterfly has been sighted at the Castlemaine botanical gardens for several years now and is also living the Morton sanctuary at Vaughan.

Horticulturalist Frances Cincotta specializes in growing native plants at her nursery in Newstead. I have included a spectacular photograph she took of a leaf insect she found in her garden, which I drew from and hangs with the phasmid eggs in the stairwell foyer.

I have utilized and drawn from life where possible, from photographs and also referenced historical entomological watercolours and drawings. In particular, the works of the superb entomological illustrator Frank Nanninga and the delicate watercolours of Arthur Bartholomew of which Museum Victoria have a large collection.

Thankyou to Delwyn Freestone and Andrew at Chrysalis for printing the problematic extra long stick insect etching, which was too long for my press. Thanks also to Ros Atkins at the Australian Print workshop for making lovely big acid baths, to Martin King for his Chine Colle expertise and Marian Crawford for letting me print the insect at Monash on a Sunday!

Thankyou to Bruce Armstrong for all the gaffa and the invitation design, Duncan Graham for supplying the best music to make art to, Mum for her vegetable soup and to Morfia and Andrea and Art in the Library.

Comments from Visitors to the Exhibition

These are some of the comments visitors to the library made this evening as I was hanging the large drawings in the stairwell of the library. I asked students to guess what the images represented ???

'I?m thinking some kind of vegetable'
'Molluscs?'
'My girlfriend and I thought phallus straight away'
'They look botanical illustrations'
'Like vaginas I think'
'Are they funky?'
'Are they funghi!'
'Are they something from the sea?'
'Are they some kind of seeds?'
'It?s like the interior of a plant'
'These could be blood vessels'
'Abstractions from flowers'
'Funghi'
'There?s a kind of reproductive thing going on'
'I think they?re based on desire???.desire of taste, desire of colour, desire of touch???.'

You?re all wrong!

They are large drawings of stick insect eggs.

Under the Cover

Ground floor, Baillieu Library, 17 June-6 August

An exhibition by students from the Creative Arts program 'Book as Art' projects 2008.

Ecosystem D.I.Y. 2008

Ground floor, Baillieu Library, June

Serene Lau

Part of the campus-wide exhibition of installations by students from the Creative Arts Program - School of Culture and Communication.

Carry Your Heart ? An Exhibition of Photographic Works by Amy Rayner

Baillieu Library, 12 May- mid June

An exhibition encompassing two series of photographs - 'Carry Your Heart' and 'I Imagine Myself' - both of which interweave poetry and images to create a series of evocative pieces of art.

'Carry Your Heart' is inspired by and features a love poem by e. e. cummings. It includes eight analogue black and white photographs printed digitally. Wandering through Melbourne a young woman is unaware that love is literally declaring itself to her on the walls, in shop signs and newspaper stands. A phrase of each poem is revealed in each photograph; the images becoming a visual poem. She roams alone and listless through laneways, coffee shops, theatres and train stations until in the final image the loved and the lover unite under a bouquet of balloons.

The photographs evoke the aura of the 1920s-40s while playing on the tension of past and present. 'Carry Your Heart' asks can the type of love that once existed find a home in today?s world? The images are encapsulated by a mood of dark seduction as created by the soft focus and move from loneliness towards togetherness.

'I Imagine Myself' is a visual poem created to express joy in the idea of ageing. The series comprises six medium-format analogue black and white photographs printed digitally. Each photograph has a corresponding verse of a six-verse poem, written by the photographer. The black and white images evoke a feeling of age, which is accentuated by the medium format camera?s ability to capture every detail of the woman?s face. This echoes the notion that as we grow older we accumulate and carry with us the details of our life. Although the images are black and white, they express so vividly the ?warmth of the white light? of the final stanza.

'I Imagine Myself' explores the mysterious interplay between frailty and strength, poem and image, youth and old age, past and present. The repetition of the first line 'I Imagine Myself' gives the poem and photographs a sense that time has slowed down. The images are not a direct representation of the poem, but rather they speak to each other, developing through the themes of thread and texture a motif of life as a woven tapestry of memories, full of texture and delicate detail.

2007

Light Moves

Photographic Group Exhibition, 7 November-2 December 2007

The exhibition featured the work of 3rd Year photography students from the Creative Arts Program, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne.

It examined the way that photographers use and control light to create atmosphere. Showcasing the diversity of photographic practices and how dynamic zones/light can be manipulated to create pre-visualised effects.

These practices range from digital manipulation through to traditional darkroom prints and alternative photographic processes such as liquid light and Polaroid lift-off.

Mudfest10

20 August-9 September 2007

http://www.mudfest.org.au/

Unbooks / Sonja Hornung

Location: ground floor, Baillieu

Q: How do you render a book powerless?

A: Through....

a, reading it backwards
b, eating it
c, censorship; or
d, burial

To find out, visit the world's first collection of unbooks.

Silence / Michael Staniak & Rohan Schwartz

Location: foyer cabinet, Baillieu

Media images surround us. Everywhere we look we see disaster or utopia, ugliness or perfection, things that we desire most. Will this swamping of information dictate our lives or be muddled in confusion?

Photo Talk / Fotoholics, Melbourne University Photography Club presents

Location: PBCLC & 1st floor, Baillieu

You don't always need to be a professional to capture good photos. After all, it is about how you put things into perspectives through the camera lens. With displays of some top quality work from our members, are you ready to feast your eyes?

Choose your own Library Adventure / Imogen Hamel-Green & Michael Chew

Location: throughout Baillieu

You notice a man circling the tree, knife drawn. Do you:

a, Run away. Go to 823.8 BRONTE page 31
b, Run towards him, knife drawn. Go to 291 PAGA page 31
c, Hide behind a nearby tree. Go to 306.072 BERN page 31

Find out when you enter the library interactive adventure!

For more information, or to get involved please contact us at: libraryadventures@gmail.com

Access for All

10 July-30 July 2007

Art in the Library hosted a photographic exhibition by the Australian Disability and Development Consortium (ADDC) which was launched in February 2007 in Canberra at Parliament House. The exhibition coincided with a two-day seminar on campus called Access for All hosted by Australian International Health Institute (AIHI) in Bouverie Street, which aimed to link the disability and development sectors. The photos were designed to show people with disability in a positive light and not as victims. The works were located on the first floor of the Baillieu Library, throughout PBCLC and the student study area.

Cover to Cover

19 June-20 August 2007

The book as art object: an exhibition of artists books by students of Creative Arts 760-237.

Creative Arts Students ? Part of Campus-wide Exhibition of Installations

July-August 2007

A full list and campus location map of all the works in the exhibition are available. The following items were on exhibition in the Baillieu Library:

Zoe Collins

Individual in the crowd, or the crowd in the individual?

Media: copper wire, mdf, paint

Simon Morrison-Baldwin

Entendre

Media: Ink on Paper

Tea: The Global Infusion

Tuesday 20 March-Friday 15 June 2007

An exhibition in the Baillieu Library by Art in the Library and Special Collections, curated by Andrea Hurt, Morfia Grondas, Tracey Caulfield and Pam Pryde.

View a slide show of the exhibition.

Planned to coincide with the 2007 Melbourne Wine and Food Festival, Tea: The Global Infusion drew from the local and wider community. A range of Cultural Collections items was on display, along with art works created especially for the exhibition. A number of aspects of this everyday pleasure were explored, including the history of tea, its social importance, medicinal uses, tea growing, tea trade and tea merchants.

See Andrea Hurt, 'The Art of Tea: A Global Ritual' in The Voice, vol. 1, no. 1, 19 March-2 April 2007, p.6.