“What does it mean to be free?” – Slavoj Zizek
I have been pondering this question the past month, as I have been dashing off around town to catch various Art Month events and to see You imagine what you desire: The 19th Biennale of Sydney around work, study and day to day life.
The Collector 11: The Umbra by Tricky Walsh and Mish Meijers
I really loved seeing Tricky and Mish’s The Collector 11: The Umbra, a superfiction of an obsessive, somewhat perverted collector Henri Papin at MOP Projects in Chippendale. I was also lucky to see some of Linde Ivimey’s large sculptures on the Art Month: Art at Work tour.
Linde Ivimey
So far I have only made it to Carriageworks and The Art Gallery of New South Wales, but hey its only week one of the Biennale. I quite liked the Majority Rule by Michael Cook and We All Need Forgiveness by Bindi Cole at The Art Gallery of New South Wales. I loved walking through the dark rooms of Carriageworks, to find tiny rooms flickering with cinematic visions. I was particularly touched by the Hadley and Maxwell installation which greeted you at the entry:
Hadley and Maxwell
The Biennale is quite video heavy this year, and I must admit its not a medium I am fond of. I particularly dislike the documentary style video art, as it often feels like some form of coercion and exploitation is involved. I’ll admit its not universally so, a powerful example of documentary video art is Richard Mosse’s The Enclave currently on show at COFA Galleries. I caught it at Venice last year and I can still feel the terror, a timely reminder of the horrors of war.
So what does it mean to be free? For me its the Fourth Freedom – Freedom from Fear.
Through the looking glass 