Daniel Crooks new solo exhibition

Daniel Crooks #14 (Chris) Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

Daniel Crooks’ inaugural exhibition at Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney opens 22 August, featuring dramatic, photographic portraits, up to 4m x 4m in size. For almost a decade Crooks has been at the forefront of cutting-edge Australian video art. 

Following successful presentations in the MCA's Marking Time exhibition and in Parallel Collisions at the Adelaide Biennial, this exhibition will feature photographic and video works that manipulate the very notions of the portrait, the landscape and of space and time. Crooks’ engaging and mesmeric street scenes reflect the complexity of urban life; the laneways breathe - contracting and expanding; creating a seemingly impossibly world of perpendicular streets.

13th International Venice Biennale of Architecture

Eight Sydney architecture students have been awarded the annual Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship that will support their travel to the 13th Venice International Architecture Biennale, running from 29 August until 25 November 2012. The architecture students awarded the 2012 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship are: Harry Catterns; HY William Chan; Jonathan Combley; Michael Ford; Tracey Hau; Linda Matthews; Jennifer Mc Master; and Joanne Taylor.

The students each receive a scholarship valued at $5,000 to support their course of study, research, or other activity that must involve travel either within Australia or overseas. This year, all scholarship recipients will travel to Venice for a period of one to two weeks during the Architecture Biennale, which is recognized as one of the world’s most important events on the global contemporary architecture calendar.

Kaldor Public Art Projects bring Allora & Calzadilla to Melbourne

MoMA performance of Allora & Calzadilla's work

Kaldor Public Art Projects will present a performative work by internationally renowned artist duo Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla as their 26th public art project. 

Project 26 will be presented at the State Library of Victoria from 16 November until 6 December 2012, offering Melbourne residents and visitors the chance to view this major work that was described by the New York Times as 'a 'fully-fledged, crowd-pleasing masterpiece'. 

The artist duo will present their acclaimed work Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on 'Ode to Joy' for a Prepared Piano, a performance in which they integrate sound, performance and sculpture. This work was previously presented at MoMA in 2011. The artists are currently exhibiting work at Documenta 2012 and represented the USA at the recent Venice Biennale in 2011.

Biennale of Sydney set for big reveal

It is the evening before the media preview, the first official reveal of the four major venues of the 18th Biennale of Sydney. The event will include a guided tour of the MCA, Art Gallery of NSW, Pier 2/3 at Walsh Bay and Cockatoo Island (pictured) and will reveal the work of more than 100 hundred artists exhibiting in what is one of Australia's most exciting contemporary art events. 

18th Biennale of Sydney install underway

A detail of Jonathan Jones' artwork for the 18th Biennale of Sydney

Installation is underway for the 18^th Biennale of Sydney, with materials for site specific artworks arriving from all over the globe. By the end of the install period the Biennale will have received:  six tonnes of Sydney rock oysters; 1000 teacups from China; two tonnes of red sand; a six-foot-long steel shipping container; 800 coloured cotton spools; 25 metres of polystyrene foam; 1500 rubber sandals; 1700 bamboo wind chimes; five kilometres of coloured ribbon; 20 eskies; and three super soaker water pistols.

Running from 27 June until 16 September Artistic Directors Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster have brought together more than 220 works by over 100 artists hailing from Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. 

Experimenta unveils 5th International Biennial of Media Art

Experimenta Director Jen Muzuik this week unveiled program highlights for the 5^th International Biennial of Media Art. Running from September 14 to November 17 2012 under the theme of 'Speak to Me' the Biennial will be hosted at RMIT Gallery with exhibitions, projects and events in partnership with ACMI, Fed Square, the Wheeler Centre for Books and Ideas, NGV, Westspace, RMIT Project Space, City Village, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins and in Public Spaces around the City of Melbourne.