Love Eyes at ANCA
So many descriptions come past this desk of art inspired by the natural environment, so we can't help but be fascinated by the prospect of an exhibition inspired by other people's relationship with nature! Emerging artist Eliya Nikki Cohen grew up spending holidays camping in the bush, and is fascinated by the concept of nature and how others experience it. Her video and photography work "questions our relationship to the natural world, considering that we are not separate from nature – we are nature. This allows viewers to experience the processes by which we understand the concept of 'nature' and rethink our presence within it". Love Eyes, which opens at ANCA next week, is an "immersive video installation of the same name, which presents people in natural environments which are at once dreamlike and hyperreal". Love Eyes, by Eliya Nikki Cohen, opens at ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson, on February 3 and runs until February 21.
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Ceramic landscapes in Watson
And here's another take on natural surrounds: American sculptor Corinne Beardsley is fascinated by the "permanence and yet continuous change of landscapes and ceramics. When looking out at land and geology she finds herself overwhelmed by how long it has existed and how it has changed from its original state. She relates this to the transformative processes clay goes through from plastic to bone dry to its fired state". As part of her recent residency at Canberra Potters' Society, she created a body of work now on show at Watson Art Centre. Works by Corinne Beardsley are showing a Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson, until February 7.
Wisdom of hindsight
Dierdre Pearce's attention, on the other hand, is drawn in the opposite direction, to objects made using synthetic chemistry, and explores this theme in her new show at CCAS in Manuka. "[She] was struck by the way that working with forms that the artist can neither touch nor see becomes a performative and imaginative experience," says the gallery. "Pearce makes an object by performing a series of pre-defined actions and instead of direct observation, builds the object in her mind by interpreting the traces it leaves in space under pre-defined conditions. The work in the exhibition results from these reflections and is an interactive, immersive installation including drawings, objects and prints." Hindsight, by Dierdre Pearce, is showing at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 19 Furneaux Street, Manuka, until January 31.
Teenage dreams at NFSA
If you grew up in the '60s, that is. The National Film and Sound Archive is hosting a free '60s-themed night on Friday: "Teenage Dream 1966 will offer something for everyone: from a swing dance demonstration by The Jumptown Katz, a '60s karaoke and costume competition, and a classic car display, to screenings of the forgotten Aussie film gem Funny Things Happen Down Under (featuring Olivia Newton-John) and a restored episode of The Go!! Show including vintage TV commercials and special guests. The Go!! Show, known at the time as 'Australia's Swingin'est Teenage Show', was Melbourne's first teenage music program for the Beatles generation. The NFSA is screening episode 117 (originally broadcast on 28 November 1966), including local Canberra commercials from that era. It will be followed by a Q&A with stars of the show: Norman (Normie) Rowe and Patricia Amphlett (Little Pattie), and producer Dennis Smith." The event on Friday, February 5 at the National Film and Sound Archive, is free but bookings for The Go!! Show are essential. Visit nfsa.gov.au for more information.
Dream Machine at Belconnen
There's a cool new installation about to pop up at Belconnen Arts Centre, that consists mainly of a dreamy kind of bus – life-size, cardboard, with headlights on and radio blaring: "The Dream Machine bus, stuck somewhere between analogue, digital and future unimaginable technologies, a vehicle constructed by many hands, transports us between past, present and future realities," runs the guff. "Resonating from the car radio, Indigenous aunties and uncles' stories of the past collide with the beats and lyrics of young emerging rap artists. The headlights of the bus project films of video portraits and stop motions." The multi-media installation, by local artist byrd, is a "monument to people's journey through colonisation, globalisation, new migration and cultural renewal". Dream Machine, by byrd, will be showing at Belconnen Arts Centre, 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen, from February 5-28.
Dog Trumpet at White Eagle
I love a random show in a random venue. For all you Mental As Anything fans out there – and there are surely many – former members Reg Mombassa (otherwise famous for the iconic Mambo graphics) and Peter O'Doherty are playing with their other band, Dog Trumpet, at the Polish White Eagle Club on Friday night. Dog Trumpet are on Friday, February 5, at the Polish White Eagle Club, 38 David Street, Turner, from 8.00pm.
