Not sure how active Yoko is with her NY/Sydney phone calls. To let you know I spoke to her on Saturday August 23rd 08. Weird experience but very exciting. It was definitely her! wish I had had something insightful to say….but we did talk about Tokyo….
Diane

p.s. by the way, Cockatoo Island is FANTASTIC..and as my 5 year old says “do we have to see william Kentridge AGAIN…!”

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A Biennale is the only big, public space left where we can play around with the idea of revolution. I have loved BoS 2008 and been provoked by little revolutions across all the venues, in the curatorial approach, the art and occasionally in problems they create.

Australian artist Mike Parr’s MIRROR/ARSE presents 17 of his works in the broken building that was formerly the sailors quarters and ‘academy’, on Cockatoo Island. Like a revolutionary pamphlet, he yells at us to see the world and be angry. More

Firstly, massive congratulations on Biennale 2008. What a sumptuous & provocative feast you have provided & like that advertisement on TV where the uninitiated is firmly slapped on both cheeks into awareness. Can I ever look at my world through bored eyes again.

Highlights for me were Cockatoo Island & its ambience & potential to foster rebellion. Also enjoyed the interactive opportunity with Ross Gibson at the Gallery of NSW.

However… the major application of the art selected seems to be in paradoxing the viewer. Now while, as reported, that has an awakening effect on the viewer, I’m unaware, OR didn’t find any art that sought to empower the viewer/participant into revolutionary action on their own behalf. In theatre there’s a main stream convention of performers entertaining/informing an appreciative audience… much more personally beneficial is interactive theatre where the edge between audience & performer, is transactional. More

The Valley Obscured by Clouds: A World Without Metaphor

By Pierre Huyghe, Sydney Opera House

Where had the Concert Hall disappeared to? It was engulfed by luscious foliage, misty valleys and shadows. There were no seats and no performers to be seen, except for the occasional glimpse of the balladeer whose song coaxed the explorer to traverse the forest pathways. It was simply magic…an experience to be savoured and remembered as a walk through time and space to where the lights of the fair folk play.

Cockatoo Island
What a fantastic venue for an exhibition of contemporary art! As you walk around the varied installations, the historic buildings and remnants appear to take on a life of their own and the island itself turns into an artwork. For me, William Kentridge’s installations were the highlight of the exhibition. All over the brick walls there are disjointed figures in silhouette who caper to syncopated rhythms, while in the adjacent room a cylindrical mirror reveals the darker exploits of contemporary society. More

At risk of sounding like an absolute philistine, conceptual art, like I’m sure it is for most average folks, has never ‘done it for me.’ But I’m trying. Today’s excursion to the Museum of Contemporary Art was certainly a new kind of personal aesthetic experience. I quickly jumped on a tour with a helpful volunteer, who provided that necessary background information for interpretation. While the tour was kind of rushed, it enabled one later to wander through that old bureaucratic labyrinth with compass and map, soaking up at one’s own pace the various artistic oddities. More