CAF Minutes 02

CAF Minutes 2nd Meeting:

30 January 2014, 5pm, Cross Art Projects

Present:
Jacqueline Millner (chair)
Bronia Iwanczak
Jo Holder
Catriona Moore
Bianca Hester
Jane Polkinghorne
Elizabeth Day
Natalie Seiz
Jasmine Stephens
Bonita Ely
Kelly Doley
Di Smith

Apologies
Anna Gibbs
Bec Dean
Jan Guy
Robyn Backen
Cherine Fahd
Courtney Pedersen
Fiona MacDonald
Clare Milledge
Margaret Mayhew
Laura Castigliani
Elvis Richardson
Mary Scott
Caroline Philips

JM: opened discussion on date and program for 2 CAF events planned for 2014:

March event/symposium/workshop: Feminist Pedagogies: Teaching to Transgress

Date: Proposed date March, Saturday 29 March. Most members confirmed their availablilty, although Bonita Ely is not available.

Venue: SCA, could be anywhere on SCA campus inc outdoors

Budget: $2000 at this stage (SCA Research compact), but may be able to raise additional funds through SCA Research compact. Will need to billet interstate visitors if possible.

Committee considered latest proposals, and then revisited content discussed at last meeting.

Proposals discussed – Jane P and Marg M, and Elvis Richardson

JP described Karaoke Queens proposal (brief description attached below) that seeks to raise issues around feminist pedagogy through a performance workshop, preceded by a contextualising roundtable. The committee was in full support of the proposal. Members made mention of successful arts education/public program events that involved kinetic element/physical participation, eg, 13 Rooms education event (raised by Bronia), and LEVEL event at MCA that included picnic rug discussions (raised by Di).

The committee then revisited last meeting’s ideas for this event in light of new proposals. Several points were raised:

Jo: questioned the use of the word interdisciplinary and need for a panel devoted to this as earlier proposed

Jo: suggested insertion of cross cultural perspectives,

Bianca: suggested an aspect of feminist pedagogy that should be highlighted is its collaborative, rather than competitive, nature

Jo suggests getting all events recorded for podcasts, to reinforce CAF as national resource: JM noted this will be arranged through contracting SCA film student

Natalie suggests a PHYSICAL archive as well as CAF website…Cat suggests archive as a cross-institutional archive, maybe for later in the year, could form basis of an ARC grant.

The committee recommended the following content and structure for the event:

3 x 2 hour blocks/ sessions, each taking a different form/presentation style to reinforce feminist principles, eg performance workshop; outdoor picnic

1) BREAKING RESISTANCE: FEMINIST PEDAGOGIES IN ACTION: 2 HOUR WORKSHOP: KARAOKE QUEENS: MARGARET MAYHEW AND JANE POLKINGHORNE, WORKSHOP FACILIATORS; POSSIBLE PANELLISTS TBC: CM, JM, BEC DEAN, DEBORAH KELLY, CJ
2) TRAILBLAZING ACROSS DISCIPLINES: RECLAIMING FEMINISM’S PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATIONS: 2-3 SESSIONS: LIZ DAY TO EXPLORE FURTHER; POSSIBLE OTHER PARTICIPANTS TBC: ANNA GIBBS, JACKIE DUNN; ONE POSSIBLE SESSION IS A PRESENTATION FROM VCA CLUSTER MATTERS OF THE BODY: CAROLINE PHILIPS ET AL (IF AVAILABLE: SEE APPENDIX FOR MORE DETAIL)
3) THE PAST NOW: FEMINIST HISTORIES AND THE CONTEMPORARY CURRICULUM: 2-3 SESSIONS: CM AND DS TO EXPLORE FURTHER; ONE SESSION:  ELVIS RICHARDSON AND ACU GROUP (SEE APPENDIX FOR MORE DETAIL); 1-2 MORE SESSIONS

2. October event: Curating Feminism

Date: proposed: Fri-Sat 24/25 October

Budget approximately $10,000 but may be able to request more from private bequests or cultural agencies that support international travel for their scholars/artists: Jasmyn to follow up Asian agencies. Once content for conference is settled (this needs to happen in next fortnight), then committee will explore applying for further funding: JM to coordinate.

Venue: TBA: SCA is available and will incur no cost (we have no budget for venue hire), but committee undertook to look into alternatives to give event broader reach. Suggestions: Tin Sheds, Carriageworks, Artspace, COFA (if matches funds), NAS (if matches funds), MCA, AGNSW. The following undertook to chase up alternatives : Natalie –AGNSW; Jasmine – MCA; NAS – Jo.

Audience: around 100 people

The committee re-visited the ideas discussed at last meeting, and recommended some changes to take account of regional/Asian and Indigenous approaches to curating feminism. Depending on follow up from certain members — Jo, Jasmyn and Natalie — the committee suggested the following sessions:

A two day event, 2 x 2 hour sessions each day PLUS one keynote, potentially on an evening, coordinated with Sydney Ideas or another public program; AND a parallel experimental curatorial project at SCA galleries

1) Curating feminism: regional perspectives: Jasmyn, Jo and Natalie to follow up

2) Curating feminism: Indigenous perspectives (Potential participants: Karen Mills, Brenda Bancroft: JH to follow up)

3) ‘Tokenism’ – all women shows. Kelly to follow up proposals: will approach Julie Ewington, LEVEL, potentially Bec Dean and Chris Dean. Examples of exhibition case studies : Contemporary Australia: Women; No Added Sugar; LEVEL gallery; Janis

4) Case studies — proposals: Caroline Philips (CP) on the F word; George Paton Gallery case study (CP to follow up); Liz Day PFFP project; short presentations by curators of parallel exhibition program at SCA galleries JM to follow up/coordinate

Possible Keynotes: UTE META BAUER (JH to follow up), Maura Reilly on Curatorial Activism (JM to follow up), Helena Reckitt (JM to follow up)

Exhibitions to run concurrently with event at SCA galleries: proposals:

    1) Laura Castigliani –curatorial lab
    2) ‘Janis’: Kelly Doley
    3) Sarah Newall : performance
    4) Countess show: Elvis Richardson

The committee endorsed following up of all these exhibition proposals: they can all be potentially accommodated in the SCA gallery spaces

3. Proposed meeting dates: to meet very 2 months, at the end of the month. Thursday afternoons nominated as default, EXCEPT next meeting. Propose: 5 pm at Cross Arts Project:

Wed Feb Wednesday 26

Sat 29 March: event

Thursday May 29th

Thursday July 24,

Thursday Sep 25,

Fri-Sat OCTOBER 24-25: event.

Thursday Nov 27.

4. Bianca suggested CAF consider acting as a framework for the development of a network of female scholars/artists/curators to mentor each other and collaborate to negotiate the professional contexts of academic leadership, research, publishing and exhibition. Bianca noted her interest in exploring non-competitive and collaborative research processes. She raised the example of a similar network established by female architecture practitioners at UMELB, which eventually was granted ARC support to extend their research into female professional networks of support. The committee expressed keen interest to pursue this: Jasmyn for example commented that it would be very useful to know what structures and mechanisms are most effective in delivering female mentorship and support in these contexts. JM and BH to follow up

Jo suggests setting outcomes for events/conferences etc. Lists of models eg archives Reading Room Bangkok, Sackler centre. Yogyakarta art centre.

Jo suggested: MORE business cards! JM to follow up

5. WEBSITE:  revision planned: JP to confer w JM, JH and CM to facilitate upload of material. The committee considered what CAF wants….

    – critical writing and reviews
    – art work images
    – artist profiles
    – links to other groups
    – CAF EVENTS.
    – Actual physical calendar (with Elvis Richardson)
    – Jack, Jo, Jane, Cat to meet at Syd Uni Cat’s office Fri 7 Feb, 9am to learn how to update website and facebook page

Appendices

PROPOSALS FOR MARCH EVENT:

•Karaoke Queens present “the personal is performative” Proposal drafted by Jane Polkinghorne and Margaret Mayhew

In this session the Karaoke Queens invite participants to collaborate in an imaginative reworking of the feminist maxim “The personal is political” to  “The personal is performative”.

This workshop will not only explore the content of feminist cultural (and critical) practice, but embody the context of feminist praxis through: collective, de-hierarchical power structures, informal creative practices and the subjugated knowledges within quotidian relationships to popular culture.

Through karaoke we ask how can contemporary feminist creative practice be distinguished from the gambit of relational aesthetics?

In particular we will explore the potential of karaoke to perform the following:

    – embedded critique of identity and power /social relations
    – the collapse between audience and performer
    – communal action that is conducted in a social context, but driven by personal response, emotion and history
    – Karaoke performs the personal, humour, and parody but with emotional truth
    – Karaoke is here being used to investigate feminism in relation to performance and praxis, and a reclaiming
    – The pleasures that can be found in the everyday, in this case, how to experience popular music

Structure:

The session would run as a 2-hour (120 minute) workshop, divided into 3 sessions.

We require a flat room of capacity of 30-60, with lecture AV capacity (video, 2 microphones, youtube access) and movable chairs.

Alternatively a conventional karaoke kit could be hired and brought into a studio space.

Part A: 30 minute introductory panel.

This would consist of a brief introductory conversation of three speakers (Catriona Moore? Jane Polkinghorne? Jacqueline Millner? Diana Smith?) in a roundtable format with the audience.

Each would introduce provocations in relation to karaoke, feminism, performance, the diva, popular culture/music, drag, choirs, bad and good singing in order to provoke participants to consider these issues.

Part B: Break out session. 30 minutes.

The session would then break into 4-6 groups. Panellists will also join different groups.

Each group has 30min to choose a song (from YouTube or from a list provided) then to devise a way of performing the song; either as a solo karaoke performance, or a duet/group version, or as a mime/acapella or any performative variation that will fit within the time frame of the original track. They also need to discuss it in relation to the provocations given on part A. One or 2 members of the group need to take notes in order to present a 5 minute summary of their group’s discussion/critique of the song and their response to it.

Part C:  Performance/discussion: 60 minutes

Each group will have 10 minutes maximum, where they give a presentation/talk on their song (maximum 5 minutes) and perform the karaoke song.

Hopefully this will provide enough material for participants to reflect on process, practice and content of the song and collaborative performance for them to devise other projects/papers/performance/pieces from it.

Technology: We could hire a karaoke machine OR use YouTube karaoke versions of songs OR subscribe to an online karaoke provider, and of course MICROPHONES! Sound system!

• ELVIS RICHARDSON And I could talk about the feminist pedagogy implicit in the activities of the CoUNTess blog – if you wanted an activity to go with that i could also do a workshop where participants got to highlight for gender representation a selection of current art magazines or even the Sydney Biennale?

• CAROLINE PHILIPS’ PROPOSAL FOR SESSION IN PEDAGOGY PANEL: I’m a core member of the VCA ‘Matters of the Body’ Research cluster. Our members are mostly from VCA (Schools of Art, Production, Centre for Ideas, Film and Television, no one from music as yet). We also have members from Melbourne Uni Parkville Campus who come from Culture and Communications and adjunct members from across Australia and Internationally who are already part of our existing networks and ongoing projects.

Here’s a link to the cluster site, but there is not a lot on there at the moment as the cluster is new and will be officially launching soon:

http://vca.unimelb.edu.au/research/mob

So I thought that mention of the MOB cluster model could come up in any of the panels either as a case study or in other ways. It is primarily aiming to focus on Practice as Research and investigate that in all its many iterations across disciplines, and its implications within the dynamics of a traditional art school model now placed in the university context. So as a pedagogical model it is a relatively recent phenomenon, and especially so in feminist art practice. Another important aspect of the MOB cluster is that we are very interested in the intersections and complexities between definitions of feminist art  and gender/queer theory, which have been at odds at times and are often seen to be different things. So we want to explore this further in contemporary practices. Finally, the cluster is seeking to act as an interface between the institution and the ‘real world’ out there, creating projects that have public and/or social outcomes beyond the confines of academia.

PROPOSALS FOR OCTOBER EVENT

•Caroline Philips: 2 PANEL SESSIONS:  ON F WORD, AND GEORGE PATON GALLERY:

Regarding the October symposium ‘Curating feminism’ I’d be most interested in participating in that too, within my role as curator of ‘The F Word’ project, which involves multiple events including exhibitions, bus tour, publication, forums. I am exploring alternative curatorial models, driven by the responses from artists themselves and their motivations and interests. It also involves collaborative events, a regional focus and social equity issues. So it could be useful for the first panel on expanded frameworks, or in other sessions/events.

An idea/case study for the third curating panel – we could discuss the George Paton Gallery and its history/archive (currently being digitised – very slowly!), which was extremely important in Melbourne for the development of feminist art in the 70’s and early 80’s, including exhibitions, archives, formations of groups such as WAM (Women’s Art Movement), WAR (Women’s Art Register – still in existence) , close associations with LIP, strong history of experimental performance work, visits by Lucy Lippard and  later Laura Mulvey etc. And how this legacy is now being restored and made available to new audiences, and the living legacy of the artists from that era still active today and what are they making today?