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Opening - Avatar, Justine Cooper's Havidol and Richard Simpkin's Richard & Famous

09/09/2008 - Images © Zarica Purlija

The Superhuman series opened at the ACP on Thursday 4 September, the exhibitions Avatar, Havidol and Richard & Famous all address the possibilities as well as the pitfalls of being a mere human living in the modern world. These days, we all feel the pressure to be more confident, more self aware and more success focussed. But are the celebrities we aspire to be like actually real? If we could be whoever we wanted to be, who would we be? And ultimately; is just being yourself enough anymore?

Image Credits (left to right):

Guests enjoy Richard Simpkin's journey from fresh faced teen to middle age as documented by over three hundred celebrity snapshots
Myfanwy Ashmore's Swing, part of Avatar
DJ Dog cranking out the tunes on opening night

Opening - Minutes to Midnight (Delhi, India)

25/08/2008 - Images © DRIK India

The ACP touring exhibition of Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight opened in Delhi last month to an enthusiastic response. Launched by the Australian High Commissioner to India, John McCarthy, the exhibition opened at the High Commission and then transferred to the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS). Photography is still not widely recognized as an art form in India, but reports indicate that Trent Parke's images were "showered with praises for their sheer brilliance" by the many visitors to the exhibition.

Minutes to Midnight is touring in South Asia through the DRIK photo agency, Dhaka and the Chobi Mela photo festival. The presentation at the AIFACS, Delhi ran from 12 to 27 July, 2008. It was arranged by DRIK India and made possible through the continuing support of the Australian High Commission.

Minutes to Midnight premiered at ACP in January 2005, since when ACP has been touring the exhibition in Australasia, with a second edition of the exhibition touring South Asia. Trent Parke is a member of the Magnum photo agency.

Image Credits (left to right):

Guests view Minutes to Midnight at the Australian High Commission, Delhi
Inauguration at the Australian High Commission, Delhi
Preparing to open Minute to Midnight at AIFACS, Delhi

Tea With...the printers - What makes a great print?

11/08/2008 - Images © Malcolm Smith

Sunday 10 August. For many artists, deciding between pigment and analogue printing can be difficult and often costly decision, and having an informed understanding of the processes is essential. This panel we look at which process best suits different types of work, recent developments in technology and conservation issues.

Image Credits (left to right):

Photographer, writer and ACP workshop lecturer Geoff McGeachin, hosted the panel discussion
Geoff McGeachin and panel members Chris Reid (Blanco Negro), Sandra Barnard (Sandy Prints), and Warren Macris (Giclee Australia)
Photographers listen in to the discussion

Opening - Darren Sylvester Our Future Was Ours, Marian Drew Every Living Thing and James Brickwood Schoolies

05/08/2008 - Images © Emmanuel Giraud

Thursday 24 July saw the opening of three new exhibitions at the ACP; Darren Sylvester's Our Future Was Ours, Marian Drew's Every Living Thing and James Brickwood's Schoolies. These exhibitions will continue to 30 August.

Talking Shop - Darren Sylvester

04/08/2008 - Images © Malcolm Smith

Darren Sylvester discusses the genesis and realisation of the work in his first mayor survey exhibition. He revealed to the audience how his processes and techniques have evolved over the past ten years and what projects he has planned for the remainder of the year.

Opening - Generation C New Chinese Photomedia in an Age of Change (Raw Space Gallery, Brisbane)

11/07/2008 - Images © Raw Space Galleries

"mesmerising work of eight young photomedia artists from mainland China."
Alex Lalak, Daily Telegraph, Sydney

Curated by Australian Centre for Photography Director Alasdair Foster Generation C opened at Rawspace Galleries in Brisbane (Jun 28, 2008 - Aug 12, 2008). This exhibition showcases work by young photomedia artists from mainland China who reflect the ambivalence of their times. Born in the seventies they are the first 'me' generation - consumerist, connected and self-aware. They are vain yet vulnerable; wired yet lonely. They ride the rollercoaster of 'progress' while wistfully dreaming of the past. Abandoning any notion of the photograph as a document of the real each work is a performance, a visual fable that finds its truth in imaginative resonance rather than hard evidence. The exhibition, which is part of the Australian Centre for Photography touring exhibition program, will travel to the Adelaide Festival Centre, Artspace in July next year.

Image Credits (left to right):

Australian Centre for Photography Director Alasdair Foster introduces the Generation C exhibition
Opening night
Opening night

Talking Shop - Sydney Stereo Camera Club

11/07/2008 - Images © Malcolm Smith

Members of the Sydney Stereo Camera Club presented a selection of 3D work from around the world, explained how it all works and talked about recent developments in 3D technology.

Image Credits (left to right):

Members of the Sydney Stereo Camera Club demonstrate how to use 3D cameras
Members of the Sydney Stereo Camera Club demonstrate how to use 3D cameras
The audience photographed in fashionable 3D glasses

Opening - Minutes to Midnight (Kolkata, India)

Trent Parke's acclaimed Minutes to Midnight, an ACP touring exhibition currently in India, has just completed a very successful presentation at Bose Pacia gallery, Kolkata (13-28 June 2008). The exhibition was officially opened by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Governor of West Bengal. Response to the exhibition by both public and media has been very positive, with media coverage reaching over three quarters of a million people.

Minutes to Midnight is touring in South Asia through the DRIK photo agency, Dhaka. The presentation in Kolkata was arranged by DRIK India and made possible through the support of the Australian High Commission. The exhibition moves to Delhi with an inaugural presentation at the Australian High Commission on 9 July followed by a showing at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), Delhi (12 - 27 July, 2008).

Image Credits (left to right):

Visitors to Bose Pacia Kolkata view Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Governor of West Bengal, opens the exhibition
Opening night

Opening - Hijacked

The ACP was officially Hijacked when the exhibition and book was launched on Thursday 12 June. The Sydney launch followed the success of openings in New York, Berlin and at Fremantle's biannual Photography festival, Fotofreo. Providing a voice for some of the most exciting and provocative new photography from Australia and America, Hijacked takes a road less travelled. The exhibition erases traditional boundaries between art, document and snapshot to point towards the future of contemporary photomedia.

Image Credits (left to right):

A crowd gathers in the gallery to see the work of 44 artists from Australia and USA
Hijacked artist Janelle Ryan enjoys the ACP opening with friend
Australian Hijacked artists Emily Portman and Jack Pam sign copies of Hijacked Volume 1 Australia and USA

ACP represents Oceania at the First International Meeting of Photography Centres, Almería, Spain 30 May - 1 June 2008

ACP was one of 20 photo centres from around the world represented at a meeting to establish a new global network. Initiated and hosted by the Centro Andaluz de la Fotografía (CAF) in southern Spain delegates came from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

The three-day public conference explored issues of landscape in photography, cultural networks and the function of public collections. The meeting was marked by an exhibition, presented by CAF in their new exhibition halls, of 100 images from all 20 countries represented at the meeting. The exhibition was accompanied by a 150-page book. The Australian artists presented were Ray Cook, Sharon Green, Petrina Hicks, Trent Parke and Glenn Sloggett. Photofile magazine, representing Australia in the publications display, was highly praised by the international delegates.

The meeting concluded with the publishing of an agreement formally establishing an International Network of Photography Centres and the launching of a shared website (currently at: www.centrosdefotografia.es ). The next meeting of the network will be in Mexico in September 2009.

Image Credits (left to right):

ACP Director Alasdair Foster (right) with Vaclav Macek, Director of the Central European House of Photography, Bratislava
Opening of the Enfoques (Approaches) exhibition at Centro Andaluz de la Fotografia
Part of the Australian exhibit
Delegates from France, Greece, United Kingdom and Israel at the conference
Alasdair Foster with Shirin Abu Shaqra (Arab Image Foundation, Lebanon) and Rui Prata (Centro de la Imagem, Portugal)
Publications display at the exhibition

Panel Discussion - Creatives V's Artists

Wednesday 21 May. Photographers discussed the ways they negotiate the competing agendas of creativity and commerce. Panel members discussed recent trends in the commercial sector, both locally and overseas, and the impact this is having on the ways photographers work.

Image Credits (left to right):

Denis Montalbetti, Gay Campbell, fashion photographer Derek Henderson, and Alexia Sinclair
The audience, many of whom were photographers and graphic designers
Derek Henderson, Alexia Sinclair and the host, Marc Gafen, editor of Capture magazine

See Also: Complete 2008 News Archive