The Live Red Art Awards and Festival is taking place on October 17 at the Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville, Sydney. The day will feature an exhibition and live performances.
Submissions for the multi-disciplinary competition, which was open to anyone, closed on October 1. As well as the winner announced by the judges, there will be a “people’s choice” award. For more information on Live Red Arts, visit here. Below is a run-down on some of the artists whose work will be on display at the festival.
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Zane Alcorn and Thomas Hunter-Leahy from hip hop group Dhopec: A 45-minute political hip hop set during which an aerosol artwork will be created.
“Dhopec is dedicated to producing hip hop that captures the activist spirit and draws people into the movement. Our music seeks to be relevant both to people coming around to activism and to those who have been up to their necks in it for years.
“We have played loads of free gigs and activist benefits over the years, including Climate Camp 2008 and 2009, the peoples’ blockade of the world’s biggest coal port, Save Lake Cowal fundraisers, anti-war gigs and Resistance conferences.
“Our Live Red Art performance will present new and old work. The graffiti painting will respond to the current political situation. Dhopec seeks to stimulate discussion and cultivate passion for a revolution to stop runaway climate change and create the radically more equal society that generations of leftist activists have spent their lives fighting for.”
Saha Jones and Nicole Dennis, Academy of Emergency Art: “Soap box Sunday”, featuring video, documented forms.
“Experimenting with a new critical format, the Academy of Emergency Art Sydney asked members from the Australian hip hop community — Big Village, Loose Change, Daily Meds, Reverse Polarities and Thundamentals — to actualise the format. They were unrehearsed, given a stack of newspaper articles from that day and a live beat (by Tash Adams).
“They met in the Domain to commemorate the tradition of great orators, democracy, free speech, debate and civil liberties. For more than a century, the park attracted thousands of people on ‘soap box Sundays’, particularly during the anti-Vietnam war era.
“The Academy wanted to call on these memories, taking the soap box format and facilitating the significance of claiming ownership of the city and the concern for the people who live in it. The only expectation was to participate.”
Rebecca Harstein: “Heroics” painting.
“My work is designed to re-examine Jacques-Louis David’s painting ‘Napoleon Crossing the Alps’. This painting is one of the world’s earliest examples of pure propaganda. In it, Napoleon rides a rearing, fiery stallion into a coming storm, while the army marches behind him. In reality, Napoleon was led across the Alps on a mule by a local guide.
“My version interposes a giant, meaty blob in the background, and I've removed Napoleon from his horse. Not only did Napoleon make the crossing on a mule in fair weather, he also refused to sit for the portrait, saying only to paint him as ‘calm, mounted on a fiery steed’.
“I aim to bring an element of surprise to a work that is now part of the Western canon, and is the most commonly seen depiction of the tyrant.
“Even knowing that it's completely ridiculous, most people still think of Napoleon in this way. It worked. I'm trying to destroy that success a little bit, 200 years later.
“If we spent more of our time considering the motivation behind the art and media that we see, I think racism, sexism and other injustices wouldn't last long.”
Paula de Prado: “Pollera Extranjera” mixed media installation.
“The core of my practice has always been concerned with the development of identity in relation to feeling a sense of place. Often, ideas about authenticity, privilege and belonging are inseparable from the topics of race, gender and cultural identity.
“Conceptually, my work begins from a personal basis with strong references to my cultural heritage and the experience of migrating to Australia from Uruguay at a very young age.
“My plan is to exhibit a range of works that I have made over the last few years that challenge perceptions about patriotism, nationalism and living between two or more cultures.
“The works speak about migration from my personal point of view, as a brown-skinned woman, an immigrant living on stolen land, a foreign skirt. The works include textiles, photography (self portraits) and works on paper.
“The message I try to convey in my art is to speak out, to speak loud, to question and challenge. I strongly believe in the power of art to effect change by opening up dialogue.”
Duncan Meerding: “Cracked Log Lamps”, design
“Not wanting to destroy the environment from which I get my inspiration, I aim to use timber from sustainable sources for my furniture.
“My work should not merely be seen as something that looks nice, it should remind us of our intrinsic connection with nature and the effect we have upon it.
“The cracked log lamps are made from salvaged timber, sourced from people’s backyards or from logging cooperatives. Each log would have otherwise have been burnt, and the warm yellow light escaping the cracks highlights the fate the lamps would have otherwise met.
“The lamps are an example of taking a waste material and using it to create a lamp that is pleasurable to look at and also serves a function. The natural lines of the wood are maintained, through not only the grain of the wood, but also through the embracing of the natural cracking in the timber.”
Conor Ashleigh: “A Changing Climate”, photomedia.
“Over the past two-and-a-half years, I have documented the climate change movement based in Newcastle, the world’s largest exporter of coal. Coal is one of the greatest contributors to climate change around the world.
“Despite the capacity for a transitional economy, the amount of coal being exported has more than doubled this year alone, with a new much larger coal terminal being constructed.
“The number of people passionate about climate change, and prepared to take part in non-violent direct action to confront it, is inspirational. Those who take part in actions range from an 88-year-old ex-WWII veteran through to school students.
“As a photographer, I see my role in the climate change movement as providing a visual narrative that will in the future stand as a strong testament to the people who stood up and confronted the fossil fuels industry.”
Live Red Art festival
11am: Day-long exhibition starts, featuring painting, time-based art and video, sculpture, photomedia, sustainable design, a political poster exhibition, second-hand book stall, DIY badge making and collective art-making projects. (Voting for the “people’s choice” award closes at 4.45pm.)
3pm: “Greenslide”-themed party. Dhopec will perform.
4pm: Daily Meds featuring Billie Rose Prichard.
5pm: Day of the Meerkat.
6pm: Winner for first prize and “people’s choice” award announced.
6.15pm: Fuji Collective.