re-title.com

Front Space & Gallery 1 

Factory Fetish
Zanny Begg, Gordon Matta-Clark, Agnes Denes, Sean Dockray, Francesco Finizio, Micah Hesse, Callum Morton, Ishai Shapira Kalter and Anna Witt
Curated by Liang Luscombe and Joshua Simon

Factory Fetish explores the all too usual trend and the uncomfortable proximity between artists’ attraction to underdeveloped urban spaces, and their eventual discovery, commercialisation and development by real-estate speculators. Through the development of cultural capital we see a translation into market value in which sites of culture are holding bays for property development. In this way, art practice is regarded as a resource that can be used positively and, on the other hand, sustains exploitative systems, including forms of self-exploitation through social networks and gentrification.

More broadly, Factory Fetish looks at how the arts have been cornered by the forces of capitalism to facilitate gentrification as well as presenting alternatives to this as a means to critically engage with these issues and reroute them where possible.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Liang Luscombe and Sean Dockray have developed the short survey project The Real Estate Survey. Its purpose is to collect some basic data about how much money from arts workers and arts organisations in Melbourne trickles down to real estate. The Real Estate Survey as a way of jumpstarting a conversation about finance, gentrification, organisational forms, etc.


Gallery 2

Ngura Kunpu (Strong Country)
Peter Mungkuri and Tiger Yaltangki

Peter Mungkuri and Tiger Yaltangki  make a gripping presentation of traditional and contemporary painting practice from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia.

Mungkuri paints from memory the stories and detailed landscape of his country. Yaltangki’s practice is influenced by culture and country. Referencing the Indulkana community and rock music by Led Zeppelin and Credence Clearwater Revival, his practice is heavily influenced by science fiction programmes such as Doctor Who and The Mighty Boosh.

Peter Mungkuri is a respected tjilpi (senior man), director for Iwantja Arts, South Australia, and the current Chairperson for the Indulkana community. Before coming to a painting practice in the early 1980’s, Mungkuri held a career as a renowned desert stockman.

Tiger Yaltangki is a contemporary painter. He grew up in the Indulkana community and has painted at the Iwantja Arts studio for many years.


Gallery 3 

Windjarrameru, The Stealing C*nt$”
Karrabing Film Collective

Windjarrameru, The Stealing C*nt$ is the second major film project of the Karrabing Film Collective. The Karrabing Film Collective uses film to analyse contemporary settler colonialism. In the shadow of Third Cinema and the Theatre of the Oppressed, the Karrabing seek to create a new model of Indigenous filmmaking and activism.

The Karrabing Film Collective is a central activity of the Karrabing Indigenous Corporation. They have made three films to date (including Karrabing, Low Tide Turning (2012) and When the Dogs Talked (2014)) and are currently in production on a fourth (Wutharr, the saltwater). Their films have been shown at the Berlinale, Berlin; Documenta, Oslo; Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; e-flux, New York; and Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne.


Back Space

Beauty &
James Eisen

​James Eisen’s recent exhibitions include Fin, Utopian slumps, Melbourne, 2014; Elizabeth, Sutton Project Space, Melbourne 2014; Reciprocal Failure, Goodtime Studios Melbourne, 2014; Eyekeyaaa, Seoul Museum of Art/ Nanji Gallery, Seoul, 2013; CC-Matter, The Atelier, Paris; Protective Pieces, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne; Work in Progress, Hell Gallery, Melbourne; SAYLE (*Internal painting-Vaulable Gift), Level 6 Curtin House, Melbourne; Abre Alas 8, A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro; and D****x******a, TCB art inc, Melbourne, 2011.


FREE FILM SCREENING

Los Angeles Plays Itself
Directed by Thom Andersen
Tuesday 17 November, 6:30pm

In conjunction with exhibition Factory Fetish, West Space is pleased to be screening Thom Andersen's landmark documentary Los Angeles Play Itself (2003). This video essay explores the tangled relationship between the movies and their fabled hometown – as seen entirely though the films themselves.

From its distinctive neighbourhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. Andersen takes viewers on a whirlwind tour through the metropolis real and cinematic history, investigating the myriad stories and legends that have come to define it, and meticulously, judiciously revealing the real city that lives beneath.


Reading Room

Remixing the Readymade Archive: DIY Portable Museums (for the West Space Reading Room)
until 28 November only

Remixing the Readymade Archive brings together works by Second Year RMIT Interior Design Students, led by artist Masato Takasaka. In this exhibition, students present a series of fictional archives composed through a process of exploring entwining narratives derived from readymade objects and from found material within the West Space archive.