Finale BIFB 2013

 Finale BIFB 2013
Episode 6

G’day Petals,

the 2013 Ballarat Foto Biennale finished last night with a small gathering of volunteers and some of the fringe photographers.

Shane at finale w/DD

I managed to see some 62 of the “fringe”, missing around 1/3.

Generally I tried to process through a single circuit to both limit excessive travel and see as many exhibits as possible. The ones missed were due either to the venues being closed on the particular day of visit or in some cases the venues own layout, particularly in the case of multiple shows, where deciding what was fringe and what was store product took too much time given its constraints.

Venues missed for whatever reason, if in outlying areas, were not returned to and others were just accidentally missed.

Clusters of venues and venues with multiple shows stood a greater chance of being seen and those within the confines or near “Core” shows also were advantaged as were the 9-5, 7 day a week venues.

How long I stayed in a venue obviously depended on my response to the work and if in a café, whether it was interesting enough to balance the irritation to the patrons seated underneath and if thework could actually be seen amongst the visual and physical clutter of the shop.

speeches BIFB Finale '13

Presentation and labelling generally was better than the 2011 Biennale Fringe and print quality mostly very good. (I’ve already admitted the embarrassment of having to re-print and re-mount four of my works mid show because of delamination).

I still wonder whether some of the “fringe” exhibitors seriously consider how their works fit their chosen venue, be it regarding content, scale, framing or number of works.

As “Fringe’ contributors really have a more difficult road-to-hoe: with their venues mostly not designed for exhibition purposes they need to apply finer consideration and judgement to these criteria to allow their work to speak.

It seemed to me here that few “Fringe” people actually saw their work as a total aesthetic construct.  Big is not always better;  small inappropriate in some cases too; mid sized can be neither here nor there and quantity, which worked brilliantly in some cases, bombed in others… criticisms which can be levelled at some of the “Core”, too.

With those criteria in mind, from 2/3 of the “Fringe” visited what was my  “Pick-of-the-Litter”?

The works that have “stuck” with me were produced by:

David Simmonds / Sandra Curtis, Eric Algra, Jeff Moorfoot, Julie Hough, Simon Peterswald, Senga Peckam, James Niven, Darron Davies, Danica McLean, Sandra Elms, Anthony Baxter and finally Alison Spence / Denise Regan.

Julie Hough and Jeff Moorfoot

The Program Booklet: visually simpler than 2011 but for some reason the exhibitors names were now listed alphabetically which meant constantly scrabbling back and forth as you went in a linear, numerical walk around the venues.

Dyslexic.

Maps were functional but the “Observatory” probably needs its own page/ GPS/App/footprints on the footpath/ plume of coloured smoke.

Most visitors I spoke to were far less critical of the program than in 2011.

It will be interesting to see what Ballarat Foto Biennale 2015 brings…. I’ve started on mine already.

BIFB Finale 13

Wombat Droppings or Politics in Oz

The quiet is the lie.

Trust us!

Four asylum seeker boats have arrived since “Rabbott’s” erection to the prime miniature-ship.

Where’s the press hysteria of the past three years?

Trust us!

The past mistress of the caustic comment, Sophie”Pit-Bull” Mirabella is proving that the love you give out comes back.

And the Liarbril candidate for McEwan, Donna Petrovich is probably wishing she had attended more public meetings.

“Rabbott” has been seen in set piece “directorial conversations” which should be filmed in black and white as they look positively like archaic propaganda from the cold war.

Message from all this: Everything-is-under-control-nothing-is-happening-you-can-all-relax.

(Repeat three times, before food)

Trust us!

Much like “Rabbott’ slogan-speak and repetition of old Liarbril “comfort-words”, it might be worth him noting that you can’t step into the same stream twice.

Trust us!

“Pit-Bull’s” awful result might be a warning shot to the likes of Steve ”Slash-her-Throat” Ciobo and Cory “Beastiality” Bernardi but they’re from the Far North and are different.

Also in the Far North, Qld’s attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie, banned the Labor party from accepting campaign donations from unions, so apart from how to vote cards, candidates Lucy Stanton and Bill Gissane in Fisher had no financial help.

Mal Brough”s war chest (He who illegally accessed Peter Slipper’s private notes in “Ashby-Gate”) on the other hand was estimated at $400,000.

Something rough about the edges here?

Trust us!

Which makes me think of that  “Nice Mr Turnbull”.

He’s beginning to remind me of Joachim von Ribbentrop, a pretend aristo who thought he could rise above the thugs surrounding him in 30's - 40's Germany.

 

Au Pair

 

Ribbentrop's on the left.

Cheers Possums,

Shane

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