Social Capital

Went to a terrific opening at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space tonight, for an exhibition called Social Capital. The theme was an exploration of Canberra's public housing history.

This image is by Bernie Slater, who is currently hanging out at the BookStud and whom I featured in my second or third post ever back in the golden days of '04. It's possibly the weakest of all his images; I have no idea why CCAS decided to place that one on their website. The show is terrific. Ellis Hutch has made small replicas of old fibro houses out of wax, lit from within across the floor, looking like little haunted houses. Martyn Jolly has large-format photos that remind us of the days when the 8-storey flats ringing Civic were considered cutting-edge architecture. eX de medici portrays the seamier side of public housing, and Cathy Lauderbach delves into the Canberra Public Housing community with great affection and insight. There are other artists and works, but the place was crammed with the Canberra art scene and I was doing my best to introduce my American guest to as many people as possible so that I could go home and eat Zefferelli pizza and he could carry on into the evening with new friends (hopefully that worked! I'll find out tomorrow).

So I didn't get to look closely at everything. But I will. I'll go back and have a really good look. And you should go too. There's a lot of good art to see in Canberra at the moment. My favorite du jour is the Otto Dix war etchings at the National Gallery. I'm hanging out to see Crescent Moon: Islamic art and civilisation in Southeast Asia, but I won't be able to do so until after my visitors have flown out. Constable will also be lush, but I'll see that when the crowds die down.

I'm not gettng a weekend because of the bookarts masterclass I'm hosting. I'll be busy baking and making for the next few days, probably with no time to post. But I'm looking forward to next week because it's balloon festival time! Hooray! I'll find a camera, by hook or by crook. It's the only time of year I like to wake early. Crisp mornings with skies full of hot air balloons. Mmmmm.