13 - 31 May 2009
SPECTRUM - 2009 Watt Space Open Show
Curated by Luke Johnston, Fiona Lee & Claire Parker
The exhibition opened by Kim Blunt, Public Program Coordinator at Maitland Regional Art Gallery and Alasdair Foster, Director of the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney on Thursday 14 May at 7pm.
A word from the curators
This year's open show is about each exhibit or presenting us with their own work, work which is without a bias toward a particular overall theme or idea.
The curators wanted each artist to show, through the presentation of their work, where and how they fit into the art SPECTRUM. Therefore this exhibition is to act as a survey and barometer of the current artistic practice occurring at the University of Newcastle.
Rather than guide artists in a direction of the curators' choosing, this year's open show lets the artists explore their own direction, without any restrictions or barriers.
Prizes for the show were sponsored by:
- Newcastle Newspapers
- Australian Centre for Photography
- Les Porter Photography
- Eckersley's Art, Craft and Imagination
- The Co-op Bookshop, Newcastle
- UoN Services Limited
- and Opening Night Wine was supplied by First Creek Wines, Pokolbin
A little about the judges who opened the show
Alasdair Foster
Alasdair Foster is the director of the Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney, Australia's longest running contemporary art space. He was formerly the founding director of Fotofeis, the award winning international biennale of photo based art in Scotland. Alasdair is currently a member of the photo media research cluster at Monash University Department of Theory of Art and Design, and was formerly President of the Contemporary Art Organisations of Australia. He has contributed to a number of books including: BLINK (Phaidon 2002), Ray Cook-Diary of a Fortunate Man (QCP, 2007) and Erwin Olaf (Aperture 2008).
Kim Blunt
Kim Blunt is a graduate of the University of Newcastle and a past exhibitor and volunteer at Watt Space. Kim is currently the Public Program Coordinator at Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG) and has worked there for the last 7 years. In her position at MRAG she coordinates all public program activities, including all exhibitions, concerts, lectures and floor talks and oversees all media and marketing for the art gallery. Kim has exhibited in Newcastle and the Hunter region since 1998.
Image Gallery
And the winners were:
Image Gallery
Watt Space is funded by the UoN Services Limited and supported by the School of Drama, Fine Art and Music at the University of Newcastle. All associated images and information copyright © the artists, Watt Space & the University of Newcastle, Australia. Building images © Roger Hanley