KONSORTIUM Düsseldorf's Konsortium group has run an intriguing exhibition program for over five years. This has happened alongside a rigorous schedule of collaborative work between the members at offsite locations throughout Europe and around the globe. In October Lars Breuer, Sebastian Freytag and Guido Münch come to Australia for a series of SNO assisted east-coast exhibitions. RMIT Galley, Melbourne, 25 September - 25 October (opens Thursday, 24 September from 6 to 8pm). SNO Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney, 3 October - 1 November (opens Saturday, October 3 from 3 to 6pm). SCA Galleries, Sydney, 7 October - 1 November (opens Wednesday, October 7 from 5 to 7pm). See invitation for details + Konsortium website. Konsortium's travel to Australia has been sponsored by The City of Düsseldorf, RMIT Gallery, SNO, Sydney College of the Arts, Arts NSW, and the Goethe Institute.   download invitation
			SOS CCNOA The former Flemish Minister for Culture Bert Anciaux decided to terminate structural funding for our close friends CCNOA, Brussels, as of January 2010. After 11 years of continuous operation and over 200 exhibitions in Brussels and abroad, CCNOA will therefore have to close its facilities at Boulevard Barthelemylaan 5, 1000 Brussels. Over the past decade CCNOA has become a showcase for discovery, exploration, experimentation, participation and learning – in short an organization that opens eyes, ears and minds. Extensive activities in Belgium and elsewhere have provided some 50 000 visitors worldwide with the opportunity to follow new developments in contemporary abstract art and have generated the inspiration for organisations in other countries to open similar spaces, such as SNO. In order to raise funds for relocation to a temporary site (office, storage, archives, and library) in 2010, Tilman has created a fundraising multiple (see PDF). They are 300 euro each + shipping. Please email CCNOA if you would like to acquire one of the multiples. Their size is 14 x 10 x 10 cm, lacquer on aluminum. Note: already sold are Tranquille, Sizzle, Blaze, Wild Thing, Midnite Express, Spicy Thought, Moody, Fall Day, Duo, Sweet As, Warm Breeze, Afloat, Southern Hush, Dizzy Lizzy , Daydream, Bitter Haze, Surf’s Up, Lipstick, Frisk and Always. CCNOA   See PDF for fundraiser multiples.
			REDUCTIVE ACGA Gallery 3 - 29 November Federation Square (in atrium off Flinders St) Melbourne Curated by David Hagger Justin Andrews Sydney Ball Cathy Blanchflower Louise Blyton PJ Hickman Col Jordan Emma Langridge David Milne Giles Ryder Alex Spremberg Wilma Tabacco Reductive brings together a selection of artists whose practices are concerned as much with the methodology of conception as they are with the production of the resulting work. Falling under the broader banner of reductive art, the op, minimalist and hard-edged abstract works exhibited profile a contemporary approach to non objective art in Australia today. Sydney Ball, Azriaxis, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 118.5 x 137.5 cm.
			Tackling THE FIELD Art Gallery of New South Wales 5 September - 29 November Nineteen sixty-eight was a tumultuous year across the globe. It was the year American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr’s dream of blacks and whites co-existing harmoniously ended when he was assassinated in Memphis. Presidential nominee Robert Kennedy met the same fate, gunned down in Los Angeles. The conflict in Vietnam escalated and opposition to the war reverberated around the world. Student riots in Paris almost brought down the French Presidency and the Soviet Union rolled tanks into Prague, ending a brief period of political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia. In Australia, 1968 heralded the end of a three-year drought and a buoyant economy saw an increase in the standard of living of many Australians. The local art scene was also in the ascendancy, with the acceptance of its established artists at an international level particularly in the United Kingdom. In Sydney and Melbourne new commercial galleries were opening, dedicated to ‘avant-garde’ tendencies in art. However, it was the grand opening of the National Gallery of Victoria’s new quarters on St Kilda Road in August 1968, which signalled a fresh enterprise. The inaugural exhibition, The Field, was an entirely new venture for the museum. It presented the most recent trend in Australian contemporary art, the practice of one particular direction of abstract painting which was sweeping both Australia and the world, which the American art critic Clement Greenberg had coined ‘Post-painterly abstraction’. Greenberg proposed that this new movement lifted colour rather than paint as the pinnacle element of expression and principle carrier of meaning. The Field, when it opened in Melbourne in 1968, featured 74 paintings, sculptures and conceptual works by 40 artists: the youngest participant Robert Hunter, was only 21, the eldest, Michael Nicholson was 52, and at least 16 of the artists were under 30. Reaction to the exhibition was mixed: lauded by some, reproached by many. Its artists did not adhere to the accepted English/European modernist tradition, but aligned themselves with Anglo-American artists working in New York, Los Angeles and Washington at the time. Tackling THE FIELD explores, through six works in the Gallery’s collection, the impact of The Field exhibition upon artistic practice in Australia in a period which would threaten the “death of painting” altogether. The artists represented are James Doolin, Michael Johnson, Paul Partos, John Peart, Ron Robertson-Swann and Dick Watkins. John Peart, Cool Corner II, 1968, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 236.2 x 236.2 cm (Collection of AGNSW).   Michael Johnson, Frontal 2, 1968, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 198.5 x 214 cm (Collection of AGNSW).
			ABSTRACTION 8 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne 29 October - 14 November, 2009 Hany ARMANIOUS, Andrew ARNAOUTOPOULOS, David ASPDEN, Sydney BALL, Asher BILU, Lynne BOYD, Leonard BROWN, Jack BUSH, Gunter CHRISTMAN, Liz COATS, Tony COLEING, Fred CRESS, Geoffrey DE GROEN, Richard DUNN, Stephen EARLE, Mark GALEA, James GLEESON, Denise GREEN, Rolf GUNTER-DIENST, Andrew HALL, Frank HODGKINSON, Melanie HOWARD, Robert HUNTER, Robert JACKS, Susan JACOBS, Michael JOHNSON, Peter KAISER, Ron LAMBERT, Don LAYCOCK, Ruark LEWIS, Bernard LUTHI, Elwyn LYNN, Godfrey MILLER, Allan MITELMAN, Jan MURRAY, John NIXON, Jules OLITSKI, Robert OWEN, Ti PARKS, Paul PARTOS, John PEART, William PEASCOD, Alan RIDDELL, Ron ROBERTSON –SWANN, Robert ROONEY, Edwin TANNER, Trevor VICKERS, Karl WIEBKE, Fred WILLIAMS. Ruark Lewis, Blue Water Drawing, 1997; Yellow Water Drawing, 1997; Red Water Drawing, 1996 oil on canvas, suite of three, 50 x 400 cm each.   Sydney Ball, Azonex, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 87 x 112 cm.
			ParisCONCRET 5 Rue des Immeubles Industriels 75011 PARIS A close associate of SNO, ParisCONCRET was opened in January, 2009 by Richard and Anna van der Aa. The space was inaugurated with Pour Faire Simple, an exhibition featuring 35 international artists. NOVEMBER - Espacement - Linda Arts, José Heerkens, Gijs Pape. DECEMBER - C - Amarie Bergman. JANUARY - En Forme - Eric Cruickshank, Cecilia Vissers. FEBRUARY - Pieces Uniques - Clemens Hollerer, Roland Orépuk, Jacek Przybyszewski. MARCH - Marlene Sarroff. APRIL - Pam Aitken, Jacques Weyer. for more information see: ParisCONCRET
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