Art in Australia
Imagine
SBS TV
Fridays at 7.30 p.m. (7 Adelaide) beginning February 18
Reviewed by Jill Hickson
Sponsored by the Australia Council of the Arts, this new series on Australian art and culture will combine a range of interesting forms of presenting information, news, views and performance on the cultural diversity of this country. Reporters with experience in the field probe the minds behind the culture.
The first program takes us to the world of pavement art with Fahdi Nakhle, who paints masterpieces from Europe on the streets of Sydney. An ancient Indian dance is performed. There is an interview with controversial Melbourne director Barrie Kosky, who at the age of 28 has been appointed artistic director of the 1996 Adelaide Festival. We are treated to snippets of his current play and a discussion of his inspiration and his Jewishness in his plays.
We meet Aboriginal artists from Ramingining art centre, located south-east of Arnhem Land on the Gulf of Carpentaria, one of the most isolated spots in Australia. Ramingining is one of only two Aboriginal art centres. There, reporter Jeanne Rychmans me,t with local artists David Malangi who designed the $1 note in 1966, and Jimmy Wululu, who has exhibited in New York and London and is due to exhibit in Cuba later this year.
Imagine is an attempt to dispel the myth that art in Australia is only for the elite. Says Veronique Bernard, the executive producer, "Art is actually part of life everywhere — it doesn't belong to those who control the industry, and Imagine will provide an avenue for it to reach the wider community".