I feel proud to note that we opened our Hijacked exhibition and book launch in Berlin on the same night that Nick Cave played the Tempodrom. We salute you Mr Nick Cave and would love you to officially open our show back home in Sydney at the Australian Centre for Photography on June 12, 2008. I'm still dreaming.
The exhibition and book launch was fantastic and went down well last night in Berlin @ Neunplus. A nice crowd came along with some very positive response, feedback and criticisms. Nomadski was the man providing the music, vibe and atmosphere, djing until the police came to shut the sound system down. Australian painter, and artist at large in Berlin - Isoe made some live drawings onto one of my photographic prints, which kept the crowd outside in the beautiful Berlin summer evening entertained. Caitlin Harrison made the long trip from Australia after visiting Lithuania for the Kaunas Photographic Festival. Berlins newest kunst lover and blogger Jess Scully was in attendance, coming over from Sydney, via London and American photographer Amy Stein was signing books all night, after visiting Berlin for her sell out solo show at The Pool Gallery.
I rambled a lot of gibberish, had a floor talk and debate with lovely American writer/editor Bill Kouwenhoven from Hotshoe International. As did Jess Scully, Australian / Berlin - Artist in residence - Nathalie Latham, Amy Stein, Caitlin Harrison and Neunplus photograpgher and curator Mirjam Siefert.
It was a great night. I wish to thank everyone for coming, I want to thank Neunplus for all their assistance and support, especially Mirjam Siefert, Klaus Muenzner and all the volunteers.
If you are in Berlin, check it out. Hopefully we have made some kind of refreshing impression and positive impact into the Berlin art scene, with our contemporary Australian and American photographic survey. In the future Big City Press, we will be focusing on producing an Australian / German volume of Hijacked. Which is scheduled for release in 2009. Big City Press will be partnering the project (Australian / German volume of Hijacked) with FFV in Berlin.
If you would like to buy the book in Berlin. It is available from:
Neurotitan | Best Shop Berlin | Pro qm | Neunplus | Gawronski
Big City Press has release limited edition tee shirts designed by the infamous Tom Müller. Every hard working, super star death metal singing, street wise, risk taking, break dancing, folk dancing, hard core banging, sky larking, traveling jet setter, hip to the shit, artist has to have one. And those people who love to support independent publishers might like to purchase on too, before they're all sold out. Australian painter Wayne Richards is featured here, wearing the original Big City Press 001 Original LTD White Tee. Order your tee shirt today:.info@bigcitypress.com.au
HIJACKED @ The Australian Centre for Photography
Curated by Mark McPherson
Gallery 1 + 2 + 3 + 4
(GALLERY 3 CLOSES 6 JULY)
13 June to 19 July | Opening Thursday June 12, 2008
“The most important book of photographs to come out of Australia in the past five years … Hijacked defines the shape of things to come.” Alasdair Foster, Director, Australian Centre for Photography
Providing a voice for some of the most exciting and provocative new photography from Australia and America, Hijacked takes a road less travelled. The exhibition erases traditional boundaries between art, document and snapshot to point towards the future of contemporary photomedia.
Shunning repetitive and predictable curatorial structures, Hijacked’s aesthetic is driven by the mindset and energy of young and emerging practitioners. Embracing the prevailing wanderlust of their generation, their work exhibits a fascination with international subcultures, fragmented trends, alternate life styles and urban landscapes. The exploration of suburban pleasures is placed on par with ‘high’ artistic experimentation.
Just as remarkable as the exhibition itself is the story of how it came about. Mark McPherson, an emerging WA photographer, initially conceived the project as a zine. Five years on, working from suburban Fremantle, Hijacked had grown through informal online networks to bring the work of 44 Australian and US artists into a substantial casebound book. Having realised the publication without leaving Perth for the past four years, Mark McPherson is circling the globe to launch the book in Fremantle, Berlin, Paris, Stuttgart, New York and Sydney. Relentless in its ambition, much like the photographers, writers and contemporaries whose work it presents, Hijacked is a hybrid of real time photography and life in real time.
Exhibition curated by Mark McPherson Book edited by Mark McPherson and Max Pam
IMAGE © Juha Tolonen Lounge 2004
Worldwide book orders available from IdN.
