There Goes The Neighbourhood press coverage

"“THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD!”, TAUNTED THE US BLACK HEAVY METAL BAND BODY COUNT IN THEIR 1990 SONG, AN IRONIC TAKE ON THE PHENOMENON OF ‘WHITE FLIGHT’ IN AMERICAN CITIES AT THE TIME (THE SONG ALSO DRAWS AN ANALOGY BETWEEN THE PERCEIVED BLACK ‘ENCROACHMENT’ OF WHITE SUBURBS AND THE BAND’S ENCROACHMENT OF THE TRADITIONALLY WHITE DOMAIN OF HEAVY METAL).

The title thus frames this Performance Space exhibition squarely within the politics of contested space and the central role of race (and youth) in this contestation; it also widens the frame of reference beyond the here and now of Sydney, Australia, to shared histories and their legacy for contemporary urban living globally. This breadth of scope marked every aspect of the exhibition, from the range of artists and media, to the scale, both spatial and temporal, of many of the works. Participants hailed from across the globe, including Brazil, Spain, Denmark, US, Australia and Hungary; the range and scale of works was expansive: photographs, video, painting, installation, mapping, networked activities and performances, many either filling the gallery in innovative ways or overflowing it altogether through their presence in publication, on the web, or as external events extending over time. This scope was thoughtfully designed to reiterate the themes: spatial justice and the place of the artist in articulating and complicating these debates and strategies."

So reads the beginning of Jacqueline Millner's review of There Goes The Neighbourhood for Real Time. To read the rest of the article go here.

There were heaps of the other news articles. Keg has collected them all on her website so to save me loading them up go check it out here.

Melbourne launch: There Goes The Neighbourhood!

Guest Speaker: Gary Foley

Book Launch, Brunswick Bound, Saturday July 4, 2pm
361 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

Worried about the gentrification? Rising rents? Apartment blocks popping up on every corner and yuppies taking over your local neighbourhood? Well you’re not alone… There Goes The Neighbourhood: Redfern and the Politics of Urban Space is a book produced in conjunction with an exhibition in Sydney which explores these issues. From Collingwood to Redfern to New York to Copenhagen people the world over are negotiating life in the city – squatting, living space, evictions, rents and so on. Come along to a launch of the book and a discussion about spatial politics in the city.

There Goes the Neighborhood begins with a close study of Redfern before expanding into international examples to provide a detailed exploration of how the phenomenon of gentrification is altering the relationship between democracy and demography around the world. This book has been published in tandem with an exhibition of the same name and many of the contributions come from participating artists in the exhibition: Brenda L. Croft (Australia), 16beaver (USA), Daniel Boyd (Australia), Temporary Services (USA), Jakob Jakobsen (Denmark), Lisa Kelly (Australia), SquatSpace (Australia), Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro (Germany/Australia), Evil Brothers (Australia), You Are Here (Australia), Michael Rakowitz (USA), Miklos Erhardt and Little Warsaw (Hungary), Bijari (Brazil) and Democracia (Spain). The book also includes contributions from key thinkers about the complex life of cities such as the Situationists, Mike Davis, Brian Holmes, Gary Foley and Elizabeth Farrelly.

There Goes The Neighbourhood is edited by Keg de Souza and Zanny Begg from You Are Here, a Sydney based art collective which focuses on social and spatial mapping.

Pemulwuy Dream Team

Above is a fragment from Pemulwuy Dream Team an inter-active boxing game developed by Andy Nicholson, Keg de Souza and myself for the exhibition There Goes The Neighbourhood. The game highlights four people from around The Block, Redfern - Danny, Wasana and Naryma Dixon and Ted - and uses the symbolic form of a boxing game to address the fight for issues they feel are important to the area. The film was filmed in the Tony Mundine gym and can be played by one or two players. It will be on exhibition at Performance Space for the next five weeks - go down and check it out.

Gerald Raunig at Serial Space

"AND is neither one thing nor the other, it's always in-between, between two things; it's the borderline, there's always a border, a line of flight or flow, only we don't see it, because it's the least perceptible of things. And yet it's along this line of flight that things come to pass, becomings evolve, revolutions take shape" - Gilles Deleuze

Gerald Raunig, a philosopher, art theoretician and activist from Vienna is coming to Sydney for a conference at Artspace. He wants to engage in a more in depth and informal meeting with artists and activists from Sydney and is holding a free workshop, presented by You Are Here, to discuss his ideas on Friday April 10th at Serial Space. Gerald is the author of the book "Art and Revolution - Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century" and will be giving two presentations from this book followed by discussions/debate/questions. Gerald has played an important role in maintaining several bilingual websites which have discussed important issues for artists and activists including republicart (http://republicart.net/) and transform (http://www.transform.eipcp.net/) and has been one of the key theorists of the cultural significance of the counter-globalisation movement.

The workshop runs from 1-6pm Friday April 10, for a full workshop program go here.

Treat (or trick)

Treat (or trick)
Film by Zanny Begg
DVD 7min PAL
Sound Kate Carr
Camera Osama Yousif
For a high resolution version email: zanny.b[at]gmail.com


For more information click here.

Freewaves Hollywould Film Festival

What Would It Mean To Win? was presented as part of the Freewaves Hollywould Film Festival. For more information on the festival go to: www.freewaves.org.

6th Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival

My Film Don't Say Goodbye - An Exploration of Spatial Politics in Hong Kong will be screened as part of the 6th Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival. For more information on the film program go here