Delia Derbyshire - "Falling", from The Dreams (1964)

Invitation to FREE LOVE HURTS at Mailbox Art Space

FREE LOVE HURTS

Bon Mott - Edward Ounapuu - Caroline Phillips - Jennifer Rooke - Callum Royle - Siying Zhou
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2nd August - 2nd September 2017
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Opening night
Thursday 3rd August, 6-8pm

Council of People's Commissars in Smolny Palace, Petrograd, circa December 1917. Alexandra Kollontai at centre, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin to her right. Image in the public domain, colour by Rachel Pearce.

Curated by Rachel Pearce and Andrée Ruggeri

This exhibition asks seven contemporary artists to respond to the radical early Soviet feminist activism of Alexandra Kollontai.

A sexual revolutionary, an author and a diplomat, Kollontai served as one of the first women in the Bolshevik government's inner circle after the 1917 Russian Revolution. She fought female oppression and argued that women’s emancipation should extend to their sexuality, as well as their traditional roles in society. Kollontai felt that marriage was an unnatural constraint upon human behaviour, advocating ‘free love’ instead.

Within the parameters of their individual practices, the seven artists in this exhibition explore the somewhat marginalised figure of Kollontai, manifesting in artwork that reflects both their research and interpretations. Archival material is threaded throughout the exhibition, further inviting an investigation of Kollontai’s contributions in a contemporary context. A limited edition zine available on opening night presents curator Rachel Pearce’s personal response to Kollontai.

As many of Alexandra Kollontai's policies were overturned by Stalin in the 1920s, this exhibition stands as a reminder of feminism's troubled path, and its powerfully optimistic future.

Mailbox Art Space
141-143 Flinders Lane

Melbourne, VIC 3000

AUSTRALIA

Opening hours:
10am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday
10am – 5pm Saturday
11am – 4pm Sunday

Invitation to A Journal is Written on the Pulse of the Moment

First Site Gallery

6th June - 16th June

GALLERY 2:
A Journal is Written on the Pulse of the Moment : Jennifer Rooke.

How is the interior world of a woman, her experience of solitude and relationship to interior spaces, expressed through the language of drawing? Observations and reflections of the everyday are recorded through the diaristic process of drawing as a way to explore broader ideas of the self, art and life.

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Opening Night: Tuesday 6 June. 5:00-7:00pm
Artists Talk: 16 June. 1pm
Image Credit: Bedroom/studio. Jennifer Rooke, drawing installation, 2016
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First Site Gallery is run by RMIT Link Arts and Culture

Aldi

I've joined a band and we're playing at Visual Bulk in Hobart this Saturday...

Aldi was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946 when they took over their mother’s store in Essen, Germany. Deeply influenced by family friend Walter Benjamin’s experience of the Parisan arcade, Aldi rose to success through a policy of experimentation and continuous revision of its product choices.

In 1960 a rift between the two brothers over the sale of cigarettes brought about a split in the Aldi enterprise and its separation into the the Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. In doing so, further dividing West Germany along cultural lines in what came to be known unofficially as the Aldi-äquator.

Now years later Aldi fans Hayden Stuart and Robert Domanski joined by avid shopper Jennifer Rooke hope to heal this rupture with a view to using this exaggerated feud as a space in which to imagine a 1) chain of artworks and unpopular pop songs and 2) present a musical stocktake and an audit of their practices.

Art Vs Merch

I'll have my Synths of Desire colouring books on the merch table at Art Vs Music tomorrow night. If you would like to buy a colouring book but can't make it to the gig I also have them available on my very basic big cartel.

Moving

Thinking about writing and how I have been avoiding it lately.

Finding drawing hard. Finding the idea of drawing harder.

Keeping a diary everyday and then not keeping one.

Feeling annoyed at the thought of reflecting on past work.

Not realising how habits and work have shifted and continue to shift.

Untangling myself from doubt and finding new ways to work with writing and drawing.

Reaffirming writing and drawing as my necessary process.

Colouring books

I have three colouring books at the Festival of the Photocopier tomorrow 12-5pm at Melbourne Town Hall. I'm selling them for $18 each. They include A Walk in the Garden, The Bloomsbury Group and Synths of Desire. If you can't make it to the fair but would like to buy one, send me an email at jennifer.eb.rooke@gmail.com

~Now available at http://jenniferrooke.bigcartel.com~

This is the Forest Of No Return