Click here to view the programme for Leaving the Comfort Zone (8 – 12 September 2011) (pdf).

BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit / Shigeyuki Kihara from Shigeyuki Kihara on Vimeo.

2010 has been a very busy year for me especially with international travels for projects including residencies, exhibitions, commissions, public performances and a rewarding acquisition to top it all off!

My special thanks for 2010 go out to the warm-hearted grassroots communities who participated in the Talanoa: Walk the Talk performance series staged in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne.

Follow this link to the TV news article about ‘Talanoa: Walk the Talk VII’ performance project (in collaboration with Dumbai Dancing Group of Sudan and Te Roro n Rikirake Kiribati Youth Group, commissioned by Multicultural Arts Victoria Melbourne for Emerge Festival 2010) produced by the Pacific Pulse program on Australia Network TV.

Soon I’ll be back in Sydney to start the pre-production for my upcoming interdisciplinary project entitled BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit.

BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit is part of a major 3 year project entitled Edge of Elsewhere commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art for Sydney Festival 2010, 2011 and 2012. Edge of Elsewhere, curated by Lisa Havilah (Campbelltown Arts Centre), Aaron Seeto (4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art) and Dr Thomas Berghuis (University of Sydney), invites international artists to create work in collaboration with Sydney communities. More information is listed here.

Highlights of projects for 2010

Here is the list of highlights of my projects I participated in this year:

Selected Group Exhibitions:
Last ride in a hot air balloon, 4th Auckland Triennial, curator Natasha Conland, Artspace,New Zealand
Edge of Elsewhere, curators Lisa Havilah, Aaron Seeto and Dr Thomas Berghuis, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia
Samoan Art: Urban, curator Giles Peterson, The de Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, USA
UNNERVED; the New Zealand project, curator Maud Page, Gallery Of Modern Art, Brisbane touring to National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia
The Gaze, curator Mark Hutchins, Mark Hutchins Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Niu Pasifik: Urban Art from the Pacific Rim, curator Giles Peterson, C.N Gorman Museum, California, USA
Voiceless, curator Dr Gene Sherman, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia
Tiaho (To Shine) – Contemporary Photography From Oceania, curator Giles Peterson touring Palacio Municipal de Ciudad, Instituto Latino de Mexico preparatoria and National Autonomous University of Mexico City, Mexico

Selected Performances/Theatre:
The Last Dance, dance theatre showing supported by Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand and Auckland Festival, TAPAC, Auckland, New Zealand
Talanoa; Walk the Talk VI, Commissioned by 4th Auckland Triennial and ARTSPACE, New Zealand for Last Ride On A Hot Air Balloon 4th Auckland Triennial
Talanoa; Walk the Talk V, Commissioned by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art for Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia
Talanoa; Walk the Talk VII, Commissioned by Multicultural Arts Victoria for Emerge Festival, Melbourne, Australia
Culture Court, Supported by Multicultural Arts Victoria and National Gallery of Victoria International, held at National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia

Selected Public Speaking Engagements:
‘Pacific Thought Symposium’, MAU Dance Company and Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia
‘Edge of Elsewhere’ Artist panel, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Sydney Festival, Sydney, Australia
‘Physical Freedoms; Explorations of the Body’, panel discussions, 4th Auckland Triennial, Auckland, New Zealand
‘In Conversation’, ARTSPACE, 4th Auckland Triennial, Auckland, New Zealand
‘Artist talk’, National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia
‘Artist talk’, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
‘Talanoa Forum’, part of Talanoa; Walk the Talk VII commissioned by Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
‘Industry panel’, Manukau School of Visual Arts, Auckland, New Zealand
‘Artist talk’, Whitecliff College of Art and Design, Auckland, New Zealand
‘Industry presentation’, New Zealand Festival of the Arts and Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand, New Zealand

Artist in Residence:
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia
Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Grants:
Creative New Zealand Arts Council travel grant to participate in ConversAsians Symposium held as part of the Singapore International Arts Festival, Singapore
Creative New Zealand Arts Council grant to stage the dance production of The Last Dance supported by Auckland Arts Festival

Acquisition:
Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

Selected bibliography:
Susan Bright, ‘AutoFocus; Self Portraiture in Contemporary Photography’, Thames & Hudson, UK
Tessa Laird, ‘4th Auckland Triennial Review’, Art & Australia
Christopher Allen, ‘Cheap Trick’, Weekend Australian Review, 22-23 May 2010
Maud Page, ‘Unnerved; New Zealand Project’ catalogue, Gallery of Modern Art, Australia
Allan Smith, ‘Last ride on a hot air balloon’ review, Art New Zealand / Number 134 / Winter 2010
Rebecca Rice, ‘Capturing the Gaze’ review, Art New Zealand / Number 134 / Winter 2010
Nicola Harvey, ‘Art World’, MindFood magazine, New Zealand
‘Talanoa; Walk the Talk VI’, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne

BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit is an interdisciplinary project conceived and curated by artist and independent curator Shigeyuki Kihara which explores audience participation through public discussions, live music performance, mentoring and workshops and video documentation.

BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit also includes workshops personally led by international hip hop artist King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley to eventuate into a live ‘n’ direct concert to officially launch the Edge of Elsewhere exhibition held at Campbelltown Arts Centre on 14 January 2011 as part of Sydney Festival.

The documentation of BRING YOUR GAME through video installations will be presented as part of the Edge of Elsewhere exhibition. The documentation will focus on the highlights of the workshops and live ‘n’ direct performance together with interviews from the participants.

BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit is part of a major 3 year project entitled Edge of Elsewhere commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art for Sydney Festival 2010, 2011 and 2012. BRING YOUR GAME Hip Hop Summit is my second project (third and final project in 2012) for Edge of Elsewhere.

Participating artists in Edge of Elsewhere include:
Kimsooja (Korea)
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (Korea)
Brook Andrew (Australia)
Richard Bell (Australia)
Dacchi Dang (Australia)
Newell Harry (Australia)
Khaled Sabsabi (Australia)
Wang Jianwei (China)
Arahmaiani (Indonesia)
Michael Tuffery, (Aotearoa New Zealand)
Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa New Zealand)
Shigeyuki Kihara (Samoa/Aotearoa New Zealand)

For more information please visit:
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2011/Visual-Arts/Edge-of-Elsewhere-Campbelltown/

Or keep updated with the progress by visiting:
http://www.facebook.com/BringYourGameHipHopSummit

See the flyer below for more information!

Presented by Campbelltown Arts Centre, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Sydney Festival held between 15 January to 15 March 2011.

Now in its second year, Edge of Elsewhere continues to showcase contemporary artists from across the Asia-Pacific with works commissioned through ongoing community engagement. With a bold commitment to artistic collaboration, Edge of Elsewhere engages Sydney’s diverse communities to tell suburban stories and examine contemporary ideas.

Artists include:
Brook Andrew (Australia)
Arahmaiani (Indonesia)
Richard Bell (Australia)
Michael Tuffery (Aotearoa New Zealand)
Dacchi Dang (Australia)
Newell Harry (Australia)
Shigeyuki Kihara (Samoa/Aotearoa New Zealand)
Kimsooja (Korea)
Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa New Zealand)
Khaled Sabsabi (Australia)
Wang Jianwei (China)
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (Korea)

For more information please visit the Sydney Festival website.

Dates: 6 – 31 October 2010

The Samoan Art: Urban group exhibition curated by New Zealand-based, independent curator Giles Peterson features works by Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Marlaina Key, Siliga David Setoga, Greg Semu, Niki Hastings-McFall, Shigeyuki Kihara, Taniela Taniela, Lonnie Hutchinson and Rosanna Raymond. Moving image by  Angela Tiatia, Janet Lilo, Marlon Rivers, Michel Tuffery and Lisa Taouma.

Samoan Art: Urban is the first group exhibition of work by contemporary Samoan artists in the United States. Samoan Art: Urban features multimedia work including graffiti art, animation, digital and analogue photography, self-portraiture, hip hop music video, documentary film and performance. The artists in Samoan Art: Urban navigate a range of issues and concerns such as identity and identification, spirituality, the environment, colonisation, youth and street culture, survival and what it is to speak from the position of different cultures. Samoan Art: Urban is a snapshot of the exciting contemporary art being produced by Niu Urban Pasifik artists working in the diaspora today.

For more information please visit:

http://deyoung.famsf.org/

I’m pleased to announce that my work is going to be featured and discussed in the upcoming international publication entitled AutoFocus: Self Portraiture in Contemporary Photography edited by Susan Bright and published by Thames and Hudson (UK).

‘An intriguing new survey … a feast of elaborate photographic reinvention’ – The Observer

Lavishly illustrated and accessible, this dazzling array of photographs by seventy-five of the world’s foremost contemporary photographers focuses on self-portraiture.

From intimate images of introspection and those that challenge notions of ethnicity and sexuality, to dramatic, stylized photographs of dream-like scenarios, Auto Focus shows how one of the longest-established artistic genres continues to fascinate artists today.

Susan Bright provides a clear guide for readers through this significant and dynamic genre, showing how issues of identity – whether national, sexual, racial, personal or artistic – are key to understanding the work of many of today’s leading photographers.

The survey is clearly organized into five themes that deal with
• diaristic and autobiographical images
• pictures of the body
• the use of masks and masquerade
• the return to studio portraiture and the photographic album
• performance, public and private

An illustrated introduction to the book points to the history of the photographic self-portrait from the 1840s to the late twentieth century, providing an invaluable context for the recent surge in artists’ images of themselves.

Susan Bright is a curator and writer. She has taught extensively and has convened major international conferences and seminars on many aspects of art and photography. She was formerly Assistant Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Curator at the Association of Photographers and Acting Director for the MA Photography (Historic and Contemporary) at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. Exhibitions and catalogues include ‘Something out of Nothing’ (Fotogalleriet, Oslo), ‘How We Are: Photographing Britain’ (Tate Britain, London) and ‘Face of Fashion’ (National Portrait Gallery, London).’

Artists featured in the publication include:
Tarek Al-Ghoussein; Shokoufeh Alidousti; Anas Al-Shaikh; Ananké Asseff; Walead Beshty; Sian Bonnell; Slater Bradley; Elina Brotherus; Ana Casas Broda; Nick Cave; Serge Comte; Kelli Connell; Janieta Eyre; Thomas; Florschuetz; Joan Fontcuberta; Samuel Fosso; Anna Fox; LaToya Ruby; Frazier Gaüeca; Nan Goldin; Marnix Goossens; Aneta Grzeszykowska; Sunil Gupta; Jeff Harris; Lyle Ashton Harris; Anita Khemka; Shigeyuki Kihara; Oleg Kulik; Charles Latham; Nikki S. Lee; Hew Locke; Melanie Manchot; Malerie Marder; Annu Palakunnathu Matthew; Boris Mikhailov; Arno Rafael Minkkinen; Tracey Moffatt; Rod Morata; Yasumasa Morimura; Trish Morrissey; My Little Dead Dick; Yurie Nagashima; Ni Haifeng; Susanne Nørregård Nielsen; Ken Ohara; Lisa Ohlweiler; Catherine Opie; Tatsumi Orimoto; Chino Otsuka; Florence Paradeis; Tatiana Parcero; Martin Parr;  Paul+a; Dita Pepe; Shannon Plumb;  Julie Pochron; Airyka Rockefeller; Tracey Rose; Nanna Saarhelo’ Tomoko Sawada; Zineb Sedira; Jo Seub; Siya Singh; Jemima Stehli; Camilla Sune; Vibeke Tandberg; Sam Taylor-Wood; Christian Thompson; Danny Treacy; Gillian Wearing; Erwin Wurm; Noriko Yamaguchi; Kimiko Yoshida; Zhang Huan and Zhu Ming.

For more information please visit:

http://www.thamesandhudson.com/9780500543894.html

Artist: Shigeyuki Kihara

Title of performance: Culture Court

Performance duration: 60 min

Medium: Live performance featuring musical instruments and dance

Culture Court is a new performance art project I staged most recently at the 17th & 18th Century Gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria International (NGV International) based in Melbourne, Australia, and held during my residency with Multicultural Arts Victoria. The Culture Court performance alludes to a ‘human jukebox’ examining the relationship between art, performance and capitalism and the extent to which society ‘values’ culture.

The Culture Court Melbourne performance featured cultural performers from Indonesia, Kiribati Islands, Australia and South Sudan where the performers are specifically instructed to perform briefly and only when money is placed inside the bowl located in front of each performer. At all other times, the performer stands in silence inside the gallery space. At first, the audience enjoys the lively performance(s) by performers of their choice. It is during the performer’s silence that the audience begins to question their own actions as to whether they are contributing to the exploitation of the performer through the measure of their financial contribution. The Culture Court performance shifts the focus from the cultural performers to the audience where the act of placing money in the performer’s bowl becomes a spectacle on its own.

The cultural performers also appear to be busking – a practice associated with ‘low culture’ performance on the street (which also happens to be an active scene in Melbourne), while in Culture Court they are performing in an arts institution known as ‘high culture’, where through the deliberate ‘collapse’ of the social hierarchy exposes a myriad of discussions surrounding the commodification of ‘culture’.

To view documentary stills from the Culture Court performance held at National Gallery of Victoria International, please visit:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183097&id=566319206&l=9adebd32e8

I am open to discussion regarding the re-staging of Culture Court internationally, and seeking expressions of interest from those who are keen to partner in staging this dynamic, contemporary art project that strongly favours community participation and audience engagement.

If you would like to discuss the Culture Court performance (or any other performance for that matter) please contact me directly on email: duskygeisha@yahoo.co.nz

Talanoa performance collaboration between Wuriniri Music & Dance, Ingleburn and Campbelltown Highland Pipe & Drums and Shigeyuki Kihara held outside Redfern Community Centre in 2009, commissioned by Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia.