The Photograph and Australia - Exhibition Review - Art Gallery of NSW - 21 March to 8 June 2015

 

Migrants arriving in Australia - David Moore, 1966

The Photograph and Australia is the most substantial large-scale thematic photographic exhibition that has been held in Australia for the past 25 years. Covering the period from the 1840s to 2015 and drawn from 35 private and public collections from across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the exhibition investigates the role that photography has played in shaping Australians views of the world, themselves and each other. The exhibition explores four themes: settler and indigenous relations; exploration; portraiture; and transmission being spread over nine rooms in the main temporary exhibition space at the Art Gallery of NSW.  The images in the exhibition trace the evolution of the photographic medium and its many uses covering documentary, commemorative to speculative and conceptual while posing questions about how Australia has been represented and imagined through photography.

The nine rooms in the exhibition are separately titled with sub themes: Self and Image; Imaging Place; People and Place; Picturing the colony; Cities and Communities; Becoming Modern; Critique; Technology; and Time and Transmission.  The selection of works contains some of the earliest examples of photography from the mid to late 19th Century hence special dimmed lighting enables ease of viewing.

Artists represented include Morton Allport, Richard Daintree, Paul Foelsche, Samuel Sweet, JJ Dwyer, Charles Bayliss, Frank Hurley, Harold Cazneaux, Olive Cotton, Max Dupain, David Moore, Sue Ford, Carol Jerrems, Tracey Moffatt, Simryn Gill, Robyn Stacey, Ricky Maynard, Anne Ferran, David Stephenson and many others.

This is a must-see exhibition which has been in the planning for over four years and contains many unique and fragile works rarely seen in public. The exhibition runs until 8 June 2015.

Australia in 2055 - The 2015 Intergenerational Report

The Australian Government has released the latest Intergenerational Report 2015 as required by the Charter of Budget Honesty Act which has a stipulation for the report to be produced every five years (The previous ones being in 2002, 2007 and 2010). This much anticipated report contains a number of key themes which have been enunciated by the Federal Government and the Federal Treasurer.

Of note:
Population: Male life expectancy is projected to rise from 91.5 years to 95.1 years in 2050. Female life expectancy will rise from 93.6 years to 96.6 years in the same period. There are likely to be 40,000 people aged over 100 years by 2055 and.the population is projected to reach 39.7 million.

Economic growth: is projected to be 2.8 % per annum on average over the next forty years with the annual income per Australian rising from $66,500 today to $117,300 by 2055. The Australian Government is currently spending over $100 million per day more than it collects in revenue and is borrowing to meet the shortfall. The total costs of interest payments amounts to $40 million per day  to cover this debt.

Health spending: is projected to increase from 4.5 % of GDP to 5.5 % by 2054-55. If the proposed current budget approach is not followed health expenditure will reach 7.1% of GDP by 2054-55.

Social Services: currently the Federal Government spend $150 billion or 35 % of the Commonwealth Budget covering pensions, aged care, payments to families and individuals and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This is expected to rise but is  projected to be placed on a sustainable pathway.

Education: As the population ages it is forecast that the proportion of the population in education will be smaller especially in primary and secondary sectors. It is projected nonetheless that the cost per person will rise from $1,500 today to $1,900 in 2054-55.

The Report in many aspects reflects the perspective of the current Federal Government but it does not convey that the Australian economy is, in any form, in a critical state nor that there is a budget crisis. There are however challenges to meet over the next 5 to 10 years. The Report also devotes little content to the issue of climate change and its corresponding impact on health and economic activity. This critical factor will have greater influence, predominantly negative, as each decade passes.

The report can be accessed via the link below:

2015 Intergenerational Report

Aircraft, contrails and climate change - options for change

White contrails often seen streaking across the sky are the water vapour in hot aircraft exhaust which freezes when it meets cold moist air in the atmosphere. These contrails can and do form into wispy cirrus clouds which trap heat and thus contribute to global warming and more so that the actual carbon emissions from the aircraft themselves. Are there options to address this effect ?

Noting that there are few viable technological options for reducing contrails, one proposal canvassed by researchers, Irvine, Hoskins and Shine, is to consider re-routing aircraft to control emissions depending on the weather. In one transit model posited by the researchers, a 13.7 mile detour for a transatlantic flight eliminated a contrail 62 miles long and the clouds which would have formed from it.

Whether this method can have a practical application remains to be seen. The need for considering relatively cost-effective options with a positive environmental result remains paramount.

The original research article can be found at the link below:

Environmental Research Letters - Contrails and Climate Change

Earth Hour - Saturday 28 March 2015

Earth Hour this year is on Saturday 28th March 2015 from 8.30 PM to 9.30 PM. Although largely symbolic with little practical impact on energy saving, the event continues to remind people across the globe on the importance of tackling climate change. What will you be doing ?

The Link is here: Earth hour 2015 

Film Review - Birdman - Michael Keaton

L to R: Michael Keaton and Edward Norton "Birdman"

Billed somewhat as Michael Keaton's rebooting of his own acting career, Birdman can be a confusing film at times due to its structure and the use of a filming technique similar to one continuous take.  Co-written, co-produced and directed by Mexican film director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film follows the attempt by former Hollywood superhero actor, Riggan Thomson (Micheal Keaton) to restart his acting career by staging his own adaptation and production of a short story by Raymond Carver in one of Broadway's theatres. His efforts are dogged with uncertainty with a multitude of problems - his own previous typecasting as 'Birdman' and personal insecurity, the quality of the play's cast (leading to the replacement of one member with a famed Broadway prima donna, method actor, Mike [Edward Norton]), his daughter Sam (Emma Stone) a recovering addict who works as his assistant, while his girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) is also in the play's cast. Naomi Watts completes the key ensemble cast appearing as first-time Broadway actress Lesley and the former love-interest of Mike.

This film has many strong points and takes the viewer into the backstage activities of live theatre which would be of interest to theatre aficionados. In contrast, the character of Riggan can be irritating at times as he has conversations with his alto-ego, Birdman, throughout the film, visualises live action scenes on the street, floats above New York city and uses telekinetic special powers - all of which are in his mind. Is life imitating art for Michael Keaton ? The awarding of a Golden Globe for Best Actor would appear to say it is.  This is not film which will find a place on the American Film Institute's best film list, but it is a competent dramatic effort nonetheless.

Film Review - Mr Turner - Mike Leigh

Timothy Spall as J.M.W Turner in Mr Turner

Mike Leigh's biographical drama film, Mr Turner, won't appeal to all audiences with some aspects of his representation of the great British painter, J. W. M. Turner however it is nonetheless an impressive period work with an excellent cast and high production values.

The film is set in the last 25 years or so of Turner's life when he has long been established as an artist with fame, fortune and recognition as a popular if somewhat anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts. As the film progresses, Turner is shown sketching, painting, travelling to picturesque locations, staying as a guest with the aristocracy, visiting a brothel to do some sketch work, being strapped to a ship's mast to view a snowstorm and awkwardly navigating relationships with lovers, his housekeeper and children with very limited success. Leigh's objective with the film was to show not only the brilliance of Turner but also the man himself as a very flawed and awkward person seeking to distill, in an almost spiritual form, the world as represented in his paintings.

Timothy Spall gives a strong performance as Turner (for which he received the best actor award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival), Dorothy Atkinson portrays his housekeeper, Hannah Danby (with minimal dialogue but many long takes showing various expressions), Paul Jesson is William Turner, the much beloved father and Marion Bailey is the widow Sophia Booth with whom Turner spends his last years.

The film's has several strong points: the clever linkages between painting scenes and specific Turner paintings orients the viewer to Turner's  works; the scripting of the film is 19th Century without the error of slipping into 20th/21st Century dialogue which comprises many other period set films. The weak elements of the film provide some obvious flaws: Turner is portrayed as mainly grunting rather than responding in speech to other characters; there is an overstated drabness to most settings and clothes which reflects more the director's bias than reality.  Overall the film is a positive experience and well worth a cinema ticket.