The Event: ACMI Presents Yang Fudong, Filmscapes

Launching this week at ACMI, China Up Close is a fascinating look at one of our most polarising neighbours. 

The exhibition - ACMI’s first “Up Close” event - promises to explore this endlessly intriguing society through a thoughtfully curated program of art, film, digital programs, talks and live events.

Chinese screen culture is exploding in the world’s fastest growing economy today. This rapid ascent has occurred in a country with more than 20 per cent of the world’s population, making China the second largest international economy behind the United States. New opportunities for international collaboration and market penetration are now emerging, at the same time that Chinese society is undergoing a dramatic transformation and film audiences are growing.

At the nucleus of China Up Close is an exhibition profiling the elaborate films and film installations of celebrated Shanghai-based artist Yang Fudong. Titled Yang Fudong: Filmscapes. This premiere exhibition boasts three seminal works: Ye Jiang/The Nightman Cometh (2011), The Fifth Night (2010) and East of Que Village (2007) and also features a brand new work co-commissioned by ACMI and the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, titled New Women II (2014).

Yang Fudong

Born in Beijing and currently based in Shanghai, Yang Fudong trained as a painter before emerging onto the international arts scene in the early 1990s when he began working with multi-channel video installations, single-channel films and photography. Today, Yang Fudong is lauded for introducing multi-screen Chinese film installations to the West.

Drawing on Asian and Western cinema (particularly film noir and the French avant-garde), Yang Fudong’s dramatic and highly stylised film installations are rooted in the traditions of Chinese literature, philosophy and art. ACMI curator Ulanda Blair states that Fudong’s work appealed to the gallery, “not only because he’s working with the moving image; his work is also very reflective, illustrating the way that film makers can tell stories and manipulate our emotions. His work looks at the mechanisms of cinema and deconstructs those mechanisms."

The Nightman Cometh (2011)

Fudong’s extraordinary resume bares a critical relationship with cinema. His first film, An Estranged Paradise, premiered at the 2002 Documenta, Germany’s renowned festival of contemporary art, to rave reviews. Paradise uses a classic montage technique to track the romantic adventures and urban wanderings of a hypochondriac hero. The film was completed in 1997, thanks to funding from a patron who was willing to take a chance on a director barely out of art school and additional financing from Documenta.

It was followed by Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest, whose five installments were completed between 2003 and 2007, premiering at two Venice Biennales. Riffing on an ancient legend about seven young culturati who retreat into a sylvan life of drinking and conversation, Fudong’s Bamboo Forest follows the peregrinations of five men and two women as they linger among classic Chinese landscapes, farmers’ fields and modern construction sites.

Blair: “He [Fudong] attended art school in Hangzhou and actually studied oil painting. It’s amazing when you think that his first film, and he didn’t even study film making, for that film to premier at one of the biggest and most prestigious art events in the world is extraordinary.” 

The Nightman Cometh (2011)

It’s interesting to note that growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution and the more recent socialist market system meant that Fudong had limited access to Western cinema. The artist has previously spoken of preconceived notions formed through studying the films of Fellini, his imagination influencing his work even before he had opportunity to watch the movies he’d read about at art school.

Blair: “There’s a lot of influences from Western art house cinema, but he’s also been influenced by film noir and Chinese films from the 1920s and 1930s, a time when Shanghai in particular was strongly influenced by the West.”

 With his creative output very much grounded in traditional Chinese culture, Fudong is a rarity amongst his contemporaries, many of whom are now based abroad. It’s obvious that the artist still carries a deep appreciation and respect for his homeland, a theme often reflected in his work.

“We hear a lot about Australia’s relationship with China in the media from a political and economic viewpoint but building our cultural capacities are equally as important.” states Blair, “Chinese art has been incredibly popular on the international arts scene for some years now. But in Australia and more specifically Melbourne, we still haven’t really seen a lot of contemporary art from the region. We have a huge Chinese community here and it’s really important to have a Chinese artist shown. Having said that, we [ACMI] would only work with the best and I truly believe that Yang Fudong is one of the most extraordinary artists working today.”   

New Women II (2014)

Yang Fudong: Filmscapes will exhibit from Thursday 4 December 2014.
Entry is free.

Yang Fudong is represented by ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.

Interview: Patrick Pearse, Documentary Director

The concept of a feature length fashion documentary is certainly nothing new. Needless to say it takes both a subject and a director to raise one out of copycat territory and into a space of creative clear air. In this case it is the involvement of director, Patrick Pearse, and young Australian designer, Kym Ellery, which sets the insightful Ellery in Paris a sophisticated side step apart. 

Premiering this Saturday, August 30, as part of the annual ACMI presents Fashion on Film season, Ellery in Paris chronicles the journey of the Sydney-based designer as she makes her fashion debut on the Paris runway: the home grown talent with the unique eye who launched her brand in 2007 establishing her entrée on to the international fashion stage.

Yet much of the film’s appeal is due to Patrick’s handling. The fellow Australian sets the cameras firmly on Kym in the lead up to the eponymous label’s first Parisian show; the Spring Summer 2014 collection.

One could suggest it is his perspective and ease in film that has lent the documentary its backbone: Patrick, who says that he enjoys a shallow depth of field and abstract composition, has created a surprisingly relaxed look at what could have possibly been the most stressful period in the Perth-born designers life. Not that he will claim any of it. 

Patrick: “I think that all comes down to Kym. I barely knew her before I made the film and it blew me away how relaxed she was in such a stressed environment, all while the pinnacle of her career was happening right there and then. It was very tranquil.” 

Patrick, who got his start in short form documentaries and television commercials and has made Paris his base for the past 12 months, met Kym Ellery through her boyfriend, pro surfer Luke Stedman. The two formed an instant bond and, when Ellery was invited by the Fédération Français de la Couture du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode, to show as part of the official off-schedule for newcomers in Paris, the film maker jumped at the opportunity to accompany her.

Pearse: “I originally met Kym to discuss the possibility of her contributing some costumes for a fictional piece that I’m working on. That was in Sydney last year and she happened to mention that she was about to go to Paris. We just connected and got along really well. In conversation the idea for a documentary arose, I had no idea that it was going to be a feature length at that stage and I gathered a small crew together. The next time I saw her was when she came out of the arrival terminal at Charles De Gaulle airport and we started filming. It was very organic.”

With filming taking place over a week-long period in Paris, followed by time spent in New York, Sydney and Perth, the production took “three or four weeks in total” to be completed.

Patrick: “It was really quick, but then it took me three months to edit.” 

Though he laughs as he says it and our phone conversation is lighthearted, it’s hard to not appreciate the gravitas behind the film and Kym’s position as one of only three Australian designers (joining the ranks of Collette Dinnigan and Paris-based Martin Grant) to show in the City of Light.  

Patrick: “You could feel the emotion coming through the camera when we were watching the rushes back at night. Within the first few hours of shooting we knew that we were making something really special. There was a great sense of achievement. I knew very little about the fashion industry at the time but even I realized how big of a thing this really was. The moment that sung out to me was probably when the last few models had walked out onto the runway and you could see Kym’s emotions, it was very inspiring to capture. She had tears in her eyes and I think a few of us did as well, it was like reality had just hit us and we began to realise what had just happened.”

There’s a moment during Ellery in Paris when the designer refers to Paris Fashion Week as the “Olympic games of fashion”. And while the director states that it was “amazing to see a young Australian achieve that on a world stage”, Patrick has also scored his own major accomplishment – creating Australia’s first fashion documentary.

Patrick: “I had no idea [that was the case] to be honest. Not being from the fashion industry, I couldn’t believe it at all when I was told that.” 

Although he may be downplaying his own success, it’s great to hear Patrick praise Ellery’s dedication to her craft. During our chat it becomes even more apparent to just how strong of a bond has been formed between the director and his subject.

Patrick: “She [Kym] was so patient with it all. Kym really held it together and so did her team. I think that the cameras may have provided a distraction and a barrier so that the situation didn’t get the better of her, but that’s exactly how it was. What you see is exactly what it was. Even though we had absolutely no production schedule (Kym arrived into Paris a week late) and it was literally 20-hour days filming with no schedule or idea of what would happen next.”

He speaks highly of the team effort – of camera crew taping the showroom so that boyfriend Luke could paint it, of mixing paint and carrying buckets. It was tremendous effort made for a designer whose supporters cannot help but respect.

Patrick: “Kym has a really great team who she’s worked with since she started and they continue to work together on everything. From photographers to stylists through to the interns that she had, everyone would do anything for her, and we got totally swept up in the experience. Not just in making the film, but it was inspiring to be part of something so big."

The Event: 'David Bowie Is' Exhibition Announcement at ACMI

Bowie fans Sean & Maddy at the announcement of the ACMI ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition 

He was incomparable as Ziggy Stardust and unforgettable as The Thin White Duke. Now the man behind those two iconic musical identities will have his persona explored with David Bowie is, an exhibition curated by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and coming to Melbourne’s the Australian Centre of the Moving Image (ACMI) as part of the 2015 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces program.

It’s a coup for Melbourne, the exhibition having made its debut in London in 2013 before beginning a global tour that has so far taken in Toronto, Berlin, Chicago and – the only other Southern Hemisphere city to rate a mention – Sao Paulo.

David Bowie, 1973. Photograph by Masayoshi Sukita

The multimedia exhibit pulls together priceless pieces of the artist’s luminous history, from Ziggy Stardust body suits and the Union Jack waist coast designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen, to never-before-seen personal items including storyboards and hand written set lists, along with Bowie’s own sketches, musical scores and diary entries.

For V&A curators, Victoria Broakes and Geoffrey Marsh, the exhibit is as much an opportunity to consider identity as it is a chance to get a grip on the “real” David Bowie.

Victoria Broakes: “David Bowie is poses the question, ‘what is David Bowie?’, and our approach to the exhibition has been to leave that question open because it invites consideration, not only that we all have different identities, but also that he means different things to different people.”

Along with the main exhibition, ACMI will host a series of events, late-night programs, talks, film screenings and performances to celebrate and put to show the 50-year career of an artist like no other.

The ‘Starman’ costume from David Bowie’s appearance on ‘Top of the Pops’ in 1972 on display at the V&A Museum in London where the ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition was originally curated.

'David Bowie Is' opens July 16, 2015. Tickets go on sale in November. Registration for pre ticket sales is accessible HERE 

Interview: James Nolen

“Film is everything now in dictating people’s subconscious attitudes to style and fashion.”

-       James Nolen

As the film programmer for the Australian Centre of the Moving Image (ACMI), James Nolen views film as far more than a release in to fantasy: for him, it reads as a barometer of society’s cultural landscape, particularly as it relates to notions of style.

From the influence of The Breakfast Club in defining ‘80s style to Val Kilmer’s telling of Jim Morrison’s life in The Doors, that was the spark to ignite the leather jeans trend of the early ‘90s, the ability of film costume to exert influence on what we wear – and how – has only grown more powerful.

James: “The latest Hunger Games film is an interesting example: that one film was going to do more for that whole luxe sports industry than anything else. Costume designer Trish Somerville was looking for some contemporary high performance sportswear for the training sequence in Catching Fire and came across the label Lucas Hugh from the UK. Trish commissioned not only women's but menswear from Lucus Hugh, which was a first for the company. With the huge global success of this film, you can imagine what influence it will have on the major sportswear brands and some of the fast fashion retailers who are also expanding into sportswear, most notably, Uniqlo”

The Great Gatsby, too, has done more than its fair share to float further the gentleman’s outfitter revival that’s captured the imaginations of so many men across the city.

James: “Fashion in film completely filters down to street level, especially with Gatsby’s take on men’s fashion; those beautiful derby shoes and lovely textured socks that were a feature of the ensemble. You do see that filtering through even to mainstream at places like Top Man.”

But the film and shoe buff’s own personal style heralds from a different source: the queen of English punk rock fashion, Vivienne Westwood. She is, he believes, one of the few men’s shoe designers willing to take radical style risks in order to realise her vision.

James: “She is willing to make ugly shoes that then become beautiful in two years time. I don’t think she cares if they work, as long as they work for her.”

It is a perfect match: James is nothing if not adventurous in his choices, from today’s silver custom-made Rocco shoes to the Melbourne-made red brogues produced by a local Greek shoemaker under the Pantheon label. 

James admits he pushes the boundaries, noting the regular comments received on some of his more striking pairs. But then what are shoes, he notes, if not a vehicle for self-expression?

James Nolen, ACMI film programmer.

www.acmi.net.au

Makers Of Melbourne Fashion Panel - VAMFF Cultural Event

Makers of Melbourne kicked off its annual series of men’s style discussions with a bang on Tuesday night, hosting tailoring, literature, design and arts luminaries from London, New York, Melbourne and Sydney – each with a unique take on the historical, social and cultural context of men’s fashion.

Journalist Sarina Lewis from Makers Of Melbourne moderated the style panel discussion, 'Fashion Maketh The Man', hosted by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as part of the 2014 Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival cultural program.

Panelists included Roger Leong, curator fashion and textiles from the National Gallery of Victoria; Sydney-based bespoke tailor John Cutler; fashion and denim designer Roy Christou; celebrity stylist Philip Boon; plus online via Skype, author of 'The Coat Route' Meg Lukens Noonan (USA), and from Grenson shoes, Tim Little (UK).

A few curious facts we took away from the 90-minute panel discussion:

1.     Man’s current obsession with body sculpting finds an echo in the original Dandies who padded the breast and shoulders of their suits to provide the classic ‘V’ shape, a look to denote masculinity.

2.     The term ‘bespoke’ originates from the traditional idea that a fabric has been spoken for by a client – be+spoke. It is much more than the idea of made-to-measure, pointing to a relationship and exchange between tailor and client.

3.     Buttons changed, not only approaches to tailoring, but the very fabric of society: the importance of children in the modern family is said to have occurred as a direct result of reduced baby mortality rates courtesy of clothing and blankets that could be buttoned for extra warmth. Apparently we only grew attached when we knew we could keep ‘em alive!

Keep abreast as Makers of Melbourne continues throughout the year to profile the cultural cogs in the Melbourne landscape – personalities that influence how we dress, and how we think of ourselves and our city.

Makers Of Melbourne - VAMFF Cultural Event

As part of this year's Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, Makers of Melbourne in collaboration with Beggar Man Thief will be holding a panel discussion, Fashion Maketh the Man. For 90-minutes on Tuesday, March 11, some of the biggest names in men's fashion will gather at ACMI to dissect how history, culture and social change influences men's style. Listen to Sydney uber tailor John Cutler, Grenson CEO Tim Little, stylist Philip Boon, author Meg Lukens Noonan and NGV curator International Fashion & Textiles Roger Leong - among others.
Champagne on arrival. Tickets are $25, limited to 70 seats. Arrival at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Contact Sarina for more information & tickets:

(m) 0488088290 (e) sarina@beggarmanthief.com.au

Remi in Sanders

Managing Director of Populace Media, Remi, photographed at Federation Square in Sanders.