Gosia Wlodarczak, On the Sky and Water, Frost Drawing for AGNSW, process, 2014. A seven-day drawing performance for the Drawing Out, The Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial, curated by Anne Ryan, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Pigment pen on glass. Photo: Longin Sarnecki. Courtesy the artist and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Home to 80 embassies and diplomatic missions, from Algeria to Zimbabwe, Canberra is the natural home for the Segue Festival – hosted by The Street Theatre in partnership with the Australian National University’s Centre of European Studies and the European Union Delegation – which explores the work of artists whose practices shift between cultures and continents.
‘I guess I call Segue a micro-festival; it’s really a bespoke project to see just what sort of platform we can generate for this Euro-Australian conversation and to bring it into sharper focus than perhaps it has been,’ said Caroline Stacey, the Street Theatre’s Artistic Director and CEO.
Despite the popularity of European works in Australia’s major arts festivals, Stacey believes that more work can be done on strengthening cultural exchange between the two continents.
‘For instance we don’t see works on our big stages that are translations of contemporary European work, whether it’s Latin-influenced or Nordic or Eastern European. And when you talk to artists who are working between both continents there’s often a conversation around the gaps that are there,’ she said.
‘There’s also, I think, a sense that we take the European equation for granted, that somehow we know it or it is already happening. But actually, when you start to interrogate and dig into it, there’s definitely a sense that Australia is fascinating in many ways to Europe but that’s not necessarily what they’re feeling is coming back from Australia. And that Australia is more focused on, I guess, towards Asia and the Americas.’
Polish-Australian artist Gosia Wlodarczak, the 2016 Segue Artist-in-Residence, agreed that Europe seems to have dropped out of favour with Australian artists.
‘At the moment I think the political agenda in Australia is very much positioned towards Asia, and I think that we a little bit neglect this old continent of Europe, but there is some interest in broadening the relationship,’ Wlodarczak told ArtsHub.
‘And that we have this festival, Segue, is important, because from our perspective here – not mine, because I’m from Europe but maybe other Australian artists – they would rather go to the US, which looks like the destination for art. And then perhaps they would go to London, which is the hub of international art at the moment.
‘Australia is such a multicultural place and we have representation here from every single country in Europe, and every single nation and language – everybody is living here, and they bring a lot from the old continent, but maybe we should send more back,’ she said.
Encouraging more Australian artists to work in Europe would help overcome commonly held misconceptions about the sort of art made in Australia, Wlodarczak continued.
‘From my experience, which I think is actually a kind of sad experience, the perspective in Europe is that Australia equals Aboriginal art. That is more or less it. But of course there are many people there who have more knowledge because they are professionals, but if we talk about the general public, even the public who are interested in art, they would think of Aboriginal art [when they think about Australia],’ she said.
Wlodarczak emphasised the important role artistic residencies can play in overcoming such stereotypes.
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‘Australian artists are very active and they like to go for residencies, and this is actually great because everyone who goes to Europe becomes a great ambassador for Australian art. And my personal opinion is that there should be more of that – that the Australia Council, which is actually a fantastic agency, should be allowed and able, by more funding from government, to make more of that and establish more residencies, because that’s the only way that Europe can learn about what’s happening here – by example, by seeing what people can do. And the art here is vibrant and modern … with a different perspective on the contemporary world around us.’
Comparing the continents
Austrian-born musician and sonic landscape artist Heinz Reigler is also appearing at Segue 2016, performing extracts from his upcoming sound piece North/South, which takes inspiration from his constant movement between Europe and Australia.
‘In my case the movement between the hemispheres brings a sense of tension vis-à-vis being permanently unsettled. To keep moving keeps me on my toes, I find it beneficial. Permanent uprooting feels traumatic, it injects a melancholy when leaving, and a yearning to return, it also allows the passing of time to be experienced differently. All that form valuable triggers for my work, especially with the North/South project,’ he said.
Reigler’s global perspective provides him with a unique opportunity to observe entrenched cultural differences between the two continents.
‘Both are rich in their own ways. Both are engaged. The main observation would have to be that Europe still remains shackled by a body of work created centuries ago and European audiences are confronted with constant re-runs of the classics and retrospectives — somewhat reminiscent to Hollywood sequels and spin-offs. It is slowly changing with more and more contemporary work getting heard and seen, but a massive amount of space, energy and funding remains locked off within those ancient works. Consequently contemporary artists in Europe are in permanent competition with the past in terms of exhibition and performance spaces, as well as mobilising an audience,’ Reigler told ArtsHub.
‘This problem varies across the different countries on the continent (Italy being a place where this issue is still felt extremely for contemporary artists) but generally speaking a lot of work remains to be done to redress this balance. Australia on the other hand has a long history of operating in the underground and artists have learnt to create their own spaces to present their work.
‘As long as I can remember the DIY culture in Australian music and art practice has been healthy and it results in a very dynamic contemporary scene, despite the fact that Australia also still pays way too much attention to art made hundreds of years ago. But Australian artists have found good strategies to circumnavigate that problem, operating outside the institutions.
‘I also think Australian artists are more resilient, having had to address their own set of obstacles such as tyranny of distance and a small population. Special mention should also go to the public radio culture in Australia, a very valuable platform for young and emerging musicians and artists in Australia that is unparalleled in Europe,’ Reigler said.
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Stacey notes additional differences, including Europe’s openness to linguistic and cultural diversity.
‘There’s an internationalisation of the arts in a European context that perhaps is deeper and stronger and more present than it is in the Australian context. So you can regularly in Europe see work in a range of languages – there’s not necessarily a sense of one primary language,’ she explained.
‘And there’s also the issue of translations. Contemporary work is translated on a regular basis throughout Europe and into a number of languages, and that work does make it to mainstages, and does make it to big and small stages, and is supported. But in an Australian context it is hard to find translations of, for example, contemporary Swedish work. Where do we go to put on that Swedish or Polish work that was seminal in either of those countries in the last three or four years?’
The trans-continental cultural exchange facilitated by a festival like Segue has enormous value to artists and audiences alike, said Wlodarczak.
‘The Canberra public will be presented I think with many, many interesting events and so they will actually know how important, for people who live here from Europe, how important the link is. Everything that we brought here from Europe enriches Australian culture and the place we live in,’ she said.
Artists especially can learn much from one another through such exchanges, said Reigler.
‘I think European artists could possibly learn from the above mentioned resilience that is found in their Australian peers. There’s a healthy anti-authoritarian mentality that benefits the Australian artists I know and I sense that missing somewhat in their European counterparts.
‘I’m not sure if there is too much to be learned from Europe, other than to be aware of its cultural conservatism and how important it is to keep fighting the forces that insist on telling us that Mozart, Goethe et al are the ultimate high points of artistic expression. Being aware of these European issues I would suggest Australian artists must remain sceptical of institutionalised organisations and keep celebrating contemporary practitioners, as well as keep creating spaces to perform and exhibit in,’ he concluded.
Segue 2016
The Street Theatre, Canberra City West
www.thestreet.org.au
5-15 May
