mis-design

The story you will find here documents, archives and communicates the development of Mis-Design, a six-part project with two exhibitions at the Ian Potter Museum of Art and three at inner-city Melbourne sites. A sixth, affiliated project, Adam Kalkin’s Pop-up Pirate Radio Tower, is located at the Victorian College of the Arts. Mis-design is an attempt to re-map the potential of contemporary art in a culture that is overwhelmed by design. Art is unique for its ability to unravel and undermine notions of ‘purpose’, ‘use’ and ‘value’. It is this capacity to anti-design that gives art a future in an increasingly commercial visual world. The links below will take you to a page outlining each project and artist, including international artists Andrea Zittel and Adam Kalkin, and local artist groups Flatland OK, the Pacific Women's Weaving Circle and the Slow Art Collective. All of the artists have been invited to inhabit the field of commercial design as a way to explore the possibility of creativity, critical thought and individual freedom in an overly designed world. Grace McQuilten, Guest Curator Mis-Design Exhibition, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, 24th August - 5th November 2011 Swanston Street Melbourne Pop-up Pirate Radio Tower @ VCA 20th July - 5th November 2011 Courtyard Cafe, entry from St Kilda Road Melbourne www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au www.pirateradiotower.com Mis-design is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria. The project has been funded by the Curator Development Initiative which is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Besen Family Foundation. Exhibition partners: Dulux Australia, Terrain Concepts. Freight partner: International Art Services. Online media partner: The Thousands. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25919123-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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Adios, adieu, farewell, thank-you

After 1000 free gifts, 200 temporary tattoos, 75 days, 58 pirate radio broadcasts, 56 sessions of tennis, 47 artists, 38 collaborating students, 35 creative collaborators, 20 public events, 5 locations across Melbourne, and one pop-up pirate radio tower, Mis-design has finally drawn to a close. A big thanks to all involved, and to all those who visited, participated, colluded, considered and challenged the process and unfolding of this complex, ambitious, irreverent and playful show. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Collaborators:

Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy: Adam Kalkin, Art Lockwood, Tim Fitzgerald, Sylvia Kovacovic, Eugenia Lim, RMIT Media and Communications Students Hannah Brasier, Nelson Chang Chen Chia, Sheryl Chen, Ryan Gasparini, Aaron Hartley, Ruby Jones, Megan Kiatos, Candice Miller, Pavita Sangruengkit, Daniel Tan, Diane Vu, Louise Waldon, Aysha Zackariya, RMIT media lecturer Rachel Wilson, the barber, tattooist Tim Dywelska, horse handler Ray Mina, gospel choir Thursday's Child led by Therese Virtue, rock band and string duet led by Caroline Webster

Adam Kalkin Pop-up Pirate Radio Tower: Pumphouse Design, Raphael Kilpatrick, Radio guru Bill Runting, State of Design team Kate Rhodes and Dan Honey, State of Design Radio Programmer Anya Trybala and her pop-up radio crew Sam Haywood, Dan Salmon, Eleanor Butt, Jess Wainwright, Lucie Bartonek, Robert Mclean, Tegan, Tharini Iyengher, Will Quinn, Ruben Ayers, Andrew Prata and Sarah Haywood, VCA staff Steve, Alison, Su, Maureen, Jason and Alex 

Andrea Zittel Smockshop Archive: Andrea Zittel, Smockers Hannah Adkins, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Maude Benson, Dafne Boggeri, Michelle Brunnick, Emily Bult, Sonja Cvitkovic, Kenturah Davis, Tiprin Follet, Claire Fong, Karen Gelardi, Hadassa Goldvicht, Kate Hillseth, Donna Huanca, Molly Keogh, Tony Koerner, Carole Frances Lung, Vera Neykov, Peggy Pabustan, Mariana Saldana, Ashira Siegel, V Smiley, Sophie Tusler, Jason Villegas, artist assistant Erin and curator Teneille

Flatland OK: Tim Fleming, RMIT Interior Design Studio led by Caroline Veins, Carolyn Hughes from Melbourne Central

Pacific Women's Weaving Circle: Maryann Talia Pau, Lisa Hilli, Grace Vanilau, Lia Pa'apa'a, Georgie and Alex from Alpha 60, 12+ aunties, sisters and PWWC women

Slow Art Collective: Chaco Kato, Dylan Martorell, Ash Keating and Tony Adams, McDonalds staff David, Monica and Sally

The Ian Potter Museum of Art team: Bala Starr, Joanna Bosse, Suzette Wearne, Terry Harding, Amanda Morris, Margee Glover, Jay Miller, Nigel Baldwin, Adam Pyett, Robyn Hovey, Steve Martin, Jane Eckert, Amanda Burritt, John Gerivasilis, Paul Robertson, Hamish Carr and LIz McRae

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"Games, Play and Infinite Jest," Lecture at the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy

Presented by Nick Levey from the School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University

In this great lecture, we venture into the games of the cult classic novel Infinite Jest, including tennis matches at the Enfeld Tennis Academy, which was a big source of inspiration for the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy. Nick talks to us about spectatorship, and we discuss how architecture informs the way we behave in different places. 

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All the documentation from the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy and Mis-design projects has now been compiled by our fantastic media collaborators from RMIT.

Visit the website!!

http://itsjusttennis.weebly.com/index.html

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Cosmology

In this fantastic lecture as part of the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy, we go on a journey into the universe with Dr Kalliopi Petraki, research fellow, Astroparticle Physics Group, School of Physics, the University of Melbourne. 

Physics and cosmology have become increasingly connected, as discoveries about the origins of the Universe inform our understanding of the structures and interactions of matter, particles, and forces, and vice versa.

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Timelapse footage from the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy and Pop-up Pirate Radio Tower at the VCA, part of the archive of the AKTA. The memorial will finish next Saturday, one week count down to the end...

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Artist profile of The Captain, aka Adam Kalkin, talking about various stimuli for the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy including the architecture of human experience, sacred texts, Weezer and Bach, Infinite Jest, playing tennis as a child and lots more. Thanks to the talented RMIT media students for putting together the video, it's awesome!

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According to string theory in physics, particles are made up of incredibly tiny “strings”, which are so small that they have only one dimension. Their dynamism comes from how they interact, and it’s believed that they exist in NINE dimensions. The extra six dimensions are imperceptible to human perception. We need intuition, imagination and creativity to understand string theory.

In this lecture as part of the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy lunchtime lecture series, our guest speaker Dr Benedict von Harlin presents an introduction to string theory. Dr von Harlin is part of the Theoretical Particle Physics Group in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne.

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The memorial of the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy, featuring film, video, images and audio that archive and document the activities of the AKTA during its life from 24th August - 23rd September. The gallery space is infused with sacred texts from the AKTA handbook, recordings from the WAKTA radio station, studio footage created by RMIT media students in collaboration with Adam Kalkin, and archival material that may just change the way you see the connection of art, sport, design, architecture and the human body.

Visit and commemorate the AKTA, on show in the ground floor north gallery at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, Swanston St Melbourne, until November 5th 2011. 

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Adam Kalkin talks to Heath Westbury on the very spiritual WAKTA radio station, broadcasting from the Pop Up Pirate Radio Tower. Heath is building his own home in Hobart, Tasmania, using shipping containers and was inspired by Adam's approach to design and architecture.

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Scenes from the Flatland OK project at Melbourne Central. The lucky tickets are now in circulation and people are starting to collect their very own limited edition Flatland OK book, providing "Everything You Need." See http://mis-design.tumblr.com/flatlandok for more info.

Special thanks to fantastic media student Sheryl Chen for the video. 

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Highlights from Everything You Need, a handbook for living, by Flatland OK. 

http://mis-design.tumblr.com/flatlandok

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We learn about bone health, high impact exercise and tennis in this week's lunchtime lecture as part of the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy.

Professor Kim Bennell discusses recent research showing the importance of dynamic movement to build and maintain bone, and how this can help prevent osteoperosis related fractures later in life. Tennis builds bone!

Professor Kim Bennell is the Director of the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine in the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne.

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Update from Flatland OK This is a sneak preview of The Thinking Pavilion # 2. It has a rotating door with mirror facing so you pass through the threshold to...  ??? The Thinking Pavilion launches next Friday evening at Melbourne Central. The Founder himself will be there to launch the Flatland OK book, which will be given away as a free product in exchange for a "lucky ticket," creating an alternative economy of exchange while also playing on the marketing strategies of the corporate giants.   Join us to get Everything You Need. 

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A glimpse of the Pacific Women's Weaving Circle's fantastic "occupation" of Alphaville's retail shop on Brunswick Street during Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. Thanks to Sheryl Chen for the beautiful video. 

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Scenes from the Mis-design artist's forum last Saturday, when local artists from the Slow Art Collective, Flatland OK and the Pacific Women's Weaving Circle shared their experiences creating new works for the show, the complexities of working in public and commercial spaces, maintaining critical space and creative freedom in the arts, and the relationship between art and design in a consumer driven world... 

Video and time lapse footage from the Slow Art Collective and Pacific Women's Weaving Circle offsite projects is now on show at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the Universtiy of Melbourne, alongside archival footage from the activities of the Adam Kalkin Tennis Academy at the Museum.