1/2doz. Summer Festival 2006 1/6 Year of the Dog - Gallery 4a, Chinatown

1/6 Year of the Dog: Chinatown Public Art Project
4A Gallery (Asia-Australia Arts Centre) & McK17 Window Boxes, McKell Building, Haymarket
Fri 6 Jan – Sun 13 Feb @

Artists: Vladimir Cherepanoff, Shoufay Derz, Pat Sae-Loy, boat-people.org, Isabelle Toland, Mimi Tong.
Curated by Jasper Knight and David Teh

In recent years, Australia’s image in Asia has been coloured by issues of crime, security and border protection, and our alignment with the so-called War on Terror. But at the same time, free trade agreements bring us closer to our neighbours, creating commercial relationships that will shape our shared future. What role will art play?

Utilising Chinatown’s two contemporary exhibition spaces, six Asian-Australian artists celebrated the Year of the Dog with engaging window displays. Year of the Dog plugged emerging local artists into Chinatown’s Lunar New Year celebrations. The show comprised a new installation by Shoufay Derz at 4A Gallery, with works by five other artists installed in window boxes on the exterior of the nearby McKell Building.

Emerging visual artists exhibited alongside commercial designers, versed in the aesthetics of the shop-front and attuned to the gaze of the passer-by. Reviving the vitrine, this exhibition created a dialogue between contemporary art and Chinatown’s unique commercial heritage.

Images, from top: Shoufay Derz, The Break-Up, 2006 (video still); Pat Sae-Loy, Study for Year of the Dog, 2006 (mixed media); Shoufay Derz, The Break-Up, 2006 (installation view); boat-people.org, Untitled, 2006 (installation view, McK 17 Window Boxes). Photography by Jai Odell.