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Date: 20 July-7 September 2003
Date: 1-11 October 2003
Date: 18 October - 13 November 2003
Spirit Country, touring Japan as part of Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 and the Echigo Tsumari Triennial 2003, will captivate audiences with its seductive colors and patterns. The artworks are profoundly spiritual and provide an insight to the deep relationship to the land that Aboriginal peoples have developed over the past 40 000 years. On 2-5 October, a highlight of the exhibition will be a sand painting in Tokyo by two Arnhem Land artists, Richard Birrinbirrin and Neville Gulaygulay. Sand painting is traditionally made as a portal to the spirit world. Using four tons of white river sand, the artists will make one of their totems related to the Bomngu waterhole. The sand painting will be the first three dimensional Aboriginal artwork seen in Japan. At various times throughout the exhibition the artists will play the didgeridoo and hold 'smoking' ceremonies. Spirit Country is a collection of 50 works of modern art including pieces by the internationally renowned artists Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, Queenie McKenzie and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, along with others. It is drawn from remote and urban communities around Australia, including Papunya, Yuendumu, Utopia, and Haasts Bluff in the Central Desert. The exhibition is drawn from the Gantner Myer Collection, recently presented to the Melbourne Museum. This Collection was originally acquired over a four year period by Australian art patrons, Carrillo Gantner and Bailleiu Myer, with assistance from Neilma Gantner and curator Jennifer Isaacs. Spirit Country also draws upon works from the Melbourne Museum collection. Aboriginal Contemporary Art Exhibition (Spirit Country) Committee: Tel. 03-3476-4360 Spirit Country is a joint project of Melbourne Museum and the Asialink Centre of The University of Melbourne, in partnership with Art Front Gallery, Tokyo. Spirit Country is part of the Australia-Japan Art Exhibitions Program, an initiative of Asialink and the Australia-Japan Foundation. It is further supported by the Australia Council, the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body, the Australia International Cultural Council, and the Australian Embassy, Tokyo.
| download maps | event schedule | Ticket informationHillside Forum Daikanyama: Adults, Y800; Seniors/Students, Y500; Children in junior school and younger, Free
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Spirit Country is a visual tour de force that celebrates the diverse and distinctive art of Australia's Aboriginal peoples. The exhibition is one of the most significant collections in the world of contemporary Aboriginal art, and comes to Japan after successful exhibitions in the United States and China.
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