performance meets politics in Drama is Conflict exhibition

Linden - St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts has asked 6 artists to get theatrical for their exhibition Drama is Conflict which will be opened at 7pm Friday 16 May by Film and Television Producer and retiring Linden Chairperson Jill Robb.

From placards and protesters to propaganda and porn-star antics the results are provocative and compelling. Drama is Conflict not only considers the dramatic gestures of six prominent contemporary artists - it transforms the gallery itself into a site of conflict. The exhibition has been curated by Jan Duffy and features the work of artists Catherine Bell, Megan Keating, Dominic Redfern, Ronnie van Hout and collaborative group Damp.

The drama of war becomes burlesque in the work of Megan Keating who was recently picked by Australian Art Collector as one of the top eight undiscovered artists to look out for in Australia. Her installation The Ballet of Nothing More quotes the imagery of military propaganda with meticulous lacy figures cut from red paper.

Damp attempts to break down the distinctions between artists and viewers, whilst bringing the spectacle of protest to the gallery. In Just Like You Like It, painted placards, normally a tool of protest, become a voice for individual's desires, as audience members actively participate in the performance/installation.

The subjects of Christian Thompson's photographic series Emotional Striptease, are captured wearing the ruffled collars and crinoline of period drama. Their stiff poses, borrowed from history painting, and the thoughtfully chosen studio backdrops are used to dramatic effect to critique the act of displacement and the colonial representation of aboriginality.

In Catherine Bell's dangerously sexy video installation Hooked the artist manoeuvres beneath a mobile of shark hooks, biting off each hook and threading it through the links of her chain mail tunic.

Dominic Redfern also considers the theatre of eroticism in his video self-portrait It'll Be Cool. Repeating the title of the work to his lover, who is never seen, his hollow reassurance suggests that perhaps things are not as they seem.

Ronnie van Hout draws the moment of death into a sort of hallucinogenic, endlessly rambling, yarn in his new installation No Exit. A life size figure of the artist, holding two robins, whose garbled conversation is frustratingly impossible to understand.

Conflict is Drama continues until Sunday 29 June. Gallery Hours are Tues - Sun 1- 6pm.

Gallery hours are Tuesday - Sunday 1.00pm - 6.00pm.

For further information or images contact Jan Duffy on 9209 6794 or email info@lindenarts.org