It almost seems like another world away- and in a way it was, look at all 2014 has swept over us so far- but here is a fantastic snapshot of my little project from February this year. Filmed and edited by Andrew Ferguson from Ferguson Films, the video shows the seven films exhibited in Melbourne's laneways and various sites as part of my Masters of Fine Art at Monash University. Big thanks to all who assisted, attended the exhibition, and showed their support.

Invitation image: Justine Khamara, Rotational Affinity (2013)

'Vertigo' opens at POSCO art museum, Seoul, for the final stop on its Asian tour. If you are in South Korea, please stop by to view the four video works I am showing as part of this wonderful exhibition curated by Claire Anna Watson and presented by BLINDSIDE ARI and Asialink. 

I'm thrilled to be part of "Vertigo"- a touring exhibition curated by the indefatigable Claire Anna Watson. The exhibition tours Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea throughout 2014. The exhibition features works by Boe-lin Bastian, Cate Consandine, Simon Finn, Justine Khamara, Bonnie Lane, Kristin McIver, Kiron Robinson, Kate Shaw, Alice Wormald et moi. 

More info and catalogue available here:

http://cms.unimelb.edu.au/asialink-new/arts/Exhibitions_on_Tour/current_exhibitions/vertigo

Last week I exhibited seven video works in Melbourne's CBD over three nights as the culmination of my Masters of Fine Art at Monash University. The series Untitled (domestic gestures) shows various cheeky gestures performed in public spaces (letting off a fire extinguisher, rolling down a hill, smashing plates etc etc). The works were then shown in various contexts- a library, a laneway, shop windows, a bar!- repeating and looping, ad infinitum. I was thinking about expectations of behaviours and boundaries to do with public space, to do with women, and the labour and maintenace of society. But I also hoped the works would function as a little "message in a bottle"- something noticed by the usual flaneurs and travellers through the city as a humourous interruption to their day. There were no labels or explantory texts on the works to facilitate further information. I was pretty happy with how it all went (bar some tech issues, ce la vie!), and the happiest news came to me this week. A librarian commented to a work colleague who was watching my video that it was causing confusion at the lending desks. The librarians would often see someone at the desks, move to help them, but find they were instead watching my video. Ah, my little message in a bottle...

A little bit of this....

....and this.....

... and I can't wait! See you there (especially Wed 15th January 2014). 

TRASH BAGS are a glam-anarchic roving performance duo. Like the love children of Leigh Bowery and Royce and Marilyn, these two provocateurs have stumbled straight from the dumpster into the nightclub. The elegance of their regal gowns and delicate sashays are dispelled up close- all bin liner and gaffer tape, the diamantes and tassels more spotlight than swarovski. Trash bags create beguiling moving potraiture, before cutting loose on the dancefloor in a whirl of trash-glad-baggery. 


Kate Boston Smith and Tania Smith are seasoned roving performers and theatre-makers, party-makers and innovators. They have worked together for many years across theatre, comedy, visual art and dance, and received grants and awards for their work from the Australia Council for the Arts, City of Melbourne, Arts ACT and Australia-Thai Institute.

Some install shots of last year's c3 show here- http://www.c3artspace.com.au/tania-smith/

Looking ahead to a full 2014... Hoping to complete my Masters in Fine Art at Monash University's Art, Design and Architecture faculty in early 2014 (watch this space) and then part of an exciting touring exhibition throughout Asia (watch this space again). And then, back to the studio for realz to make some new work, the first of which to show at BLINDSIDE ARI mid-year. 2013 has been wonderful- highlights including shows at Screen Space (thanks Simone and Kyle for your support!), c3 (thanks Jon Butt), the Channels Festival of Video Art (long live Channels! Sah proud to be part of it... thanks Jessie and co), QView public projection at Albury City Council as well as the Ballarat Foto Biennale.... Now time to get the glad rags on to send in the new year (briefly), before getting back to the library and that darned thesis...

Untitled (refrain) was an installation of performance videos exhibited at c3 Contemporary Arts Space at the Abbotsford Convent in July this year. The videos were displayed on five CRT televisions and DVD players and documented a range of performances in a costume designed in collaboration with Kiki Ando. The performances enacted a state of jouissance, a stolen moment of bodily pleasure, a dance-like gesture of delight. One of the performances took place in the site of the installation itself, captured on the gallery's closed security system and greeting the visitors as they entered the gallery space. Many thanks to Jon Butt from c3 for his assistance with the exhibition and the lovely Darebin Waste Transfer station employees, who were generous with their assistance in acquiring the many tv and dvd players used in the exhibition.
http://www.c3artspace.com.au/tania-smith/

I was recently fortunate to present a paper at the recent Contesting Identities Symposium hosted by the Photography Studies College (PSC) at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. My paper, "Funny and Feminist: Playing the Comic Anti-hero", spoke of the potential for humour to liberate the viewer, and thus humour's use for revolutionary feminist thought. My paper looked at writings on humour by Sigmund Freud, Henri Bergson, Jo Anna Isaak, Simon Critchley, with a nod to those comic anti-hero's par excellence, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Jill Orr gave an expansive keynote, and Ann O'Hehir from the National Gallery of Australia gave a wonderful opening address on the work of artist Carol Jerrems. Of particular note was Jerrems fastidious archiving, a dream for curators and conservators alike (artists take note was the none too subtle hint!) My session included papers by Lucia Rossi and Clare Rae that collectively interrogated the rich field of female subjectivity.

http://ballaratfoto.org/symposium/