Visual Arts and Craft Strategy

The Visual Arts and Craft Strategy is a joint Federal and State Government funding initiative that has supported visual arts and crafts since 2004 through increased funding to the sector.

The strategy creates more opportunities for contemporary visual arts and craft practitioners, and benefits Western Australian individual artists through DCA’s Visual Arts and Crafts $25,000 Mid-Career Fellowship.

Bio-artist Guy Ben-Ary examined the boundary between art and science during his Mid-Career Fellowship, which enabled him to conduct initial research into cloning and neuro-engineering a brain/machine interface.

Guy, a founding member of the SymbioticA science and art collaborative laboratory at The University of Western Australia, researched the artistic, philosophical and ethical implications of reverse engineering skin cells into stem cells and then into

brain cells to form a neural network. The ‘biological brain’ was designed to interact with a geographically detached robotic arm capable of manipulating drawing instruments, essentially creating an artist through the semi-living entity.

Following the pioneering research and development undertaken during his 2010 fellowship, Guy was recognised with a $100,000 Creative Australia Fellowship through the Australia Council for the Arts in May 2012. This fellowship will allow Guy to conduct further research into biological and robotic arts to develop an organic self-portrait.

In Potentia by Guy Ben-Ary. Photo by Dr Stuart Hodgetts.

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Revitalisation of the Perth Cultural Centre

In 2010, DCA partnered with the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (formerly the East Perth Redevelopment Authority) to present the Non-Permanent and Ephemeral Public Art Project in the Perth Cultural Centre.

DCA’s contribution of $300,000 over two years has provided for a Public Art Curator and the commission of 11 works to engage with public spaces across a variety of art forms and artists.

The project was designed to delight, challenge, inspire and surprise, and the artworks have engaged with public spaces through a range of scales, mediums, palettes and commentaries.

The artworks include public tug of war games, neon signs, video screenings, brightly coloured bird houses, a 14-metre tall inflatable hand sculpture gesturing a ‘peace sign’, and fairy light portraits in shop windows.

Designed to contribute to the development and activation of the Perth Cultural Centre, the project aimed to engage with public spaces for a safer, reinvigorated, inner-city hub.

The artworks reached an estimated audience of 1.4 million people, and Perth Cultural Centre pedestrian traffic increased substantially due to the activities.

Untitled (carparks) by Jonathan Jones. Photo by Eva Fernandez.

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Western Desert Kidney Health Project

The Western Desert Kidney Health Project, a $5.4 million multi-agency approach to deliver health and cultural benefits to Indigenous people in the Western Desert, was formally launched in October 2010.

The project aims to reduce the development of diabetes and kidney disease by 20 per cent over three years in 10 Indigenous communities.

DCA provided the initial $300,000 to the project, which targeted a population of 8,000 people whose life expectancies were 17 years less than that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Health workers, community development specialists and artists delivered the program, providing a health clinic and using a sand-drawing technique and image projections to educate communities about healthy lifestyle choices.

The project attracted a range of partnerships including The University of Western Australia, the Rural Clinical School of WA, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Bega Garnbirringu, the Goldfields Esperance GP Network, Healthway, Lotterywest, BHP Nickle West and Wongutha Birni Aboriginal Corporation.

Supporting Indigenous Intellectual Property

DCA led a Cultural Ministers Council (now the Meeting of Cultural Ministers) working group in the development of an Indigenous intellectual property (IIP) toolkit.

The outcome was that the Arts Law Centre of Australia produced Solid Arts, an online resource providing free legal tools including audio and video advice on contracts, moral rights, copyright and IIP.

The website promotes greater links between business and Indigenous communities, raises awareness of the need to protect IIP, and enhances the coordination of existing networks working in the area of IIP.

Solid Arts received 3,708 unique hits and 10,975 unique page views between July 2011 and June 2012.

In addition to Solid Arts, the Council jointly endorsed the Indigenous Arts Code, including the Charter of Principles for Publicity Funded Collecting Institutions. The Code and Charter encourage ethical, legal and professional standards for the benefit of Indigenous artists and their work. To date, 21 WA galleries, dealers and museums have signed the Code.

Shenice Harris participating in a Western Desert Kidney Health Project residency in Leonora. Photo by Poppy van Oorde-Grainger.

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