Category: News

Giant hot air artwork The Skywhale to hover over Brisbane Powerhouse this week.

Don’t be alarmed if you see a giant anomalistic creature residing near Brisbane Powerhouse later this week. First seen hovering over the city of Canberra last year, the controversial hot-air artwork, The Skywhale, is making her way to Brisbane. Gifted from the Centenary of Canberra, The Skywhale will make three appearances from Wednesday 19 – Friday 21 February 2014 – coinciding with the APAM.

Created by internationally renowned artist and former Canberran Patricia Piccinini, at 34m long and 23m high, The Skywhale is at least twice as big as a standard hot-air balloon, weighs half a tonne and used more than 3.5km of fabric. It took 16 people seven months and more than 3.3million stitches to design and make and will carry a pilot plus two passengers to an altitude of 3000ft.

Patricia spoke of her creation, highlighting that the key purpose of its nature is to be a cryptic work.

“I don’t really want to tell people what exactly to think about the Skywhale. That is very much up to them. However, Skywhale for me is something of a meditation on nature and evolution, which are two things that fascinate me.

“Fifty million years ago whales were small dog-like mammals with hoofs called pakicetidae. Somehow they went back to the sea and became huge and intelligent. In that context, the idea that the journey could have ended in the air, with a creature like the Skywhale, is not so ridiculous.”

Piccinini is one of Australia’s best-known contemporary artists and works in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, video, sound and digital prints and has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Victoria and Albert Museum London, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and one of the world’s leading art shows, Documenta in Kassel, Germany.

According to Patricia she was very happy for the Centenary of Canberra commission to be gifted to Brisbane Powerhouse with the vision that it would tour throughout Australia and the world.

“I hope that she can be source of joy and wonder; that she can just fly and fly and fly.”

Viewings of The Skywhale are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 6 – 8pm. It will be tethered at the Powerhouse Plaza, near the main entrance to the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Jasmine Phillips is delighted to step in to sign for the deaf community in the forthcoming production of The Vagina Monologues at the Judith Wright Centre in March, particularly since it’s a family affair.

West End resident, political activist and Auslan interpreter, Jasmine will not only share the interpreting role with her sister, Michelle Phillips but is doing so at the request of her Producer-Director mother, Sally Lattin.

Jasmine was first in the family to discover the language of the deaf community when she studied Cultural Studies and Politics at university and met and became close friends with a fellow student who was deaf. This gave her an interest in signing so that she could communicate effectively with her friend but, having become more involved in the deaf community,

Jasmine decided to become an Auslan interpreter.

“My sister Michelle developed an interest in the Auslan language too along with the rest of the family but it was Michelle and I who became passionate about it,” Jasmine said.

“Auslan is the language of the deaf community in Australia and we as interpreters are thrust into many scenarios that are challenging and with unusual circumstances that require us to think on our feet and draw on interpreter training and ethics,” Jasmine said.

“I’m thrilled to be signing for The Vagina Monologues after their sell out season in Maleny last year. Making thought-provoking and entertaining arts accessible to Auslan users is a fantastic feat.  I’m very glad to be a part of it.”

She has been signing for the Woodford Folk Festival events for many years such as the opening and closing ceremonies which she has done on many occasions. She was immortalized on film by Darmin Cameron who won the Spirit of Woodford Video Award for his film Interpreting Woodford, a 12-minute documentary about Jasmine when she interpreted comedians performing at the Woodford Comedy Club.

“Interpreters rarely have access to materials in order to prepare in their day to day work. The good thing about theatre interpreting is that you have a script to familiarize yourself with before the big day, a luxury that interpreters rarely receive. “

Sally Lattin’s production company, Wild Women Productions brings Eve Ensler’s award-winning play to Brisbane at the end of March. The play is made up of a series of monologues, inspired by Ensler’s interviews with over 200 women from around the world. Through these monologues—which range from riveting manifestos to comedic recounts of real women’s stories—Wild Women Productions will celebrate women’s strength and sexuality, address issues such as violence against women, and work to create an empowering, positive perception of women.

M15+ classification. Explicit language and adult themes.

Find us on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/WildWomenProductions

BRISBANE– Judith Wright Centre
Friday March 28 2014 at 7.30pm
Saturday March 29 2014 at 2.00pm
Bookings: judithwrightcentre.com, 07 3872 9000

The Australian Marine Conservation Society has cautioned the Newman Government over a proposal to allow fishing in a green zone at Redcliffe, Moreton Bay Marine Park in South-east Queensland.

“This decision is clearly a complete misread of community sentiment on our marine park,” said Fiona Maxwell from the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

“The science and public sentiment are solid. Marine conservation and great fishing go hand in hand in Moreton Bay, and the public want them to stay.  The Newman Government has clearly not considered the science or the real sentiment of the community in this announcement,” said Ms Maxwell.

There was extensive community consultation through the Moreton Bay Marine Park process finalised in 2009, with over 8000 submissions received from ocean lovers, scientists and recreational users of the marine park. Recent scientific surveys of recreational fishers show that a clear majority believe that green zones are good for Moreton Bay, further evidence that marine parks are delivering clear benefits for fishers and conservation alike.

“The scientific and Government studies clearly show the great majority of recreational fishers, both in Brisbane and throughout Queensland, believe that our highly protected green zones are a good and pretty reasonable thing, and that great conservation and great fishing go hand in hand,” Ms Maxwell said.

“We question why Premier Newman is going against the science and the rigorously surveyed opinions of local recreational fishers to adopt a proposal that was being pushed by disgraced former MP Scott Driscoll whilst he was still the member for Redcliffe. There was no scientific process behind this decision.

“History, the science and simple common sense shows that recreational fishers and  other recreational users continue to enjoy the Bay as much as they always have – a point obvious to anyone that spends any time on the waters of Moreton Bay. It is difficult to understand the motive behind this retrograde proposal,” said Ms Maxwell.

Two recently published peer-reviewed studies from the CSIRO and local universities clearly show that the majority of local fishers think the Marine Park and its green zones are positive for the bay, and that the new zoning plan is delivering benefits to the community.

Main findings from the recent research (available here) include:

64.7% of surveyed recreational fishers said that the current zoning of the marine park would be positive for the biology’ of the bay.

Far from impacting fishers negatively – as scaremongers predicted – Moreton Bay Marine Park is delivering significant economic benefits to local recreational fishers ($1M-$2.5M per year).

A survey of north Queensland recreational fishers also showed that, in the much larger Great Barrier Reef Marine Park with double the proportion of green zones, 73% of fishers believed the green zones had either no effect or a positive effect on their fishing.

The West End Film Festival (WEFF) is an Australian short film competition held in one of Australia’s most vibrant communities, Brisbane’s West End. Established in 2009, it was obvious that the Brisbane film community was crying out for a short film festival they could call their own. Now in its 5th year, West End Film Festival is back and will be held at the iconic Rumpus Cinema on Sunday March 23.

Located in a large warehouse space behind West End’s Rumpus Room bar, holding the festival in a space quite different from a traditional indoor cinema promotes a relaxed environment where filmmakers and audience can interact, and also makes the event more accessible to local punters looking to do something a bit different on a night out.  In April 2013, the Rumpus Cinema accommodated over 800 people over 2 screening sessions on the same night.

WEFF is becoming a stronger identity within the Brisbane film community and has already become an event that local filmmakers look forward to each year. Short film festivals are essential in developing the next generation of filmmakers and provide a platform for established and emerging filmmakers to showcase their work and talent in front of their peers, community and industry professionals. WEFF 2014 will provide a platform for filmmakers nationwide to showcase their work in one of Australia’s most respected short film festivals and celebrating this in the most culturally vibrant, grass-roots place in Brissy, West End.

Films are selected by a panel of industry professionals as well as West End Community Representatives, giving the program a good balance of films chosen for their artistic and technical merit, and also for audience enjoyment. With more than 95 entries into this year’s festival, the panel has selected 14 finalists to be screened across to sessions at this year’s event. More information on finalists to be released shortly.

OFFICAL WEBSITE: http://www.westendfilmfestival.com.au
FESTIVAL TICKETS: http://www.eventbrite.com.au/org/1966307473

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-End-Film-Festival/181560882846
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WestEndFilmFest

Early in 2013 Aunty Peggy Tidyman and a delegation of the local Logan Elders were invited to the Chung Tian Temple as part of building understanding between Indigenous and Buddhist cultures.

Not surprisingly both cultures share a great respect for the environment and embrace the fact that we are honoured with the responsibility to care for the land.

In a sign of friendship Aunty Peggy gathered soil from the Temple grounds and after a traditional Blessing Ceremony presented it to Master Chueh Shan, Abbess of the Chung Tian Temple for safekeeping till the return of the Elders to place the soil back within the earth.

Acknowledging the traditional owners of the land the Blessing Ceremony represented a great privilege as it provided permission for all who now use the Chung Tian Temple to practice their beliefs and culture on the Temple grounds. Reflecting on the Blessing Ceremony Aunty Peggy said: “We have come as friends but we now leave as family”.

One year later and marking the sixth anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s sorry to the Indigenous people of this country a gathering between the Logan Elders and the Buddhist of the Chung Tian Temple took place to return the blessed soil to the earth.

Representatives of the Indigeneous community included: Aunty Peggy Tidyman, Chairperson of the Logan Elders; husband Phil; Aunty Betty McGrady; Aunty Cathy Jackson; and Uncle Paddy Brown. Joining the Ceremony from the Multi-faith Community were Susan and Justin Handley from the Baha’i community and Imam Tariq from the Islamic community. President Kim Wu from the Buddha’s Light International Association of Queensland was also in attendance with a number of members from the Association.

In a simple ceremony at dusk the group stood solemnly and bare footed around the Chung Tian Temple’s Bodhi Tree. In an act of returning the blessed soil back to the earth, each person gathered a handful of soil and sprinkled it around the base of the Bodhi Tree. Breaking the silence a number of kookaburras began singing from the surrounding gum trees while some local wallabies which were grazing nearby looked up to see what all the commotion was about.

Reflecting on this meaningful Act of Reconciliation Master Shan shared: “that the Bodhi Tree at the Chung Tian Temple is descended from the original tree that Buddha sat under when he was enlightened. It holds great meaning that both Indigenous and Buddhist cultures can share this spot as one of being sacred and blessed”.

Aunty Peggy declared: “that from now on Indigenous people will hold this ground under the Bodhi Tree as a sacred site and whenever we visit we will take off our shoes as a sign of respect to the Blessed land that we now stand on”.

The Blessing of the Soil has brought together greater understanding between people from the Indigenous and Buddhist community and further activities are now being planned for a strengthening and sharing of the two cultures.

Westender’s weekly business eNews has been rebranded as Business Voice.

Westender now produces two free weekly eNews letters for the two different groups actively following the affairs of 4101.

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