Mildura Palimpsest#4
{Victoria Roxburgh}

Palimpsest is the name given to a parchment from which the original writing has been erased to make room for new words. It is also the rubric for an annual exhibition at the Mildura Arts Centre.

Mildura has a long tradition of supporting contemporary sculpture, having hosted the renowned sculpture triennials in the 1970s and 1980s. Ian Hamilton, director of the Arts Centre, developed the Palimpsest Cycle and it has attracted wide support. Most of the work in this exhibition was located away from the Mildura Arts Centre: the bulk in the Aurora packing sheds in adjacent Red Cliffs. There was something extraordinarily exciting about participating in an opening in the absence of most of the artwork and then having to clamber into cars and chartered busses to journey to the Aurora sheds to see the real thing. Getting to the Aurora packing sheds wasnıt straight forward, as a heated debate was ignited by Victoria Adams of ABC radio when she brought together a few people with strong views regarding Velislav Georgievıs use of live carp in his exhibit. Disapproval came from those who were concerned about the fish dying from stress and equally from those who were concerned that the fish werenıt dying in sufficient numbers.

The interior of the packing shed was divided into galleries through the use of walls created by stacking packing crates to dizzying heights. The shed was dark and smelt of sultanas and sweat. The work itself was theatrically lit with Annee Mironıs Maria Crosses The River acting as a fork in the flow of human traffic entering the big open doorway. Mironıs coolly paradoxical work evoked a ghostly atmosphere of endeavor, setting the tone for the exhibition experience.

There was a lot to look at, which is a compliment to all the artists involved. The art was powerful with some pieces displaying an extraordinary virtuosity. The dominant concern was the environment. Most impressive and awesomely beautiful was Resilience by Ian Tully and Peta McKay. This large floor-based work in red earth, featured text impressions: Latin words run together. The work was imposing and monumental in spite of its ephemeral nature. Other works incorporating text did not stand up as well. The emptiness of Ian Marr's Nilometer, an inscribed slate slab, kept the viewer at too great an emotional distance and Doolan's And then there were none felt cloying. In each case I wished I could see more of the artistsı work to better set their art within its context.

In the furthest packing-case gallery were two outstanding collaborative works. Father and daughter team Rebecca and Oliver Mayo created a glitteringly cold work entitled Teething that was suggestive of a much broader, even interstellar, canvas. Their work of porcelain teeth and a chrome-plated metal detector on a bed of sparkling black chromite evoked a feeling of endless layers in time and space. Across the room a series of photographs gave the viewer a similar glimpse of layers, only here it was the layers in time and space experienced by Igor Baskin (living in Russia) and Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo (living in Mildura).

Many of the artists sought to control the way their work was seen and understood. In some cases I felt myself resisting, becoming irritated as in the case of Steve Davidson's Glassy River, created from broken beer bottles and Dragan Kostelnik's visually impressive Road Signs, with its blown tyres and vaticinal symbols. One almost wanted to say, 'Yes thank you, I know what the environment is signaling'. But just when I'd become petulant, I found myself in front of the brightly coloured hanging poles of Yvonne Beyer's Cullulleraine Light, being made to view the work reverently ­ and loving it!

Ian Hamilton and the Mildura Arts Centre team are to be congratulated on this extraordinary exhibition and on Palimpsest in general, which is now being spoken of as a movement. I wished Iıd had time to visit the site-specific work. Next year. Those who are interested in taking a deeper look can view Palimpsest on line at http://www.abc.net.au/arts/palimpsest

(Victoria runs the Cochrane Street Wall and is keen to hear from artists interested in exhibiting. She can be contacted on ph. 9596-7771)

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