http://www.mka.org.au
A:
24/01/2015 22:09
A:
i went a theatre opening the other night
B:
24/01/2015 22:09
B:
what was it?
A:
24/01/2015 22:09
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A new Australian work
B:
24/01/2015 22:10
B:
tell me about it
A:
24/01/2015 22:10
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called "The Unspoken Word is 'Joe'"
by Melbourne theatre company MKA
do you know them?
B:
24/01/2015 22:10
B:
no
what kind of work do they do?
A:
24/01/2015 22:10
A:
they are going really strong as an independent company based in Melbourne
they go off the premise of new Australian writing
B:
24/01/2015 22:11
B:
what does that involve?
A:
24/01/2015 22:11
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just new work written by australians
B:
24/01/2015 22:11
B:
ah ok
A:
24/01/2015 22:12
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so I guess the big companies don't take risks with new work
so there's a hard push by people for it in sydney
i mean
australia
B:
24/01/2015 22:12
B:
what kind of work is it though? more experimental or traditional theatre?
A:
24/01/2015 22:12
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umm it's traditional theatre
but it's well written
B:
24/01/2015 22:12
B:
that's good
A:
24/01/2015 22:13
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I mean I guess this one broke the structure of typical writing
B:
24/01/2015 22:13
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how so?
A:
24/01/2015 22:13
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it was really well written!
well they kind of structured it as a play reading, and if you're not a regular theatre goer you would be tricked by it (which one heckler was apparently)
B:
24/01/2015 22:14
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how do you mean a play reading? oh, that the actors were reading the play?
A:
24/01/2015 22:14
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was written by a young writer called Zoe Dawson
B:
24/01/2015 22:14
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or they were pretending to
A:
24/01/2015 22:14
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it was like a staged fake play reading/develpment
but they slipped in and out of it
B:
24/01/2015 22:15
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ah that's very interesting
A:
24/01/2015 22:15
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into the characters lives
B:
24/01/2015 22:15
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what was the 'play' about?
A:
24/01/2015 22:15
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and sort of stagings of scenes
B:
24/01/2015 22:15
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kind of reminds me of Pirandello
A:
24/01/2015 22:15
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i guess the foibles of theatre, and trying to get work up
a satire on plays written by young people about relationships, but it worked as a paradox because ultimately that was what it was about
it was very layered, complicated
B:
24/01/2015 22:16
B:
yes
nice, are they only going to be performing in Australia?
A:
24/01/2015 22:16
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struggles of writing, actors, satires on stage management
yeah so it did Melbourne Fringe, and then Brisbane Festival too
it was set on the bump out of a fictional previous show
B:
24/01/2015 22:18
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haha
A:
24/01/2015 22:18
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but not actually of course, that was the design
B:
24/01/2015 22:18
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I wish I could see it sounds very interesting
A:
24/01/2015 22:19
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it was really funny
like hilarious
but also spoke of the struggles of young people in theatre
B:
24/01/2015 22:19
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and funnily enough a little bit similar to what Oscar and I are working on, although you're the only one who knows!
A:
24/01/2015 22:19
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amazing!
B:
24/01/2015 22:20
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I mean our work is different...but some things you said reminded me
if it works at all, that is haha
A:
24/01/2015 22:20
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this show was really tight! I am sure it took some time to develop
B:
24/01/2015 22:21
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does this company have a website?
A:
24/01/2015 22:21
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it was good it got a good staging at Griffin Theatre
yeah
http://www.mka.org.au
they are really exciting
and cool people i think
B:
24/01/2015 22:23
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yes it looks cool and new
A:
24/01/2015 22:23
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totally fresh in all the right ways
B:
24/01/2015 22:23
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so is it always different people?
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24/01/2015 22:23
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yeah I think so
B:
24/01/2015 22:23
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because in the list of artists there's like a thousand names
ah ok
A:
24/01/2015 22:24
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I think they really support artists in general, well thats what I hope
B:
24/01/2015 22:24
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you've seen other shows by them?
B:
where were we at?
A:
06/01/2015 23:48
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maybe we don't need to continue
lets talk something else?
B:
06/01/2015 23:49
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I feel that if I continue maybe I would keep criticising her work
shall we talk about the photography exhibition at the Barbican Centre?
A:
06/01/2015 23:50
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me too!
yesss we should
Did you like it first up?
B:
06/01/2015 23:51
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I did, I think it too me a while though
I think I'm often like that with photography
it's a medium that I don't immediately engage with
A:
06/01/2015 23:52
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yes it is such a hard practice to critique cause its the most common maybe? And crosses from art to advertising to the media and now it's super social?
B:
06/01/2015 23:52
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I think I had to walk around a bit and get the sense of the whole of the show to like it
A:
06/01/2015 23:53
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yes
I liked it very much
B:
06/01/2015 23:53
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also the scale of the show I guess
A:
06/01/2015 23:53
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a lot to take in
B:
06/01/2015 23:53
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yes
A:
06/01/2015 23:54
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I did end up rushing the last few rooms
because I felt overwhlemed
B:
06/01/2015 23:54
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yes me too
so what did you like about it?
A:
06/01/2015 23:55
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hmm where to start
I guess the social themes addressed through the representation of kind of deconstructed architecture?
I think it was a good anthropological study
and then enjoyed the artistry that supported those themes
how about you?
B:
06/01/2015 23:58
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I think I really liked to how the process of photography gave a specific feeling or mood or atmosphere to buldings
buildings*
the chosen point of view, tone, filter, etc...
in a way took an existing building and transported it to an almost fictional level
A:
07/01/2015 00:00
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yes, while still being very real
B:
07/01/2015 00:00
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yes definitely
A:
07/01/2015 00:00
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any particular favourite artists? perhaps we should pull up the site
B:
07/01/2015 00:00
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yes
A:
07/01/2015 00:01
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i thought it was called deconstructing worlds but it's called constructing
so daft
http://www.barbican.org.uk/media/upload/artform%20news/2726Constructing%20Worlds%20pre-installation%20image%20sheet_website.pdf
i bought the book and all
memory worse than a fish
B:
07/01/2015 00:02
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haha yes
A:
07/01/2015 00:02
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Do you suppose there was any reason to start the show with Walker Evans?
B:
07/01/2015 00:02
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when I was writing of mood and atmosphere I was particularly thinking of the work of Walker Evans
ah exactly
A:
07/01/2015 00:02
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I mean despite the obvious semi-chronology that followed the flow of the show
B:
07/01/2015 00:03
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I assumed that was the reason
especially considering that all of the more contemporary photographers were downstairs
A:
07/01/2015 00:04
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yeah
it was a good place to start artistically though
B:
07/01/2015 00:04
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there was one photographer that I really liked downstairs but I can't remember his name at the moment...I wrote it down but I don't have my notebook with me here
A:
07/01/2015 00:05
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errr should be on that site I sent?
was it the artist who used digital manipulation?
Andreas Gursky?
B:
07/01/2015 00:06
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no it was Iwan Baan
A:
07/01/2015 00:06
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ahh ok
B:
07/01/2015 00:07
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who photographed the abandoned building re-populated by people in China, I think?
A:
07/01/2015 00:07
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okkk
B:
07/01/2015 00:07
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I wish I had the actual photographs in front of me, I can't find them online
A:
07/01/2015 00:08
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which one was that? not the one who took shots up the yangtze River?
B:
07/01/2015 00:08
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no, although I liked that one too
I believe it was maybe the room before that
they were large photographs of the interior of an abandoned bulding
very colourful
A:
07/01/2015 00:09
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yeah
oh lovely
i can't remember
B:
07/01/2015 00:09
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a luxury building which they started building but never finished for lack of funding
and so people ended up moving in it despite the fact that it wasn't functional
A:
07/01/2015 00:10
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ah right
that was a motif throughout the exhibition?
B:
07/01/2015 00:11
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I remember I really liked it because the architecture really became a stage
A:
07/01/2015 00:11
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yes
B:
07/01/2015 00:12
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and what was going on wasn't staged, but it could have been...each room or flat of the building had its own narrative going on
A:
07/01/2015 00:12
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ohh right yeah I can see which one you mean now!
B:
07/01/2015 00:12
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oh cool
A:
07/01/2015 00:13
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Guy Tillim Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique. Similar themes in that work too although a different continent and culture altogether
B:
07/01/2015 00:13
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really? so it wasn't the photographer I thought it was?
A:
07/01/2015 00:13
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http://www.ted.com/talks/iwan_baan_ingenious_homes_in_unexpected_places
A:
07/01/2015 00:13
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no it is
Iwan Baan
but then
there was another one in the exhibition that I remember using a similar theme that I responded to
B:
07/01/2015 00:14
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ah ok
in any case, it was Venezuela, not China
A:
07/01/2015 00:14
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http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2014/sep/22/constructing-worlds-classic-photographs-redefine-cities-in-pictures
i liked the aerial series too
that was for documentation I think
B:
07/01/2015 00:16
B:
yes I remember the ones you mean, shot in Mozambique
I think the show was so large it was difficult to focus on everything
A:
07/01/2015 00:16
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yeah
definitely
it couldn't hold my attention not because it was uninteresting, just because of the scale of the exhibition
what about the seminar?
that corresponded?
B:
07/01/2015 00:18
B:
yes I think it did, although we spent most of it discussing whether photography is art
A:
07/01/2015 00:18
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I think it's important to discuss that
I was a little disheartened that even that discussion was happening
B:
07/01/2015 00:19
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yes if anybody has any doubts, then it is
A:
07/01/2015 00:19
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there are opinions and views, but they need to be supported
B:
07/01/2015 00:19
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yes sure
A:
07/01/2015 00:19
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and this is a masters program...
I don't meant to be a bigot
but I mean, that kind of wasted what could have been an interesting conversation artistically, rather than just interesting because I was bemused/baffled...
B:
07/01/2015 00:21
B:
the fact that we were discussing that wasted it, or the fact that you were bemused?
A:
07/01/2015 00:22
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i mean it wasted my time in what was intended for the seminar
like I found it entertaining for sure
B:
07/01/2015 00:22
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ah ok
A:
07/01/2015 00:23
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it was kind of outrageous and funny but totally not educational
what did you think
B:
07/01/2015 00:23
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I don't find that it wasted my time...I mean as long as some point is being raised and there is something to discuss
A:
07/01/2015 00:23
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like the opinion didn't really matter to me cause obviously it's a fact that photography is art whether you like it or not
B:
07/01/2015 00:23
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and also I'm interested in hearing points of view that I don't agree with
A:
07/01/2015 00:23
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I understand, I feel like maybe Im being intolerant
I just don't believe it was supported
B:
07/01/2015 00:24
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yes I completely agree that it wasn't supported
A:
07/01/2015 00:25
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which means I could basically just through out anything into a seminar
I don't know, I pay a lot to have an education
anywayyy
I think that consumed the seminar
B:
07/01/2015 00:27
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yes but I guess the point of seminars is for everyone to express their opinions about what we've seen
A:
07/01/2015 00:27
A:
yeah....
anyway
regardless of whether Filip views photography, he mad it clear that he viewed it as documentation
which in any case, this exhibition was a solid effort in displaying both
B:
07/01/2015 00:28
B:
yes
A:
07/01/2015 00:29
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and beginning with Walker Evans was evident of this
B:
07/01/2015 00:29
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yes although looking back and some of the photos on the website, I can clearly see that it most definitely isn't just documentation
A:
07/01/2015 00:29
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absolutely not
B:
07/01/2015 00:29
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in fact I find there's hardly any documentation at all
A:
07/01/2015 00:30
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I think most were practising artists
B:
07/01/2015 00:30
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yes yes
A:
07/01/2015 00:30
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I think there were photographers that were working for a department though
Walker Evans
and
Ed Ruscha
B:
07/01/2015 00:31
B:
yes but documentation in photography is...journalism...
I mean it is what we would see maybe in a newspaper
A:
07/01/2015 00:31
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it wasn't for a media source
err let's see
B:
07/01/2015 00:32
B:
and I'm thinking both of places and people because as subjects there really isn't any difference
or much difference
A:
07/01/2015 00:33
A:
no of course not
Walker Evans worked for the Farmland Security Administration, documenting the effects of the depression
B:
07/01/2015 00:35
B:
yes, so his job theoretically was to document
A:
07/01/2015 00:35
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yeah
B:
07/01/2015 00:35
B:
obviously though there's different ways of documenting
A:
07/01/2015 00:36
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yeah
of course
B:
07/01/2015 00:36
B:
only think of 'documentaries' as in films
A:
07/01/2015 00:36
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endless ways
you are or generally?
B:
07/01/2015 00:36
B:
most of them don't simply document
A:
07/01/2015 00:37
A:
nah
of course
but I think
the purpose of that set of photos was just to document
but something more came out of it
B:
07/01/2015 00:38
B:
yes but for example if you want to take a documentary photo of a person, and you ask them to stand in a certain light or position, etc...that's already not just documenting
I'm not saying he did that but
A:
07/01/2015 00:38
A:
yeah no i get that
I'm sure he did
that's why his work is in the barbican and not locked up in some archives
B:
07/01/2015 00:39
B:
yes
are you familiar with the film-maker Errol Morris?
A:
07/01/2015 00:40
A:
no
B:
07/01/2015 00:40
B:
he makes mostly documentaries
they're really amazing
you should look him up
A:
07/01/2015 00:41
A:
ok I will!
B:
07/01/2015 00:41
B:
I was surprised nobody mentioned him during the methodology lectures when we were talking about interview
because he has a very specific way of interviewing people
A:
07/01/2015 00:43
A:
ah nice i will definitely watch
B:
07/01/2015 00:44
B:
I run out of things to say!
