FREE Brisbane Zombie Movies: Night Of The Living Dead +4 this Friday and Saturday

Tomorrow, Friday October 31st, and Saturday afternoon November 1st, the Cinematique at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) are showing all five of George A Romero's "Dead" films for FREE (see below for map).

Friday afternoon kicks off at 4pm with Night of The Living Dead, followed by Dawn of the Dead at 6pm and Day of the Dead at 8pm. Then on Saturday at 4pm it's Land of the Dead followed by Diary of the Dead at 6pm.

And if you can't make it, you're in luck. Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so you can sit back and watch it right here, all 96 minutes of it:





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The round placemark on the map is the entrance to the Gallery of Modern Art. Go in the main door, and walk towards a stall in the middle where they sell tickets. Look to the left and you'll see a small foyer which is the entrance to the cinemas. The bus symbol on the map shows you where the Cultural Centre busway station is - just walk north from there to get to the Gallery.

Brisbane Political Junkies: USA Election Watch Party, Jubilee Hotel, Wed Nov 5 9.30am

Some Brisbane political junkies have set up an election watch party on Wednesday November 5th at the Jubilee Hotel, 470 St Pauls Terrace, Fortitude Valley (see below for a Google Map). The party starts at 9.30am - this is 6.30pm Tuesday in New York and 3.30pm Tuesday in Los Angeles, so the first results should just be starting to come in. There's a small charge - about $10 - to go in, as they've set up wi-fi so anyone can take a laptop along and get online. You can buy drinks and pub food, too .

Well-known political commentator Possum from the Pollytics blog will be there - he's provided more depth than anyone in the media when discussing Australian opinion polls

If you're interested you should click here and leave a comment so they know how many people are coming. The Jubilee Hotel is about five minutes walk from the Fortitude Valley/Brunswick St train station, or you can catch a 301 bus from the Cultural Centre, or Adelaide St, and get off at the bus stop on the corner of Constance St and St Pauls Terrace, about twenty seconds' walk from the Jubilee. You can also catch the 320 from Stop 142, Edward St in the city, outside the Macarthur Central shopping centre, right near the corner of Elizabeth St - get off at the same place.


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Brisbane Art: Brisbane Comix Jam Wed October 29th, 6pm, The Alibi Room, 720 Brunswick St

Brisbane Comix Jams are back! Comix Jams are when lots of people get together to draw comics - so if that's your thing, head into The Alibi Room at 720 Brunswick St, New Farm (on the corner of Annie St, catch the 196 or 199 bus from the Cultural Centre bus station or Adelaide St in the City).

If you want to see what's happened at previous Comix Jams, click here.


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Brisbane Festivals: Greenfest 2008 Opening Speeches

I went to the opening of Greenfest 2008 last Friday, and after slaving over a hot computer all weekend, I finally have the speeches ready for you. The speakers were introduced by John Schulter of Channel 7. The order of the videos is:

1) Welcome to Country by Eddie Ruska
2) Andrew Fraser, Treasurer of Queensland
3) Nunukul Yuggera Dance Troupe
4) Actor Jack Thompson
5) Famous primate scientist Jane Goodall (unfortunately I couldn't get the last five minutes or so as all my memory cards were full)

If you'd like to see more photos than the ones here, click here to see the photoset at Zooomr - there's about 60 photos there.


Eddie Ruska at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-31 by djackmanson on Zooomr

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People at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-10 by djackmanson on Zooomr


Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-35 by djackmanson on Zooomr

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People at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-28 by djackmanson on Zooomr


Jagera dancers at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-43 by djackmanson on Zooomr

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

People at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-19 by djackmanson on Zooomr


Jack Thompson at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-53 by djackmanson on Zooomr

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Jane Goodall at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-57 by djackmanson on Zooomr

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People at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-60 by djackmanson on Zooomr


People at Greenfest Opening Speeches, 081010, Suncorp Piazza, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-65 by djackmanson on Zooomr

Brisbane Art: Jon Cattapan's Possible Histories: Valley Nights exhibition

On Friday night I went to the opening of the free Possible Histories: Valley Nights exhibition of Jon Cattapan's work. It's on at the Dell Gallery at the Queensland College of Art until Sunday November 16th - see below for a Google Map.

This video of the opening speeches by Doug Hall and Jon Cattapan also pans over the signature work, Valley Nights, a huge, 4-panel work that is almost seven metres wide and almost two metres high:

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The notes on Cattapan's art by exhibition curator Simon Wright talk about how Cattapan has been coming to Brisbane for the last twenty years, which means he has seen Brisbane change from a backward-looking, inwards-looking provincial city into an "Australian metropolis". Wright says that this sort of change is an important part of Cattapan's work.

Another important thing about Cattapan's work is that it is not very clear exactly what stories (if any) he is trying to tell. There are human figures in his work, but they it's often hard to make out exactly what they are doing. This means that when you look at his work, you have to make up your own mind about what's going on.



It's a small exhibition: just four walls of the smallish Dell Gallery. On one wall is the huge "Valley Nights" work. As you can see from the video, it's all about Fortitude Valley. The Story Bridge dominates the centre of the painting, streching over a river. But very little else is clear. There are small-ish sketches of the McWhirters building and the gasomter at Newstead, but apart from that the "Valley Nights" is not true to physical reality. You can't move from one landmark to another as if it was a map, and the streets aren't laid out like they really are in Brisbane. I guess this is another part of asking you to work out your own story when you look at it.

Most of "Valley Nights" is dominated by blue night with long rows of street lights, or red, green, orange and yellow light, like the bright colours of street lamps and traffic lights. There are a couple of sketches of people gathered together doing stuff, but it's not very clear exactly what.



"Valley Nights" is something you should go and sit in front of for at least ten or twenty minutes - just soak it up.

When you've finished looking at "Valley Nights", turn to your right and you'll see twenty works that make up the "In Valley" series. Once again these are pictures of groups of people, but it's really not clear what they are doing. Some of them might be getting hassled by the cops, and some of them look like they could be having car trouble. The people are drawn in blue pencil, and there are splotches and dashes of bright orange paint over these paintings as well.



Behind you (as you look at "Valley Nights" are dozens of smaller artworks making up "The City Submerged #23: the lie of the valley". Some of these are reworked photographs, many are brightly-coloured ovals. And to your left are five untitled works making up "Valley Study 1-5", which look like photographs that have been silk-screened with oil and acrylic paint. As with all the other work, nothing is clear but an impression.

There's a long article by Suzanna Clarke about Jon Cattapan on the Courier-Mail website - it's worth a read if you want to know more about Cattapan's work and what else he's done.



"Possible Histories", which is a book by Chris McAuliffe about Cattapan's work from the 1970's onwards, is on sale at the exhibition. You can also buy it here from Melbourne University Press, and you can read it at the University of Queensland Library, the Queensland State Library, or the Brisbane City Council Library. If you need to look the book up at other libraries, use this list from Wikipedia.

The photos in this article are shots of people at the opening. If you'd like to see the full set of 30 photos, click here.

If you're interested in buying any of Cattapan's work, the Milani Gallery handles all enquiries.

The Dell Gallery at the Queensland College of Art is open from Wednesday to Sunday each week. On weekdays it opens from 11am-4pm, and on weekends from 12 midday till 4pm. This Google Map shows you where to go: the gallery is about two minutes walk from Southbank train station or about five minutes walk from the Southbank bus station:




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Brisbane Pro Wrestling: Grindhouse Weekend, October 24th and 25th

Pro Wrestling Alliance Queensland is putting on a two-night event, the October Grindhouse Weekend on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of October at the Morningside School of Arts, on the corner of Thynne and Wynnum Rds, Morningside (see below for a Google Map).

Each night costs $10 to get in. Friday night is mostly tag team matchups and a "Million to One Rumble Shot" for the newer wrestlers, while Saturday has a four-man showdown, a four-man TLC (tables, ladders and chairs) match and Kellie Skater v Valentine.

This YouTube vid is of the PWAQ's "Rise of the Warriors 2" event and it gives you some idea of the quality you can expect at the Grindhouse weekend. Prebooking your tickets is a good idea as all the Morningside shows have been a sellout before.

Here's where to go:


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Brisbane Mirrors: Mirror Image Photos

I was walking through the homemakers shopping area of Ann Street at the northern tip of Fortitude Valley, near the corner of Montpelier Road. Mirror Image at 887 Ann Street was packed to the rafters with mirrors so I got to take a couple of interesting shots.

I don't know if this was just a trick to get free publicity from photographers, but if it was it worked on me. If you want to buy any of their mirrors check out their website at www.mirrorimage.com.au

Brisbane Art: Under the Influence: Art & Music Exhibition

A friend suggested I go and see the Under The Influence exhibition today at the QUT Gardens Point Gallery (map at the bottom of this post). It's an exhibition about how art and music fit together.

The artist who really struck me more than any other was Soda_Jerk. One of their pieces was this collage of a Michael Jackson album cover:



I overheard an "Oh My God" when someone else was looking at this one, too.

Soda_Jerk also had two videos playing, one calledAstro Black: A History of Hip Hop (Episode 1),where some of the most famous early turntable hip-hop artists learn their craft from aliens, and Dawn of Remix -  the scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey where apes learn to use bones are remixed so the apes are learning scratching techniques instead.

I also liked Isobel Knowles' videos. Isobel Knowles used to be with the band Architecture in Helsinki, and she now makes music videos like this one, "My Old Ways", for Dr. Dog:

Dr. Dog - My Old Ways
Download Music Video Code at www.roxwel.com

If you click here you can see the rest of Isobel Knowles' videos, including the other two played at the exhibition. They were called "One Windy Afternoon" and "and you don't stop", which was 8-bit graphic heaven.

There were also two pieces by Danius Kesminas, called "(Meta)Physical Graffiti" and "Houses of the Holy":

Houses of the Holy sculpture at Under The Influence exhibition.3GP from http://djackmanson.vox.com/




If that's enough to get you interested, the Under The Influence: Art and Music show is at the QUT Art Museum until November 16th 2008. There are also some public talks and viewings: you can meet Soda_Jerk on Wednesday October 8th from 6pm - 7pm, and you can see their movie "Pixel Pirate II: Attack of the Astro Elvis Video Clone" on Saturday October 11th from 2pm - 3pm:

The year is 3001 and the ancient art of remix is being oppressed by the evil tyrant Moses and his Copyright Commandments. Meanwhile, in a secret base-camp on the moon a team of Pixel Pirates plot to overthrow Moses by their latest scientific discovery: video cloning.

Yeah. I could be up for that.

The QUT Art Museum is at the Gardens Point campus, near the Botanical Gardens in the city. It's near Parliament House - if you get to the end of George St and just keep on walking past Parliament House, the Art Museum is the third building on your right hand side. There's a good map here that shows you where it is, or just use this Google Map:




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On weekdays during the day you can catch the free City Loop bus which stops at the corner of George and Alice Sts, right near Parliament House and only a few minutes walk from the QUT Art Museum. At nights or the weekend, you really have to make your own way down George St, or maybe catch the CityCat ferry to the QUT Gardens Point stop. If you do that, you'll have to make your way through the campus from the ferry stop.