ART: safARI 2008

BY AMELIA GROOM

Diary note: the Biennale of Sydney is about to spread its arty fingers into six venues around town, and the city is going to be bursting with all things art for the next few weeks.

Running parallel, safARI is an unofficial fringe program to the Biennale, showcasing experimental and exuberant new work from 11 unrepresented young Australian artists working across a range of media (from video and sound to drawing and performance).

Capitalising on the local and international focus on the visual arts in Sydney during the Biennale, safARI serves as a platform for emerging artists and the spaces that support them. It will run for three weeks across three ARIs (Artist Run Initiative spaces) – China Heights, Gaffa Gallery and MOP Projects.

This year’s participating artists include Ron Adams, Liam Benson, Mark Brown, David Capra, Justin Cooper, Timothy Kendall Edser, Jessica Geron, Lucas Grogan, Chris Jones, Saskia Pandji Sakti and Luke Thurgate. All were selected by SafARI 2008 curator Lisa Corsi, from a national call for submissions.

As part of safARI, there’s a forum on June 22 at Gaffa with art advisor Barbara Flynn giving insight into collecting emerging art, and on June 28 there’s safARI artist talks at MOP, followed by a tour of the venues. For more information see www.safari.org.au.

safARI 2008
Until June 29
China Heights (Level 3, 16-28 Foster Street, Surry Hills), Gaffa Gallery (1/7 Randle Street, Surry Hills) and MOP Projects (2/39 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale)
Wednesday-Friday 12-6pm, weekends 12-5pm