SCAF – Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation

In association with the exhibition Dinh Q. Lê: Erasure
a multimedia installation and online archive erasurearchive.net
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation presents

Art + Activism

Dr Gene Sherman AM in discussion with
Julian Burnside, John McDonald and Nicholas Jose

Thursday, 4 August 2011
6 – 8 pm

Exhibition dates: 
8 July – 10 September 2011

Erasure is proudly supported by Nicholas and Angela Curtis

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Speakers:

Dr Gene Sherman AM is Chairman and Executive Director of Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF). She has a specialised knowledge of art and French literature and prior to founding the gallery she spent seventeen years teaching and lecturing at secondary and tertiary levels. She is currently on the Board of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, a member of the Tate Modern Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee and on the Art & Australia Advisory Board. Gene was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government (2003) for her contribution to culture. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from The University of Sydney (2008), and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia(2010).

Julian Burnside is a barrister, human rights advocate, published author and passionate supporter of the arts. He has provided legal counsel to many high-profile cases, notably he acted for the Ok Tedi natives against BHP, for Alan Bond in fraud trials, for Rose Porteous in numerous actions against Gina Rinehart, and for the Maritime Union of Australia in the waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores (1998). He is a former President of Liberty Victoria, and has acted pro bono in many human rights cases, in particular concerning the treatment of refugees. He was elected as a Living National Treasure (2004) and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (2009).

John McDonald is an art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, a post he has held – on and off – for almost thirty years. He has written for many Australian and international publications, worked as an editor and publisher, has lectured throughout Australia, and taught Art History & Theory at the National Art School, Sydney. He was Head of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia (1999-2000); Director of New contemporaries exhibition space (2002-04) and was founding editor of Australian Art Review and East-West Arts magazines. John was also a major contributor to The Big Bang: the catalogue for the White Rabbit Collection. Currently, he is working on Volume two of The Art of Australia and writes weekly film reviews for the Weekend Australian Financial Review.

Nicholas Jose is a novelist, essayist and scholar. Nicholas was Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy, Beijing (1987-1990), has held the Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide (2005-08) and has a Chair in Writing with the Writing & Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney (2008). Nicholas was President of Sydney PEN (2002-05) and was appointed to the distinguished annual chair of Australian studies at Harvard University. He has acted as curatorial advisor to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney on the exhibitions Mao Goes Pop (1993) and ARTTAIWAN (1995) and at present, Nicholas is General Editor of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature.