(above) The dance troupe from Torres Strait, taking time out before their performance.
Well, thank you all for being so patient – it’s taken us until now to process all the images for the bloggo – omigod it’s so labour intensive!! Anyhoo, all is finally done and dusted thank goodness – but we’ve had to divide it into two posts because the mug parade simply couldn’t fit into one set…
What a hoot of a night it was. The Gang arrived fashionably (20 minutes) late only to find that the speeches had already started (such a long program, they got off to an early start) and so we were obliged to join a large (equally tardy) mob huddling in the cold on the forecourt – without so much as a glass of red to warm the cockles – for what seemed like an eternity (but was probably only another half an hour or so…) Formalities (eventually) over we joined the stampede (though it was really more a case of being swept along by the tide) to the Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial 07 exhibition – only to come to our senses at the door and immediately turn around to fight our way backstream to the bar. Far too much of a crush to be able to do the show any justice, we realised – better to come back once the frazzle had subsided. Because it was a truly mammoth crowd (close to three thousand, by reckoning – so anybody feeling a bit special and superior about receiving an invitation was swiftly dealt a short, and timely, egalitarian backhander. Three cheers to the NGA for its notional liberalism - we love that. Shades of pre-Kennedy days.)
As you can imagine every arty(f)arty and his poodle was there and a particularly enjoyable time was plainly had by all. But there’s more(!) A mega program was laid out for the whole weekend; everything from lectures, to floor-talks, to performance art, to ‘open house’ tours through the very bowels of the building, even. And for three nights the entire edifice was ’papered’ in its own collection, courtesy of an extraordinarily effective beam show. (How sweet it was to see all the family action massing around the perimeter - gaggles of pajama’d kids, bundled up in blankets, patiently waiting for dark to watch art in technicolour - jeez, it took us back to the excitement of the Myer’s Christmas windows in Melbourne, when we were but a sprout…)
And now to the infamous picture show - sincere apologies to anyone missing in action, but the Gang is very conscientious about using reasonably flattering shots only, so a good many necessarily ended up on the cutting room floor. Never mind, still plenty to see…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glasscentralcanberra/sets/72157602427040301/
