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Melbourne's Utopian Slumps: new focus, address and exhibition

artists, spaces

14 July 2010

Utopian Slumps has moved from a non-fon-profit organisation on Easey Street, in Collingwood, to a commercial art space at 33 Guildford Lane, in Naarm / Melbourne (view new location on Google Maps).

"Discreet Objects", curated by Melissa Loughnan and Helen Hughes, opened on Thursday 8 July 2010 and it's great to see the space finding its feet at its new address.

Highlights of this exhibition, which includes four artists – Lauren Berkowitz, Alex Martinis Roe, Elizabeth Newman and Sriwhana Spong –, are the 2 installations by Lauren Berkowitz:

• "Installation #4″ (above) is a beautiful installation of Naarm / Melbourne's telephone books – 400cm (height) x 400cm (width) x 40cm (depth). The columns and the names give a slight memorial feel and is quite a silent, reflective piece of work. As the artist has noted, it speaks of "obsolescence and vulnerability through its fragile form, but simultaneously regenerates, mutates and hints at its ability to grow infinitely".
• I love "White Residue" (2010), Berkowitz's second sculptural component in "Discreet Objects". "White Residue" is made from the factory off-cuts of leather cricket balls. Berkowitz has managed to create a beautiful installation that is soft, elegant and translucent from ceiling to floor. Discarded materials are suddenly transformed with the use of thread that weaves its way through these white rubber off cuts.

Lauren Berkowitz has completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Sculpture at RMIT (Melbourne), a Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts, Sculpture at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA, Melbourne) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Sculpture at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

She has exhibited across institutional and commercial spaces in Australia and abroad, including:

• Monash University Faculty Gallery (Melbourne)
• National Gallery of Australia (Canberra)
• La Trobe University Museum of Art (Melbourne)
• Monash University Museum of Art (Melbourne)
• Heide Museum of Modern Art (Melbourne)
• Artspace (Sydney)
• Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney)
• Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Echigo-Tsumari Art triennial (Japan).

What: "Discreet Objects"

When: until 31 July 2010 (Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm tp 6pm)

Where: Utopian Slumps, 33 Guildford Lane, Melbourne (location on Google Maps)