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The depiction of musicians and dancers in Australia
Citation
Teniswood-Harvey, A, The depiction of musicians and dancers in Australia, RIdIM 17th International Conference: Music and dance in visual culture Programme, 5-7 October 2017, Athens, Greece, pp. 76. (2017) [Conference Extract]
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Abstract
The representation of contemporary classical musicians and dancers in Australia’s National
Portrait Gallery can be examined from a number of perspectives. On the one hand, the
collection reflects (sometimes through omission) significant strands in the development of
Australia’s cultural and artistic identity: the early transplantation and emulation of European
art music and dance; the emerging confidence in an Australian interpretative voice; the
cultural melting pot that has resulted from increasing multiculturalism; the interest in
landscape and indigenous culture from non-indigenous people; and the vibrancy of our
indigenous culture itself, as told and retold by indigenous artists. Yet the questions of who
are represented and in what manner, require us to consider the curatorial motivations that
have shaped the collection: how does the collection reflect cultural hegemony? Who are the
arbiters of taste? As Carol Duncan writes in her article "The Art Museum as Ritual" (1995),
to "control a museum means precisely to control the representation of a community and its
highest values and truths. It is also the power to define the relative standing of individuals
within that community […] What we see and do not see in art museums […] is closely linked
to larger questions about who constitutes the community and who defines its identity." By
studying the institutional framing of musicians and dancers at a national level, we can examine
the values that influence our culture and artistic life. Given the visual bias of contemporary
culture, such curatorial decisions are crucial: it is through the visual that ideas about music
and dance are communicated. Therefore, in addition to exploring the role of the institution,
this paper considers the power of the artworks themselves to communicate and influence
the status of classical music and dance in Australia.
Item Details
Item Type: | Conference Extract |
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Keywords: | music, visual arts, representation |
Research Division: | Creative Arts and Writing |
Research Group: | Performing arts |
Research Field: | Performing arts not elsewhere classified |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Arts |
Objective Field: | The performing arts |
UTAS Author: | Teniswood-Harvey, A (Dr Arabella Teniswood-Harvey) |
ID Code: | 127806 |
Year Published: | 2017 |
Deposited By: | Office of the School of Creative Arts and Media |
Deposited On: | 2018-08-16 |
Last Modified: | 2018-08-16 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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