Throw Shapes :: Sydney » Greedy Hen

Faxhibition :: Should have been called Faxhibitchin’

Lucy Fokkema — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:41:50 +0000

When was the last time you sent a fax? Ever? The fax machine is like the puppy at the RSPCA that nobody wants for Christmas. It just sits there in the office, year after year, looking like a refugee from the 80s classic Tron, casting a geriatric Evil Eye on your new iPhone and generally not sending faxes.

Well, that’s all about to change. Artist Jimmy Tranter (who incidentally designed the artwork for World Bar’s The Wall) and colleagues from Modular’s creative hothouse The Groop are bringing back the thermal fax machine for a special event at Surry Hills’ China Heights gallery – the Faxhibition. ‘20 artists, one fax machine, one brief – “the fax of life.”‘

“The brief was to create artworks that address our “clever” pun of “The fax of life” and have them sent through our 800 year old thermal paper fax machine that we bought off eBay for 20 bucks,” explains Jimmy. “The idea was to create something fun and engaging that wasn’t out to raise a profit or to add to the list of a hundred uninspiring things that happen everyday.”

Counting Greedy Hen, We Buy Your Kids, James Jirat Patradoon, Kareena Zerefos, Soda Jerk and Alter as contributors, the Faxhibition will be anything but uninspiring. “Facsimile – as it is scientifically known – has the dangerous power to debase art by simplifying it. No one sends art via fax machines. It is memos and letters and invoices and crap. Being able to express an idea via fax is such a challenging and exciting idea,” says Jimmy.

“It must be really challenging for the artists to just let go of the fact that they really can’t control too many parameters of the outcome of their work and to think outside the box… I’m surprised seriously at how much fax machines freak people out and we have no clue how to use them.”

Although when I asked him if fax machines will ever be retro-cool again, like the frankly unwieldy and impractical vinyl record player, he said a very final “No,’” Jimmy has a soft spot for ye olde fax machine. “The beige paper. The low resolution. How it can print crooked. How it can make those dial tones that sound like it is struggling like hell to get through and you have to stand there and watch it to make sure it goes. Its like that big, ugly, slobbery, but lovable dog.”

The Groop are also donating proceeds from the Faxhibition to Médecins Sans Frontières, aiming to raise a cheeky $500 000 for the cause. They have a donation page set up here.

The exhibition opens Friday 30th April 2010, 6.30- 9.30pm, continued 12-5pm 1st and 2nd May at China Heights’ Gallery, Level 3 16-28 Foster St Surry Hills.

Sydney BFF :: Bikes, Films, Music, Art and SEXY.

steph — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:02:37 +0000

As we’ve alluded to already, Sydney’s third ever Bicycle Film Festival is kicking off on November 11^th and we’re kind of totally excited. The BFF idea started in New York in 2001, and has since ridden its way through 39 cities – the films have been curated by the festival founding father Brendt Barbur in New York, and the ones we’re being treated to this year look pretty much great. Add to that the best launch lineup ever, the art shows, the goldsprints, the Babes n’ Bikes Polo BBQ (bike polo!) and the online bespoke beauty pageant, and you’ve kind of got yourself an instant win.

But what we love most about this festival – the reason we’ve been so keen to buddy up with them – is not only the perfectly sexy merging of bike, film and drinking, but the amount of local creative types who’ve been asked to get involved. (That and the fact that the team of producers behind it called their company ‘Best Friends Forever Incorporated’ which is the cutest ever.) These peeps know how to do a marketing. If you pre-ordered issue two of Happenstance, you may have been somewhat surprised to have it hand-delivered by bike. That was them. They’ve also asked the folks at Oh Really to customise their very own Crumpler bags to be given away at the festival. And the one we like best is the handful of local artists they’ve picked – people like Greedy Hen, Design Is Kinky’s Nick Rudenno, Happenstance’s Daniel Dittmar, Eirlie Chislom from Freidrich Gray, Yimmy Yayo and DoubleOhTwo – to juice up a pair of Onitsuka trainers. The shoes will be exhibited throughout the fest, as will photos of the artists and their bikes. Where the commercial world meets up with the grassroots and gives them a big hug and a pair of shoes. Love.

The Sydney Bicycle Film Festival is launching at the Factory Theatre on November 11 with Bridezilla, Jonathan Boulet, Deep Sea Arcade and Lions at Your Door (tickets here.) It runs until November 15, with events at the Chauvel Cinema, Monster Children, Lucky & Wolf Gallery, small bars everywhere, and wherever it is they end up holding that BBQ…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Middle East + Greedy Hen :: BAM!!

steph — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:34:10 +0000

Those rare moments when your favourite things collide are always so mysterious, but always so beautiful. Like the first time you added cheese to your Vegemite toast, or an icecream cone to the withered hand of a desperately old man, or streaming video to your blog, and it was like BAM! Perfection! It’s what happens when Max meets Dave and Spike, or when Gabe Delahaye meets This American Life, or when Bjork meets Ratatat. It feels like the random, unpredictable chaos that misgoverns the every day ceases in its explosive entropy for just one moment, and that moment exists specifically for and in response to YOU, and without even knowing it, the happy old man with icecream dripping down his shirt sleeves has finally tied together what seems like everything you ever believed in. Sometimes that moment looks a little bit like this:

‘Blood’ The Middle East

—++—
Sweet, huh? Yep, it’s a Greedy Hen. And also, while we’re on the subject of Way To Do A Film Clip Sydney, Sherlock’s Daughter released an extremely watchable video for ‘Song for Old People’ over the weekend. You’re welcome.

Your Face :: Our Party

amelia and steph — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:45:30 +0000

We were basically 85% sure that no-one was going to come to our party. We figured that everyone had said yes just to be polite but were actually going to go do more important things, like knit a tiny jumper for the tiny cat they knitted for their real cat. So when we got numbers the next day of the ridiculously large amount of people who came, we were pretty surprised. And hugely delighted.

Everyone who came was supportive, attractive, witty, polite and dancefloor-friendly. At one stage we even saw a baby there and what she lacked in dancefloor-friendliness she totally made up for in being A REAL BABY.

And the art! Watch This Space had put together a huge group of talent, and a ridiculously high-tech sensory system. While it’s possible that the two didn’t work together exactly the way they were supposed to, we got treated to the best of both worlds in two different rooms. Win! The team also delighted Amelia right off the bat with conversation about how to turn a projector on (“Sweet talk it? Stroke it gently?”) Double win! The awesome interactive projection performance by Luke Tipene kept way more people upstairs for way longer than we anticipated, credit for which also goes to the fantastic DJ skillz of Greedy Hen and We Buy Your Kids. They kept everyone happily distracted while one of our projectors kind of exploded, and didn’t play a small amount of Paul Simon in the meantime.

And then came the bands. Steph’s totally amazing at booking bands. (Steph wrote that.) We were actually a little bit dorky and overwhelmed by Danimals, standing at the front and doing that look-around-at-everyone-like-”Woah-Are-These-Guys-For-Realz” kind of thing. Then we found out it was one of their first ever shows as a full band, and we almost started a label.

Megastick Fanfare were next. These guys are basically a consistent wow, but are actually somehow getting better and better every time we see them. So they’re playing tonight again, after midnight at a late night party called “Witching Hour” at OAF. We’ll be the ones right up the front with the happy dancey shoes on.

And unfortunately for him, Spod knows how to make a party that we don’t ever want to end. We secretly dragged the stage manager into a locked vault while Spod played, which (whoops!) trapped him in front of the decks for way longer than we agreed on. We wanted to keep dancing, and we’re sorry. (Not really sorry. It was worth it.)

Thanks so SO much to everyone who came, played, arted and danced. Thanks so much to the Wall and to the World Bar too. We love all of you. And your baby as well.

Ears Vs Eyes :: And You’re Invited Too

steph — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:41:14 +0000

We’re having a party this Wednesday night to launch this here blog. It’s another Ears Vs Eyes shindig – the first was a fundraiser art auction last year, where we nabbed $3000+ for Heaps Decent by selling art from people like EAMO, Beastman, We Buy Your Kids, Greedy Hen, and Simon Degroot. This one is a digital techy audiovisual extravaganza, because blogs are for nerds. That’s right, we’re calling you names already.

Anyway, the party is being held at our BFF’s house. Our BFF is The Wall, every Wednesday at the World Bar. For all you arty farty party types, the Wall let you exhibit your work for free in a delightful room upstairs, while a party happens around you and below you. They don’t take commission, they help you promote it, and goddamn do they know how to party.

But this Wednesday it’s all about us, because It’s Our Birthday – and you’re invited too.

For the EARS: Electronichaotic party band MEGASTICK FANFARE are headlining the night with the beeps and beats of super-hyped superman D’ANIMALS and his live band in support, and SPOD on the decks bringing us home. In a tag-team DJ battle fandango artist duos WE BUY YOUR KIDS Vs GREEDY HEN will show their ears work as well as their eyes, plus SLEATER BROCKMAN, the Gold Coasts’ walking house party THE SURECUT KIDS and all the Wall’s favourite regulars doing their party thing until the wee hours of the morn’.

For the EYES: Arts innovators WATCH THIS SPACE present INFORMAL DIALOGUE’s latest project “Pulse.” Supported by anarchi.org, Pulse will perform the atmosphere of the venue in an automated real-time digital projection. Works by local emerging artists like TONY CURRAN, SONYA GEE, MATT HUYNH, STEPHENIE KANHUKAMWE, LUCIA FISCHER, REBECCA MURPHY, LUKE TIPENE, MEL BLIGH, JAMES BROWN and more to be announced will reflect and re-shape the social landscape of the venue by communicating back to the audience atmospheric factors detected on the night by heat, humidity, noise and beat sensors.

And on top of all that, there’s no cover charge – although we will be jumping on the bandwagon and raising some funds for FBi radio – please bring along a gold coin to throw in a bucket.

Ears Vs Eyes. Who will win… Who will win……. (No one will win, it’s not actually a real battle. Settle down, you guys. Seriously. Settle down.)

Your Face :: Lo Fi & Loving It at the MCA

steph — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:44:18 +0000

Your Face :: Lo-Fi and Loving It @ MCA

amelia — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:27:32 +0000