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The great exhibition about Aboriginal Art & Photography

22 February 2007 - PRESS RELEASE DREAMTIME AUSTRALIA - Berlin - EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE, LONG JACK PHILLIPUS TJAKAMARRA, PADDY SIMS JAPALJARRI and RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA belong to the who’s who of the Australian indigenous art scene.

Their work and the impressing photographs of Aboriginal photographer Wayne Quilliam are among the highlights of the exhibition DREAMTIME AUSTRALIA, which will be presented at the Art Centre Berlin beginning March 7th under the auspices of the Australian Embassy.

Altogether, the works of 77 artists will be shown in 1,000 m2 of the commercial gallery, creating a comprehensive impression of the different art styles.

The authoritative exhibition will give the visitors an understanding of Aboriginal mythology, which goes back as far as 40,000 years.

The exhibition’s program will feature more than 60 life size photographs by Wayne Quilliam who is considered as one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal Photographers with more than 100 exhibitions and over 500 published works throughout the world.

The aboriginal culture has no written language, yet the stories of the Dreamtime, the songs, ceremonies and the Corroborees are passed on from generation to generation.

The Dreamtime is the central idea of the Australian mythology and denotes the perpetual process of creation, which began long ago.

The aboriginal people understand themselves to be part of nature. Their ancestors have been eternalized in all kinds of phenomena– as animals, plants, stones, water, lightening bolts and thunder. In works of aboriginal art, the key messages of the Dreamtime impressively come alive.

The track record of Australian aboriginal art started in 1971 in Papunya as the paintings were completed on canvas for the first time and consequently became part of the art market. As measured by this short span of time, the new artistic style has developed explosively.

The strong articulation and the high quality of the works led to their presentation in significant museums, public galleries, important institutions and great corporate and private collections in Australia and the world.

At Sotheby’s in Melbourne the works of, for example, a work by Emily Kame Kngwarreye sold for approx. half a million Euro.

The opening of the Musée du quai Branly in Paris in 2006 also attracted a great deal of attention.

The exhibition at the Art Center Berlin is presented under the auspices of the Australian Ambassador Sir Ian Kemish and takes place in cooperation with the government organization Tourism Australia.

Location of Exhibition: Art Center Berlin, Friedrichstraße 134 (vis-à-vis Friedrichstadtpalast)

Opening Hours: Daily from 11a.m. to 9p.m., March 7th through the end of April

Admission: Between 3 Euro and 6.50 Euro

Source: PRESS RELEASE DREAMTIME AUSTRALIA

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