Opening today: R.U.R

Ronnie van Hout's R.U.R, an 8m-long prone robot figure, is being unveiled today at the Melbourne Art Fair. The work is being presented by Satellite Art Projects, and is situated in the forecourt of the Royal Exhibition Buildings.

Promo photos reveal a blocky grey form with a scary set of teeth. Not being in Melbourne, I can only imagine what the "unveiling" is going to be like. I prefer to imagine that the work is currently shrouded in a white wrapper, which is going to be slowly removed in front of a humming crowd. I will be very disappointed if I find out later that they put screens around it instead.

Image: Ronnie van Hout R.U.R 2008, from the Satellite Art projects website.

Bunny hop

At overthenet, Jim Barr and Mary Barr have posted one of Patrick Reynold's shots of Mike Parekowhai's Cosmo, taken to accompany William McAloon's article on the Barr's art collection for Art & Australia.

overthenet
William McAloon's article - Art & Australia website

Dunedin Public Art Gallery has recently closed Reboot, the second exhibition showcasing the Barr's loan collection at the DPAG, curated by Justin Paton. It's a real shame that the exhibition isn't touring. The first exhibition, Good Work, was one of the best survey exhibitions I've seen in New Zealand. And the catalogue - full colour, decent length texts and only ten or twelve dollars- was one of the best bang-for-bucks NZ art publications I've seen.

Image: Michael Parekowhai's Cosmo, at the Melbourne Art Fair, 2006.