Chicks on Speed : Exhibition and Events

Images: Photography: Emre Unal / www.emreunal.net
Art Director: Mustafa Tunc / www.cultofmu.com
Fashion: Chicks On Speed (Kathi Glas / Melissa Logan / Alex Murray-Leslie)
Styling: Chicks on Speed, Mehlika Aydogan
Photography Assistant: Sezer Arici, Erdi Dogan
Styling Assistant: Muge Boz
Producer: Gunes Zahid
Make Up: Georgie Billington
Hair: Omur Donmezdemir

Chicks on Speed have been interrogating the boundaries of art, craft and music since they first formed
in Munich in 1997. In 2009 they bring their interdisciplinary practice to Melbourne, presenting their first
Australian solo exhibition Viva La Craft!

Functioning as both a work in progress and a space to exhibit the real results of experimentation and
research, Viva La Craft! will transform Craft Victoria's three gallery spaces into a laboratory of craft
development. Traditional techniques of millinery, silk screen printing, ceramics, patchwork, tapestry and
fashion tailoring will be combined with new research in technical innovation. Importantly, Viva La Craft! will feature the outcomes of collaborations with international and Melbourne-based practitioners,
deconstructing and redefining established craft processes.

Appropriating the form of the "happening", an important political strategy of the Surrealists and Situationists, Viva La Craft! will engage Australian students, audiences and practitioners to bring contemporary craft practice into a public forum: an “art camp-ground” for making and designing.

Opening (click for photos!)
Thursday 12 March, 6-8pm
To be opened by Abi Crompton, Director, Third Drawer Down
Chicks on Speed will be doing an auditorium DJ set

Viva La Craft! is part of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2009 Cultural Program.

Events and programs

At Craft Victoria
Please note places are strictly limited! Call on 03 9650 7775 to book.
Program is subject to change.

DIY KILLS THEM ALL WITH ONE PIN PRICK: Friday 13 March
4pm LUMP OF CLAY: Irene Grishin-Selzer and Chicks on Speed! (click for photos!)
Cost Free
6-7pm Faythe Levine lecture: Craftivism: Reclaiming Craft & Creating Community (click for photos!)
Artist, director, author and filmmaker Faythe Levine will lead a visual discussion about the background on the politics of handmade as it stands today. Within a world of mass production, globalized economy, and extreme materialism, what does crafting something by hand mean? Where does craft find itself today? Visual examples of the politics of handmade focusing on political crafters from the DIY/Indie/New Wave of Craft movement including Knitta, Stephanie Syjuco (AntiFactory, Counterfeit Crochet Project), Kate Bingaman-Burt (Obsessive Consumption) and Betsy Greer (Craftivism).
Length 60 minutes plus Q&A
Cost $8 Craft Victoria Members; $15 Non-Members

HAND MADE GLOBALISM: Monday 16 March
6pm Faythe Levine, Handmade Nation Workshop: Highlighting the Politics of Craft
Immerse yourself in the politics of handmade. Whether you have never been introduced to the power that can be wielded by craft or if you are a seasoned veteran living a DIY lifestyle, come join the discussion led by Faythe Levine, Director and co-author of Handmade Nation. Each participant will create his or her own embroidery while discussion is stimulated by a series of handouts, photographs and two screenings of political craft in motion.
Cost $15 Craft Victoria Members; $25 Non-Members
8pm “A FIRE” a music video by WE ARE THE WORLD (Chicks on Speed Records)

COLOUR LOCATION ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE: Wednesday 18 March (click for photos!)
1-4pm Travis Boyer’s short film INDIGO GIRLS and INDIGO DYE VAT workshop!
Chicks on Speed in collaboration with the Plant Craft Cottage present Travis Boyer’s Indigo Girls workshop. Indigo Girls is a craft-action dye event that has been performed in Taxco, Mexico and Brooklyn, New York. Participants dye garments in a natural fermentation indigo dye vat. The results are gratifyingly positive, the craft work is non-age or skill level discriminate. Indigo Girls is about auto-fashion empowerment, creativity, identity, and references many ancient cross-cultural textile art techniques, which are often gendered in terms of labour and value. Dyed garments will be hung to dry on a washing line in the Craft Victoria gallery space and will form part of the installation Viva La Craft!
Cost $20 Craft Victoria and Plant Craft Cottage Members; $35 Non-Members

FOR THE LOVE OF THE OBJEKT INSTRUMENT: Friday 20 March (click for photos!)
7-8pm Dylan Martorell and Chicks on Speed!
Cost $10 Craft Victoria Members; $20 Non-Members

At the Victorian Tapestry Workshop
Chicks on Speed artist talk
Tuesday 17 March, 5.30pm
As part of their residency/art exhibition/performance the Chicks will be constructing a tapestry theremin with the assistance of weavers from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop in situ at Craft Victoria. The Victorian Tapestry Workshop is delighted to host the Chicks on Speed artist talk, extending the conversation of contemporary tapestry practices.
Cost Free but bookings essential. Call Lily on 03 9699 7885 or email lfraser@victapestry.com.au

At Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces (click for photos!)
Chicks on Speed in Conversation
Thursday 19 March, 6pm
During the development of their exhibition for Craft Victoria the Chicks On Speed are in residence at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces and in this one-off event they will open the doors of their studio for a conversation with Alexie Glass (and the audience) in an intimate tête-à-tête.  
Length Approximately one hour
Cost Free but bookings essential. Please note only two seats available per booking and all bookings will be confirmed by email. To make a reservation please send your name and mobile phone number via email to: Amita Kirpalani c/o info@gertrude.org.au