Azlan McLennan
Encyclopedia
Azlan McLennan is a visual artist and socialist activist based in Melbourne
, Australia
. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts
. His art is known for its political content and has been the subject of considerable debate and media attention in Australia.
Conceptually, McLennan's work tends to be unambiguous and antagonistic from a left-wing perspective, loosely following the traditions of agitprop
, anti-art
and institutional critique
, incorporating elements of détournement
, readymade or installation
. His works have often been characterised as controversial by conservative politicians, journalists and art critics, usually portraying the artist in a negative light. Alternatively, various liberal
lawyers, academics and activists have defended his works, usually on the basis of free speech, due to the offense sometimes caused by his art for its often overt left-leaning bias. The artist has expressed public criticisms over Zionism
, the War on Terror
, Australian nationalism
and racism
, the Mandatory detention
of asylum seekers, various political figures and the managerial class of the art world
.
organisation Socialist Alternative
. In 2009, he was elected to the University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association Council. Previously, he has been associated with the Socialist Alliance
, the Stop the War Coalition
, the Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network
, the Refugee Action Collective
and the Victorian College of the Arts Student Union
. He regularly produces posters for the Australian far left's various political demonstrations and meetings.
centres in Australia, such as Baxter Detention Centre
and the now closed Woomera Detention Centre
. The security guard was reportedly humiliated due to the incident which occurred at a time of high criticism of the John Howard
government's treatment of asylum seekers.
, the title drawing on the number of years since the establishment of Israel
. The public exhibition in the shop front window space of 24seven Gallery on one of Melbourne CBD's busy streets, was censored by the City of Melbourne
days after it was installed. The installation consisted of a large wall painting of an Israeli flag, with "debatable" statistics on the gallery's window about Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The scandal made international news, many pro-Israel individuals and groups accusing McLennan of antisemitism. This put a number of Victorian political figures such as former Premier Steve Bracks
, Lord Mayor John So
and former City of Melbourne councilor Kimberly Kitching under pressure to respond. The use of taxpayer's money to fund the space fuelled a lot of the debate. McLennan also deeply outraged some critics by insinuating that the Nazis had a similar position on what they termed degenerate art
. McLennan maintains a strong criticism of Israeli policies.
militants, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantisi and the dates they were assassinated. The work was exhibited at Citylights project - a public art space in a Melbourne CBD lane way. McLennan was accused of glorifying terrorism
by Ted Lapkin, a senior policy analyst of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Andrew Mac, Citylights' curator and director defended the work on the grounds of diversity of opinion stating the artist's use of "state sponsored" referred to state terrorism
.
Artist-run initiative
(ARI), Platform 2. The exhibition was to include images of the then 18 Islamic organisations proscribed as terrorists by the Australian Government and the basis for their formation. City of Melbourne Deputy Mayor Gary Singer
claimed the proper guidelines were not followed. Human rights
campaigner and barrister Julian Burnside
claimed the censorship was about governments testing how much Australians would tolerate such occurrences. McLennan accused City of Melbourne of political censorship and appeasing Zionists. Singer's areas of special interests ironically include civil liberties
.
in Melbourne withdrew McLennan's video Mind the Gap in October 2005, ironically made for the same exhibition Monash had agreed to show the censored Canberra's 18 work. The video contained graphic footage of the beheading of British contractor Kenneth Bigley
by Tawhid and Jihad in 2004. The video criticised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
for his role in the Iraq war. The censorship is likely to have been motivated by the Australian Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005, particularly the controversial return to the crime of sedition
introduced by the Howard government some weeks later and passed into law the following month; a move highly unpopular amongst the arts sector.
, a Brazilian man shot dead by London police and accused Muslim terrorist, Jack Thomas
. The works were characterised as racist and Islamophobic, yet McLennan claimed the works were satirizing the post 9-11 racism and Islamophobia perpetuated by pro-US governments. McLennan is also a Muslim
himself. Thomas' lawyer, Rob Stary
attacked the work for jeopardising the trial yet weeks later would defend McLennan publicly against the Footscray
police.
in January. The work was removed some days prior this date and McLennan arrived back in Australia days later to a media furore. The scandal had been criticised as offensive by those such as Federal Liberal Party
MP Bronwyn Bishop
who attempted to introduce a ban on flag burning
, and the national president of the Returned and Services League
. Free speech advocates such as the National Association for the Visual Arts
and criminal defence lawyer Rob Stary denounced the police's actions as an attack on civil rights
. This took place only a few short months after the 2005 Cronulla riots
and fueled the broader debate about racism in Australia
.
(ACCA), Juliana Engberg over her reaction to artist and VCA student, Ash Keating and his appropriation of ACCA's waste disposal for the use of his art. The Engberg/Keating scandal became widely known amongst Melbourne art circles from the ACCA exhibition opening where it took place and later through the independent electronic magazine Crikey
. McLennan's polemic further fueled debate over Engberg's credentials.
from the Karl Marx
treatise Das Kapital
. Schwartz has previously criticised McLennan and some have accused McLennan of taking revenge.
interview, McLennan attacked the University of Melbourne
over the merger with the Victorian College of the Arts
, the Melbourne Model
, the liquidation of the VCA Student Union
and likened the Vice-chancellor, Glyn Davis
' perceived political censorship to Adolf Hitler
's use of Fascist Art and Joseph Stalin
's use of Socialist Realism
. He also depicted Davis and the Provost, Peter McPhee
, as Sex Pistols
musicians, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious
in a parody of the Never Mind the Bollocks album cover as well as depicting Davis as the violent psychopath, Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick
's film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange
. McLennan had previously attacked Davis and the university administration as the former General Secretary of the VCA Student Union.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
. His art is known for its political content and has been the subject of considerable debate and media attention in Australia.
Art
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
, anti-art
Anti-art
Anti-art is a loosely-used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art...
and institutional critique
Institutional Critique
Institutional Critique is an art term that describes the systematic inquiry into the workings of art institutions, for instance galleries and museums, and is most associated with the work of artists such as Michael Asher, Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Andrea Fraser, Fred Wilson and Hans...
, incorporating elements of détournement
Detournement
A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...
, readymade or installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. His works have often been characterised as controversial by conservative politicians, journalists and art critics, usually portraying the artist in a negative light. Alternatively, various liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
lawyers, academics and activists have defended his works, usually on the basis of free speech, due to the offense sometimes caused by his art for its often overt left-leaning bias. The artist has expressed public criticisms over Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, Australian nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, the Mandatory detention
Mandatory detention in Australia
Mandatory detention in Australia concerns the Australian federal government's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation.In the...
of asylum seekers, various political figures and the managerial class of the art world
Art world
The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...
.
Political affiliations
McLennan is a member of the TrotskyistTrotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
organisation Socialist Alternative
Socialist Alternative (Australia)
Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...
. In 2009, he was elected to the University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association Council. Previously, he has been associated with the Socialist Alliance
Socialist Alliance (Australia)
The Socialist Alliance was founded in 2001 as an alliance of socialist organisations and individuals in Australia, initiated by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the International Socialist Organisation along with 6 other founding socialist organisations, to create greater left unity in the...
, the Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition (Australia)
Stop the War Coalition is an Australian anti-war group initially formed in Sydney in 2003 and later in Melbourne in 2004 mainly in response to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the general "War on Terror" of which the Australian Government has been a strong ally...
, the Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network
Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network
The Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network are a grouping of individuals, community groups and activists based in Melbourne, Australia. They oppose what they see as Israeli aggression towards not just Palestinians but neighboring countries such as Lebanon. MPSN is known for organising...
, the Refugee Action Collective
Refugee Action Collective (Victoria)
Refugee Action Collective or RAC, are a grassroots group of activists concerned with refugee rights operating in Melbourne, Australia...
and the Victorian College of the Arts Student Union
Victorian College of the Arts Student Union
The Victorian College of the Arts Student Union was the student union of the former Victorian College of the Arts , now known as the Faculty of VCA and Music in Melbourne, Australia. It was a separately incorporated organisation which represented the VCA student body. It had a strong history of...
. He regularly produces posters for the Australian far left's various political demonstrations and meetings.
Victorian College of the Arts
In August 2003, McLennan hired a Group 4 Securicor guard to keep gallery punters out of an exhibition opening at the VCA. Group 4 run immigration detentionImmigration detention
Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in detention until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to...
centres in Australia, such as Baxter Detention Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Baxter Detention Centre, was an Australian immigration detention facility near the town of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was the focus of much of the controversy concerning the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia...
and the now closed Woomera Detention Centre
Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
The Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre was an Australian immigration detention facility near the village of Woomera in South Australia. It was opened in November 1999 in response to an increase in unauthorised arrivals, which had exceeded the capacity of other detention facilities...
. The security guard was reportedly humiliated due to the incident which occurred at a time of high criticism of the John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
government's treatment of asylum seekers.
24seven
In May 2004, McLennan produced Fifty-six, an exhibition designed to coincide with Nakba DayNakba Day
Nakba Day is generally commemorated on May 15, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli independence day...
, the title drawing on the number of years since the establishment of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The public exhibition in the shop front window space of 24seven Gallery on one of Melbourne CBD's busy streets, was censored by the City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
days after it was installed. The installation consisted of a large wall painting of an Israeli flag, with "debatable" statistics on the gallery's window about Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The scandal made international news, many pro-Israel individuals and groups accusing McLennan of antisemitism. This put a number of Victorian political figures such as former Premier Steve Bracks
Steve Bracks
Stephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....
, Lord Mayor John So
John So
John Chun Sai So JP is a Chinese-Australian businessman who served as the 102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors.First elected...
and former City of Melbourne councilor Kimberly Kitching under pressure to respond. The use of taxpayer's money to fund the space fuelled a lot of the debate. McLennan also deeply outraged some critics by insinuating that the Nazis had a similar position on what they termed degenerate art
Degenerate art
Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German or Jewish Bolshevist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were...
. McLennan maintains a strong criticism of Israeli policies.
Citylights
In August 2004, McLennan displayed State Sponsored, a collection of portraits of HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
militants, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantisi and the dates they were assassinated. The work was exhibited at Citylights project - a public art space in a Melbourne CBD lane way. McLennan was accused of glorifying terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
by Ted Lapkin, a senior policy analyst of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Andrew Mac, Citylights' curator and director defended the work on the grounds of diversity of opinion stating the artist's use of "state sponsored" referred to state terrorism
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
.
Platform Artists Group
In September 2005, the City of Melbourne intervened to terminate McLennan's Canberra's 18 exhibition shortly before it was scheduled to be shown at the Platform Artists Group'sPlatform artists group
Platform Artists Group Inc., commonly known as Platform, is one of the longest operating Australian artist-run initiatives. The organisation is run by volunteers who develop exhibitions of visual arts by young and emerging artists from Australia and around the world...
Artist-run initiative
Artist-run initiative
An artist-run initiative is any project run by visual artists to present their and others' projects. They might approximate a traditional art gallery space in appearance or function, or they may take a markedly different approach, limited only by the artist's understanding of the term...
(ARI), Platform 2. The exhibition was to include images of the then 18 Islamic organisations proscribed as terrorists by the Australian Government and the basis for their formation. City of Melbourne Deputy Mayor Gary Singer
Gary Singer
Gary Singer is an Australian politician. He was the Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne from 2004 to 2008, serving under John So. He ran to succeed So as Lord Mayor upon his retirement in 2008, but was defeated by former state Liberal Party leader Robert Doyle.Singer has a background as a...
claimed the proper guidelines were not followed. Human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
campaigner and barrister Julian Burnside
Julian Burnside
Julian William Kennedy Burnside AO QC is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He is known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and has provided legal counsel in a wide array of high-profile cases...
claimed the censorship was about governments testing how much Australians would tolerate such occurrences. McLennan accused City of Melbourne of political censorship and appeasing Zionists. Singer's areas of special interests ironically include civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
.
Monash University
Monash University Art and Design FacultyMonash University Art and Design Faculty
The Monash University Faculty of Art & Design undertakes teaching and research in the areas of fine arts, multimedia, art theory, industrial design and architecture. Monash is one of few institutions in Australia to offer a range of art and design courses within the one faculty...
in Melbourne withdrew McLennan's video Mind the Gap in October 2005, ironically made for the same exhibition Monash had agreed to show the censored Canberra's 18 work. The video contained graphic footage of the beheading of British contractor Kenneth Bigley
Kenneth Bigley
Kenneth John Bigley , born Liverpool, England, was a civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both U.S. citizens...
by Tawhid and Jihad in 2004. The video criticised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
for his role in the Iraq war. The censorship is likely to have been motivated by the Australian Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005, particularly the controversial return to the crime of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
introduced by the Howard government some weeks later and passed into law the following month; a move highly unpopular amongst the arts sector.
Urban Art
City of Melbourne and acting Transport Minister Bob Cameron censored Pay Your Way in January 2006 while McLennan was in residency in Indonesia. The posters - part of the Urbanart ARI program - were displayed in public tram shelters and pulled down only hours later due to complaints. The works featured images of Jean Charles de MenezesJean Charles de Menezes
Jean Charles de Menezes was a Brazilian man shot in the head seven times at Stockwell tube station on the London Underground by the London Metropolitan police, after he was misidentified as one of the fugitives involved in the previous day's failed bombing attempts...
, a Brazilian man shot dead by London police and accused Muslim terrorist, Jack Thomas
Jack Thomas
Jack Thomas may refer to:* Jack Thomas, President of Western Illinois University * Joseph Terrence Thomas, known as Jack, Australian citizen whose conviction for receiving funds from Al-Qaeda was overturned on appeal...
. The works were characterised as racist and Islamophobic, yet McLennan claimed the works were satirizing the post 9-11 racism and Islamophobia perpetuated by pro-US governments. McLennan is also a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
himself. Thomas' lawyer, Rob Stary
Rob Stary
Robert Stary is an Australian criminal defence lawyer, best known for defending Jack Thomas, the first Australian to be convicted under anti-terrorism laws introduced in Australia after the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in the United States. Stary has been a vocal critic of the legislation and...
attacked the work for jeopardising the trial yet weeks later would defend McLennan publicly against the Footscray
Footscray, Victoria
Footscray is a suburb 5 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Footscray had a population of 11,401....
police.
Trocadero Art Space
Only weeks after the Pay Your Way affair, McLennan's Proudly UnAustralian was removed by the Footscray Police in Melbourne. The exhibition - featuring a burnt Australian flag - took place at Trocadero Art Space who rents a public billboard to exhibiting artists. It was to coincide with the 2006 Australia DayAustralia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
in January. The work was removed some days prior this date and McLennan arrived back in Australia days later to a media furore. The scandal had been criticised as offensive by those such as Federal Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
MP Bronwyn Bishop
Bronwyn Bishop
Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop , an Australian politician, is a Member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Liberal Party representing the Division of Mackellar, New South Wales since 1994...
who attempted to introduce a ban on flag burning
Flag desecration
Flag desecration is a term applied to various acts that intentionally destroy, damage or mutilate a flag in public, most often a national flag. Often, such action is intended to make a political point against a country or its policies...
, and the national president of the Returned and Services League
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force ....
. Free speech advocates such as the National Association for the Visual Arts
National Association for the Visual Arts
The National Association for the Visual Arts NAVA is the national peak body for the visual arts, craft and design sector working through advocacy and service provision, to achieve a flourishing Australian visual arts sector and a more vibrant, distinctive and ethical cultural environment...
and criminal defence lawyer Rob Stary denounced the police's actions as an attack on civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. This took place only a few short months after the 2005 Cronulla riots
2005 Cronulla riots
The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of sectarian clashes and mob violence originating in Cronulla, New South Wales and spreading, over the next few nights, to additional Sydney suburbs....
and fueled the broader debate about racism in Australia
Racism in Australia
Racism in Australia has been documented since the arrival of Europeans in 1788. As the diversity of cultural and racial backgrounds within Australia increased, racism has remained an important local issue.-Indigenous Australians:...
.
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
McLennan wrote an article in 2006 criticising the Artistic Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary ArtAustralian Centre for Contemporary Art
The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank....
(ACCA), Juliana Engberg over her reaction to artist and VCA student, Ash Keating and his appropriation of ACCA's waste disposal for the use of his art. The Engberg/Keating scandal became widely known amongst Melbourne art circles from the ACCA exhibition opening where it took place and later through the independent electronic magazine Crikey
Crikey
Crikey is an independent Australian electronic magazine comprising an open access website and an email newsletter available to subscribers. Well known in Australian political, media and business circles, Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular...
. McLennan's polemic further fueled debate over Engberg's credentials.
Anna Schwartz Gallery
McLennan featured in Rules of Engagement at Melbourne ARI West Space in May 2007, which dealt with "relationships, power and exchange within the art system" according to the show's curator Mark Feary. McLennan's contribution, Art in a Capitalist Society depicted an authoritative picture of leading private Australian gallerist Anna Schwartz, linked to a quote about exploitationExploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
from the Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
treatise Das Kapital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
. Schwartz has previously criticised McLennan and some have accused McLennan of taking revenge.
University of Melbourne
In a July 2009, FarragoFarrago
First published on 3 April 1925, Farrago is Australia's oldest student newspaper. Farrago is published by the Melbourne University Student Union.- Name :...
interview, McLennan attacked the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
over the merger with the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
, the Melbourne Model
Melbourne Model
The Melbourne Model is a radical restructuring of the undergraduate curriculum of the University of Melbourne, located in Victoria, Australia, one of the country's richest universities...
, the liquidation of the VCA Student Union
Victorian College of the Arts Student Union
The Victorian College of the Arts Student Union was the student union of the former Victorian College of the Arts , now known as the Faculty of VCA and Music in Melbourne, Australia. It was a separately incorporated organisation which represented the VCA student body. It had a strong history of...
and likened the Vice-chancellor, Glyn Davis
Glyn Davis
Glyn Conrad Davis, AC is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.- Early life :Professor Davis was educated at Marist Brothers College, Kogarah...
' perceived political censorship to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's use of Fascist Art and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's use of Socialist Realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
. He also depicted Davis and the Provost, Peter McPhee
Peter McPhee (academic)
Peter McPhee is an Australian academic, and was the Provost of the University of Melbourne. He is the first person to have held the position at Melbourne, as it has typically been in place at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom....
, as Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
musicians, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
in a parody of the Never Mind the Bollocks album cover as well as depicting Davis as the violent psychopath, Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
. McLennan had previously attacked Davis and the university administration as the former General Secretary of the VCA Student Union.
Selected articles
- Connex tries to censor pro-Palestinian art Socialist Alternative, Edition 139, March 2009.
- Save the VCA! Socialist Alternative, Edition 142, June 2009.
See also
- Victorian College of the Arts Alumni
- Socialist AlternativeSocialist Alternative (Australia)Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...