Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • UTS elects new Chancellor
    • Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear
    • Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in
    • Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report
    • ‘If you silence someone or shush someone, you can get out’: SISTREN is an unabashed celebration of black and trans joy. Is Australia ready?
    • Mark Gowing waxes lyrical on aesthetics, time, language, and his new exhibition ‘This one is a song’
    • NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University
    • Turning Kindness Into Strength in ‘A Different Kind of Power’
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Thursday, July 10
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»Perspective

    NUS NatCon: The Artist is Present

    This byline would be a picture if Gillian Kayrooz could have her way.
    By Gillian KayroozDecember 27, 2016 Perspective 1 Min Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    The National Conference (‘NatCon’) of the National Union of Students (NUS) felt like a Marina Abramovic performance piece. I’d never experienced anything like it. I had no idea what was happening or what time it was; it was intense, unpleasant, it seemed like anything could happen at any moment.

    The following works capture an outsider’s perspective of the four-day-long conference, and how it felt to be trapped in a windowless room with over 200 passionate student politicians.

    natcon-portrait-chair-drawing

    These portraits incorporate the two items I encountered most frequently: the hundreds of chairs in the conference hall and the countless red cups filled with various factions’ ‘punch’ consumed each night.

    The harsh, vibrant strokes of colour demonstrate the impassioned speeches which, when heard for more than 25 hours over three days, morphed into a constant throng of voices.

    politician-with-punch

    The line drawing of the conference room explores the seemingly endless hours that we spent sitting in the windowless gymnasium. The bright pink and orange colours lend the image a sense of excitement as I watched student politicians speaking with unbridled intensity that sometimes spilled over into yelling and verbal attacks.

    natcon-conference-floor-line-drawing

    art marina abramovic natcon nusnatcon performance art stupol

    Keep Reading

    Mark Gowing waxes lyrical on aesthetics, time, language, and his new exhibition ‘This one is a song’

    Exit, pursued by an artist: ‘In a part of your mind, I am you’ at Ngununggula

    EDCN1004: Can This Please Be Over?

    EDCN1003: Representation Please!!!

    EDCN1002: Everything Has Gone Wrong

    EDCN1001: Plenaries and Press Conferences

    Just In

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    July 8, 2025

    Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear

    July 8, 2025

    Prima Facie: Losing faith in a system you truly believed in

    July 8, 2025

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    July 7, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.