University of Sydney Arts student Keira Garland may be one of the most creatively prolific individuals of undergraduate age to be active in the Inner West. A brilliant solo musician, member of folk band Cereus Bloom, poet, model and visual artist, she always has a gig, exhibition or something else in the works.
And so she did when she established Avant Garden Events, which put on its inaugural gig and exhibition ‘Return of Dada’ on Sunday 1 December, at Newtown’s recently opened El Faro Gallery. You can’t miss it – the building, until recently housing a print shop which formed a local institution, has a distinct bright yellow facade. “El Faro” translates to “The Lighthouse” in Spanish; the gallery hopes to shine a light on the works of Inner West creatives.
After a six-hour Dadaist sculpture workshop starting at 11am, the artists spent an hour cleaning the space before the exhibition opened, featuring the resultant works.
Bassist James Grandison soothed arriving attendees with a laid-back solo performance. Garland then kicked off the poetry reading, followed by creative Ari Begbie who spearheaded the gallery’s opening and oversees its operations. Begbie offered a reading of avant-garde writer Tristan Tzara’s How to Make a Dadaist Poem, which provided an apt summation of the artistic movement.
And what is Dadaism? Garland told me that, at its core, “Dadaism is a form of art, but it is also an anti-art – it is poking fun at the art establishment, and at life really.”
“It’s saying ‘lets just be absurd!’ because society is politically in deep ruin. And I think that’s as true for today as it was back then.”
Dadaism is experimental, as was Garland’s event. With experimentation, hitches are to be expected. One of the two planned musical sets had to be cancelled as Grandison had to leave, whilst one of the nine to-be-featured poets was swapped out for someone else. But no matter – the show must go on. The ‘Return of Dada’ – which we can presume was long awaited by the genre’s enthusiasts – was none the worse.
The poetry, including both pre-existing Dadaist works and non-Dadaist compositions by the poets, ranged in tone from soothing to abrasive, and the crowd of mostly university-age attendees was transfixed. Despite being the first event put on under Garland’s new brand, the show was well-patronised, though the new El Faro Gallery offered ample space for attendees to sit down and watch the performances.
The sculptures surrounding us were constructed with a variety of random objects, from a bicycle to an aluminium tray and steel wire. This was an exhibition of amateurs and aspiring artists alike, and those who attended the workshop were proud to display their works.
Later in the evening, attendees were treated to a performance of Tzara’s play The Gas Heart, in which Garland, Begbie and the poets performed. This was an entertaining production, and a feature which was not advertised.
Garland spoke of her desire to build community and improve the accessibility of art movements through her events.
“It’s my dream to be an art curator. I’m very interested in modern art in particular, and particularly, interested in movements like surrealism and symbolism. I feel that each art movement presents a philosophy, an ideology that inspires me to find new ways to understand the world.”
She finds that within each art movement “there’s a real sense of a community of ideas,” and Dadaism, which she says expresses a desire for a kind of rebellion, is no different.
Avant Garden Events is a space to watch for devotees of experimental art. Its inaugural event was also a credit to El Faro Gallery, which plans to put on frequent exhibitions.
