Should I Stay or Should I Go

We survived the rain last night and nothing burnt down as the (potential indoor) barbecue swiftly transformed into an elegant evening of wine, lovely canapés and snacks instead. And now, just as we have settled in to life in Melbourne, the party's over. We pack up the exhibitions this afternoon and head off with Tim to Queensland College of Art in Brisbane which we are really looking forward to. So, it is time to say goodbye, to the lovely Gracia & Louise who we just saw again at the Impact zine fair, and to all the wonderful people we have met here at the conference. Congratulations Impact at Monash, we have had a ball! And yes, that is Paul wearing a t-shirt with The Clash on it, on a giant robot.

Burning Down The House

We both assumed different identities today, this morning, Sarah was Tom again to present his paper Drawing with Fire: the art of laser cutting for book art and paper which gave an overview of his AHRC funded project Paper Models. Paul was Deborah Southerland this afternoon, presenting her poster on Edible 3D printing.

Once we had finished we were able to go to Teal Triggs keynote speech: Ripped & Torn, but never thrown away: The legitimisation of the ephemeral graphic object. This included a case study of the British punk fanzine Ripped & Torn produced by Tony Drayton in print form (1977- 1979) and his online website Kill Your Pet Puppy (2007 – present).

Other good things today: Scott Lyon's fleurons, an exhibition of ornamental type casts and photography at MAILBOX 141, at 141 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, which is on until 28th October. And The Sticky Institute in Campbell Arcade, Melbourne, home to zine culture, with lots of lovely zines in stock, and badge and zine making on site.

Um, and soon we will be at the Impact Barbecue party, which as it is still raining, will be inside (!).

Purple Rain

Sarah gave a joint paper for herself and Tom Sowden this morning, A Manifesto for the Book, and also stood in as Tom to deliver his Follow-Ed (after Hokusai) paper this afternoon. In a minute we are off to the opening of the exhibition The Silent Scream: Political and Social Comment in Books by Artists, curated by Monica Oppen and Peter Lyssiotis at Monash University Rare Books library on the Clayton Campus. The exhibition is on display there until November, and has a fantastic catalogue to accompany it. Although we are now caught in the middle of a huge storm, with torrential rain, thunder and multi-coloured lightning (which is rather nice).

Print is Dead (or Alive)

Impact kicked off at 8.30am today, with registration and then a great series of talks and panels. Paul joined JP Willis, Brian Gilkes, Melissa Olen and Steve Hoskins for the first printmedia panel, where he presented his paper Print is Dead (featuring the Human Printer). Sarah was next door with the artists’ books panel, with her Life, the Universe and Everything paper. We had a great first day, and are already looking forward to starting again tomorrow.

She got 99 slides but the bitch ain't in one

In keeping with our decision to use book, song or film titles for blog headers, Sarah thanks Paul for the interesting title for the entry on her Books of All Stripes talk at State Library Victoria, which she thinks references the fact that she talked about other artists’ books rather than her own. We had a great afternoon beforehand, with Robert Heather and Des Cowley, having a tour of the library collection, including the Mirror of the World book exhibition, Ned Kelly’s armour and a peek behind the scenes with Des, who showed us some of the artists’ books purchased for their rare books collection.

Before Sarah’s talk, we got to hang out in the library’s green room, with food and drink, and after the talk we met with local artists and librarians for a drink, including David Dellafiora of Field Study and the lovely Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison amongst others. Thanks to all the SLV staff for hosting us and organising the visit and talk, and to everyone who came along to Sarah's talk.

Interview with the Vampire

Sarah has just been to meet with Matthew van Hasselt (not van Helsing, sorry Matt), Media relations coordinator at State Library of Victoria where she did a radio interview about artists’ books with the lovely Michael Shirrefs for ABC Radio National’s Artworks programme, which will be broadcast on Sunday. We are back there again this afternoon to see the collection and Ned Kelly’s armour.

La Grande Bouffe

At 12.30 today Des and Susan kindly picked us up from Monash to take us out to Warrandyte, in the beautiful countryside outside Melbourne, at the invitation of the artist Tommaso Durante and his wonderful wife Mariella. Tommaso emailed in February to invite us to his home whilst we are visiting Melbourne for Impact, and offered to cook us an Italian feast.

And what an amazing feast it was! Over five hours we ate oysters from Tasmania with Sicilian Santagostino wine, smoked salmon from Tasmania, anchovies from Sicily, salt cod soup “Audrey” with Norwegian salt cod, Harmonium Nero D'avola from Sicily, pasta with aubergines, tomato sauce and mozzarella, giant prawns from Queensland with tomato and chilli, artichokes baked in olive oil, Pecorino cheese from Sicily, then the finest Italian cake with organic lemons and rum, with custard sauce and preserved lemons. We had an amazing time in wonderful company with the Durantes, Des, Susan and Robert. Grazie mille Tommaso and Mariella for a wonderful afternoon!

Impact 7 set up - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

We spent a lovely morning hanging with the impeccably organised Impact 7 crew at Monash, installing the two exhibitions of artists’ books we had brought over with us: Life, the Universe and Everything and Follow-Ed. We are looking forward to the start of the Impact 7 gig on Tuesday!

From Dusk till Dawn (or thereabouts)

Melbourne is good city to just wander the streets and see what happens. We loved the exhibition at RMIT University Gallery. Space Invaders, a travelling show of street art from graffiti and posters to zines and stickers. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos but you can see some of the works online on the National Gallery of Australia website.

Later in the afternoon we made our way to St Kilda's Park to the famous Luna Park funfair (above), for at least 3 goes on the 99 year old roller coaster amongst other things.

Planes, trains, insects and automobiles

We finally arrived in Melbourne this morning after two days, four airports and three flights. The image here is of the tropical rainforest that has been installed in the middle of Kuala Lumpur airport where we had a 6.5 hour stopover. Apparently mosquitos can live just as well inside these fake airport rainforests, who'd have though eh? I am sure the 5 bites so far are just the beginning of many. Paul wins the prize for seeing the largest cockroach inside the airport though.

Melbourne beckons so we are off to explore…

Impact 7 Multi-disciplinary Printmaking Conference

Organised by Monash University, the IMPACT conference is a biennial international multi-disciplinary printmaking conference, originating from the Centre for Fine Print, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Previously it has been held in Finland, Germany and Poland, Estonia, South Africa, UK, and now, Australia.

IMPACT 7 will focus on the multiple identity of the print, exploring the cross-disciplinary nature of printmedia internationally and in the context of the Asia-Pacific region. The conference addresses practitioners, writers, critics, artists, theorists, and others working in the broad fields of print-related research. It aims to provide a platform in which practitioners and researchers can engage in a mutually productive exchange.


IMPACT 7 will reflect on the activities of an international community of artists, writers and designers. The conference will bring indigenous, migrant, and regional voices to the fore, with a focus on cultural diversity, creative collaboration, the artist’s book, and communication in digital networks.

Sarah and Paul at Impact 7 & Codex 8

Sarah Bodman and Paul Laidler will be travelling to Australia late September to present papers and show exhibitions for the Impact 7 Multi-disciplinary Printmaking Conference, Monash University, Melbourne.

IMPACT 7: Intersections & Counterpoints will focus on the multiple identity of the print, exploring the cross-disciplinary nature of printmedia internationally and in the context of the Asia-Pacific region.

After the conference, Paul and Sarah will be travelling onwards to spend two weeks at Queensland College of Art in Brisbane for an artists’ residency with Master Pulp Printer Tim Mosely. We will be working with Tim and Melissa Harvey on the codex event 8, from 1st – 15th Oct 2011. This is a collaboration between all four of us as Australian and UK printmakers and papermakers making artists’ books.

We will be uploading images and info as we go along, from 23rd September, to share the events and work produced