Australian artists drawn by Chinese artistic orbital pull(2)

BROACHING NEW GROUND

Only last month, Broached Retreat, the first design show to be commissioned for exhibition at the prestigious Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, and curated by Australian-based design studio Broached Commissions, Broached Retreat sought to explore Australia's strange, unique and sometimes disquieting position as a halfway point between European cultural traditions and a 'longstanding intellectual engagement' with its East and Southeast Asian neighbors.

Conceived by Broached Commissions' creative director Lou Weis and designed by Chen Lu, the exhibition features objects by Adam Goodrum, Trent Jansen and Charles Wilson (AU) and guest designers Azuma Makoto, Keiji Ashizawa (Tokyo), Naihan Li (Beijing), Max Lamb (London) and Susan Dimasi (Melbourne).

CONTEMPORARY DREAMS

In the same spirit the ASQ will focus primarily on contemporary work -- including two pieces by Australian composers: Stephen Whittington's Windmill and the late Peter Sculthorpe's String Quartet, No .11, Jabiru Dreaming.

"We're taking two works that are contemporary Australian works . .. and then we're also taking as an encore a very popular string piece from China called "Butterfly Lovers" which is a bit of a YouTube sensation at the moment; something to add to the cross- cultural mix," said King.

The ASQ Executive Director Angelina Zucco said, "Audiences in China have an appetite for classical music and are privileged to experience performances from the world's finest musicians."

"The tour will provide an opportunity to showcase the ASQ's fresh and dynamic approach to string quartet playing and the unified sound of its rare set of Guadagnini instruments," Zucco added.

CHINA AT FINGERTIPS

For Professor Walker, he has the world of China at his fingertips, while also interacting and supporting the approximately 30 other Australian Studies Centers located at other universities around China.

And after an extensive search and consultations with the many stakeholders, Walker materialized as the ideal candidate for the BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University.

Founded in 1898, Peking University is China's most prestigious university and an icon of learning and Sinology around the globe.

Walker is also currently Alfred Deakin Professor of Australian Studies at Deakin University. He has made a major contribution to the debate on Australia's engagement with Asia through his ground- breaking study: "Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia, 1850-1939" and has recently co-edited with Dr. Agnieszka Sobocinska,"Australia's Asia: From Yellow Peril to Asian Century."

A collection of his Asia-related essays has been published under the title Encountering Turbulence: Asia in the Australian Imaginary and his recently published personal history, "Not Dark Yet" has been translated into Chinese and published by The People' s Literature Publishing House, Beijing.