Welcome to the 41st edition of Artwrite. In the features section of this edition, our writers explore a gamut of issues relating to the arts. Topics range from the community driven initiative Renew Newcastle, to the rise in the lure of Blockbuster exhibitions and an examination of the next generation of art collectors. This edition of Artwrite reviews a broad range of recent local exhibitions from I Walk the Line and Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years, both shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, to Blank Media and Gay Bilson’s Nest. This edition also features many profiles of artists, local and international, as well as a contemplative creative response to Yayoi Kusama’s work. Overwhelmed by the submissions to this edition of Artwrite, we found it was difficult to whittle these down in and yet represent a wide range of relevant contemporary art issues. We are grateful to our classmates, not only for the exceptional calibre of their insightful and knowledgeable submissions, but also for the universal post-final-assessment initiative shown by the contributors. Without this dedication, the publication of this edition of Artwrite would not have been possible. Special thanks to Margaret Farmer for nurturing our talents and guiding the production of this publication with her vast knowledge and expertise, coupled with her kind mentoring style. Similarly, a special thanks goes out to our publication design coordinator Anna Scobie. She spearheaded the entire creative production and layout of this edition of Artwrite with the help of her talented team of designers. The cohesive assembly of our Artwrite sings because of their combined efforts. We hope you enjoy “flipping” through our edition of Artwrite. We can only hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed assembling it! Artwrite is the collective effort of students studying the Master of Art Administration at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW.
Editors-in-chief Jackie Milanov and Amber Naismith