After Shakespeare
15 July 2016 – 15 January 2017
Noel Shaw Gallery, Baillieu Library, The University of Melbourne

More info: http://library.unimelb.edu.au/museumsandcollections/whats_on/exhibitions/current-items/after-shakespeare

To mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, the Baillieu Library exhibition After Shakespeare explores the author’s posthumous legacy, both in terms of writers who imitated or adapted his works (that is, literally wrote ‘after’ his style) and in terms of Shakespeare’s reputation and significance in the four centuries after his demise, with a particular emphasis on how his work has been received in Australia.

Bringing together for the first time two of only five known Australian copies of the Second Folio of Shakespeare’s works (1632), a unique promptbook for a slated Gold Rush era performance of Antony and Cleopatra at Melbourne’s Theatre Royal in 1856, and numerous production artefacts and ephemera, After Shakespeare offers a rare glimpse of important Shakespeariana from the University of Melbourne, the State Library of Victoria and the Melbourne Theatre Company.

In 2016 we celebrate the Dirk Hartog 400th Anniversary (1616-2016), with the Duyfken replica undertaking a voyage and exhibition program that will take her to Bunbury, Mandurah, Hillarys, Jurien Bay, Dongara, Geraldton, and Denham, culminating with the official ceremony at Cape Inscription on Dirk Hartog Island, on October 25, 2016.

At each of these ports of call, you are invited to step aboard the replica sailing ship Duyfken. Once on board, you can begin your journey of discovery. You will get to see, touch and interact with the sailing and navigational technology of the early 1600s that enabled Dutch mariners to sail halfway around the world from The Netherlands to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

As a guest aboard Duyfken, you will be amazed at the courage of the crew in the face of harsh living conditions and the great uncertainty that they faced in sailing across the Southern Ocean.

The Duyfken replica that you get to step aboard is now 16 years old, and was completed in 1999 to recognise the importance of the original Duyfken as the first European ship to make land fall on the shores of Australia when it visited the Cape York Peninsula in 1606 – the date that literally put Australia on Europe’s map of the known world.

It also marked the beginning of a period of prolific Dutch maritime activity around Australia’s coastline for new trading opportunities.

One of those early Dutch mariners to make his mark on Australia’s history was Dirk Hartog, who in 1616 landed on the tip of what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, leaving an inscribed plate to mark his visit. This then became the founding date of the west coast of Australia.

Dates:

• Bunbury: 22 August – 4 September
• Mandurah: 5 September – 14 September
• Hillarys: September – 27 September
• Jurien Bay: 29 September – 3 September
• Dongara: 5 September – 7 September
• Geraldton: 8 October – 16 October
• Denham: 20 October – 23 October

Tickets: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=DUYFEXHI16

Versailles: Treasures from the Palace
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Opens 9 December 2016

Tickets now available: http://nga.gov.au/Versailles

The sumptuous exhibition Versailles: Treasures from the Palace is a once in a lifetime chance to see and experience here in Australia a mesmerising period in French history. For the first time ever, the treasures will travel from France to entice visitors into a world of power, passion and luxury through this epic exhibition.

More than 130 paintings, intricate tapestries, gilded furniture items, monumental statues and other objects from the royal gardens, and personal items from Louis XIV to Marie Antoinette, will bring to life the reigns of three Kings, their Queens and mistresses in a fascinating and often tumultuous period of French history.

The exhibition will celebrate the lives, loves and passions of the people of Versailles through a full program of activities including music performances, children’s programs and public events.

The exhibition contrasts small personal items, such as the precious golden reliquary which belonged to Louis XIV’s mother, or Marie Antoinette’s hand-crafted chair and harp, with huge works including six-metre tapestries from the most important Gobelins series ever produced for Louis XIV.

Scholarly Favourites: Researching in Special Collections Exhibition, University of Otago
10 June 2016 – 26 August 2016
de Beer gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago

Who uses Special Collections? And why? And what research results emanate from physically examining books and manuscripts? These questions formed the basis of the forthcoming exhibition, beginning on 10 June 2016, at the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago. The exhibition, entitled Scholarly Favourites. Researching in Special Collections, reveals a variety of readers, and an equally wide variety of books and manuscripts used. In most cases the item was used for research; in others the item was a pure favourite, a work that resonated with the reader’s sense of being. The book or manuscript had become important to them.

Each reader was asked to contribute 150 words on ‘their’ chosen book; the exhibition: Scholarly Favourites. Researching in Special Collections is the result.

The items selected were from the diverse collections within Special Collections: Brasch, de Beer, Shoults, Truby King, Pulp & Science Fiction, Monro, and Stack. Notable items include Albinus’s spectacular Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani (1747); Augustus Hamilton’s The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand (1901); Johannes Wolleb’s Compendium Theologiae Christianae (1642); Gregory M. Mathews’s Supplement to The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant (1928); the scurrilous Alvin Purple (1974); and Egypt and the Sudan: Handbook for Travellers (1929). Please enjoy what others have researched and enjoyed.

Book Arts Materials From Dartmouth College
1 September 2016 – 2 December 2016
de Beer gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago

Book Arts materials from Dartmouth College that were used in their own 25th anniversary celebrations last year, will be exhibited in the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections. The Otago exhibition starts 1 September and runs through to 2nd December 2016.

On 1 August, Sarah M. Smith, Book Arts Printer at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, will arrive at the University of Otago to be the Printer in Residence (PIR) for 2016. Sarah’s Otakou Press print project is to print a limited edition of poems written by local poet Rhian Gallagher. The theme of this volume is centred round the life and activities of Freda Du Faur (1882–1935), the first woman to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. The text will be enhanced by images by the Dunedin artist Lynn Taylor. 120 copies will be printed; 100 will be for sale.

Dutch Journeys to the Western Edge
State Library of WA | Ground Floor Gallery
24 June – 25 September 2016

Free Entry

More info: http://slwa.wa.gov.au/whats_on/exhibitions

From Dirk Hartog’s landing at remote Cape Inscription in 1616 to our present migrant connections, Dutch Journeys to the Western Edge draws stories from the collections in the State Library. Whether seeking trade, refuge or opportunity the Dutch, like others to land on our shores, have helped shape Western Australia.

The State Library’s exhibition looks beyond the early maritime history to include stories of recent Dutch military history and migrant journeys to WA.

The exhibition is the State Library’s contribution to the recognition of the 400th Anniversary of the European discovery of the west coast of the Australian continent. Dirk Hartog landed in the Eendracht at Cape Inscription, Shark Bay on 25 October 1616.

Many items from the State Library collection are so precious that the Library cannot put them on public display. However, with technology, we can bring these pieces to our audience in other ways both physically in the exhibition and on-line through the catalogue.

“My Library Was Dukedom Large Enough” | Fryer Library, University of Queensland
2-31 May, 2016
Free

This wide-ranging exhibition will showcase some of the Shakespeare-related treasures held at the University of Queensland’s Fryer Library. From books that Shakespeare used to construct his own plays (including a copy of Raphael Holinshed’s Historie of England, a principal source for Shakespeare’s history plays), to other important volumes from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to materials relating to the performance and appreciation of Shakespeare in colonial and modern Queensland, this exhibition will introduce visitors to the many ways in which Shakespeare’s works have both arisen out of, and shaped, wider literary, intellectual, and theatrical legacies.

Presented by the Fryer Library, University of Queensland.

The University of Otago Special Collections is pleased to announce that the current exhibition ‘Fashion Rules OK’ is now online.

In Hollywood Costume (2012) Valerie Steele writes: ‘fashion is usually defined as the prevailing style of dress at any given time, with the implication that it is characterised, above all, by change… Fashion is also a system, involving not only the production and consumption of fashionable clothes but also discourses and imagery’. Some of these discourses and imagery are showcased in Fashion Rules OK, revealing both the allure and the work of fashion.

Drawing on a diverse collection of books, magazines, and objects, Fashion Rules OK samples the breadth and diversity of writing on this subject, and offers a glimpse below the surface of appearances. Perspectives range from the world of couture, the peripheries of production, and childhood fashions, to Chinese dress, the runway, and the laundry. It presents the highs and lows of fashion style from the Regency period to the Moderns; some iconic Fashion Greats; and aspects (often forgotten) such as fashion etiquette, fashion marketing, fashion theory, and costume. Although for want of space some important areas of fashion writing are neglected here, the exhibition is not so much a stocktake as an exploration of contrasts. Taken together, Fashion Rules OK aims to show the ubiquity of fashion in the history of daily life.

To view the online exhibition, please visit: http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/exhibitions/fashion_rules.

Bell Shakespeare Archives Exhibition | Arts Centre Melbourne

Smorgon Family Plaza

From 18 April

FREE

More info: https://www.facebook.com/artscentremelbourne/photos/a.552397028158401.1073741828.317380151660091/1082865505111548/?type=3&theater

The Arts Centre Melbourne is commemorating Shakespeare’s 400 year anniversary with an engaging exhibition of costumes and photographs from Bell Shakespeare’s archives, including the coat worn by John Bell in the title role of Richard III (2002), along with images from Hamlet (1991), Macbeth (1994), King Lear (1998), Henry IV (1998), The Comedy of Errors (2002), Othello (2007) and Venus & Adonis (2008).

The exhibition will also include two swords used by 19th century Shakespearean actor, George Rignold in Australia 1886-1899, which were passed down to John Bell, as well as other historical artifacts. On display in the Smorgon Family Plaza, Arts Centre Melbourne, the exhibition will run from April 18, open 8am to late

Stage Presence: Design from the Australian Performing Arts Collection | Arts Centre Melbourne

Gallery 1

30 April – 4 September 2016

FREE

More info: https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2016/exhibitions/stage-presence

Stage Presence is an exhibition presented as both an insight into the art of performance design and an opportunity to showcase highlights from the Australian Performing Arts Collection.

This collection is home to the nation’s largest and most comprehensive performance design corpus. The creative process behind some of Australia’s most innovative productions is brought to life through concept sketches, research files, set models, ‘finished’ designs and carefully annotated technical drawings, which illuminate the story of performance design in Australia.

The Australian Performing Arts Collection represents the work of over 150 Australian set and costume designers working across circus, dance, music, opera and theatre. Over the past decade, the collection has grown through the donation of several important design archives documenting the careers of Judith Cobb, Hugh Colman, Richard Jeziorny, Roger Kirk, Jennie Tate and Brian Thomson. These archives, and this exhibition, provide a glimpse into the working processes and careers of these highly-successful and prolific designers. Stage Presence also gives a unique insight into the development of varied productions, from ‘King Lear’ to ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’.

While a designer’s journey of discovery and inspiration may be a constant, their means of researching and presenting their work continues to evolve rapidly. Digitally rendered drawings, 3D modelling and printing have had a discernible impact on the way the design process is undertaken. Over the past decade the diversity of performance designs entering the Australian Performing Arts Collection continues to challenge expectations of what may be considered a ‘museum object’. The importance of collecting and exhibiting documentary evidence for this already ephemeral art-form continues however, to be a driving passion for the organisation.

The Bavarian State Library in Munich has upcoming exhibition of 15th-c. Middle European illuminated manuscripts from the BSB collection. For more information about the exhibition in English, please visit: http://vm136.lib.berkeley.edu/BANC/digitalscriptorium/news/april2016.html.

For those who are unable to attend in person, there is a virtual exhibition of some of the items online on the following link:

https://www.bilderwelten2016.de