Two recent NGV trips

First one, with R, was to see QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection, and we only got halfway through the exhibition, which covers the entire 3rd floor. The breadth of the theme - particularly given the approach of exploring the collection through a queer perspective rather than attempting a survey of queer art - made for all kinds of pieces.

Second one, with Hayley, was mainly to see Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala - which was pretty wonderful to spend some time in while marvelling at the work done directly on to bark, and the formal innovations made by these contemporary women artists in the context of culture. Also a visit to the NGVA permanent collection where I had my first somewhat meaningful art encounter in quite a while, being struck by the paint-ness of this one:

Julie Irving - "Shifting" (1989), including detail

Barbara Trapido - The Travelling Hornplayer

Fluently criss-crossing characters and plots with a great sense of life-ness, joy and sadness mingled in a way that reminds me of those early - and some of the latter day - Kate Atkinson novels.

1917

I was engaged while I was watching it, but I doubt it will stay with me.

Julia Galef - The Scout Mindset

Scout mindset = aiming to see things as they are, not as you wish they were. I've admired Julia Galef's way of engaging online for a long time so I was interested to read her entry in the genre. It has plenty of good reminders and some neat practical tips. A couple that come to mind - hold your identity lightly, and try the ideological Turing test (describing opposing arguments in a way that its adherents or maybe neutral observers can't tell that you disagree with them).