Education Kit

Education Kit 

David Noonan Owl Wallpaper 2002-2003 

screenprint, not editioned 

print/sheet size: 89 x 62, installation dimensions variable 

University of Wollongong Art Collection, purchased 2006 

Image courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney © the artist 

MCA Education Kit 

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CONTENTS 

Introduction 3 

Ways to use this kit 3 

Curriculum Connections 3 

Exhibition Overview 4 

The University of Wollongong Art Collection 5 

The Museum of Contemporary Art Collection 5 

Focus Areas 

• Conceptual Art 7 

• Art and Politics 11 

• Role of the Museum 14 

• Art and Technology 18 

• Art and Music 21 

Suggested Activities 

• Primary Level 24 

• Secondary Level 25 

Extra Activity: How to make an artist’s book 

by Keg de Souza, N.U.C.A artist 27 

Glossary 29 

Further Reading 30 

Acknowledgements 31 


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INTRODUCTION 

This education kit has been produced by 

the Museum of Contemporary Art to 

support the national tour of Multiplicity: 

prints and multiples from the collections of 

the Museum of Contemporary Art and the 

University of Wollongong. 

Multiplicity is organised by the Museum of 

Contemporary Art and University of 

Wollongong, to explore particular aspects 

of their collections. The aim of this kit is to 

offer insights into some of the themes in 

the exhibition. It examines key artworks, 

provides background information on 

artistic movements, examines the 

curatorial framework for the exhibition and 

offers focus questions and suggested 

activities. 

This resource is intended for use by 

teachers and students of primary and 

secondary schools, tertiary groups, as well 

as special interest groups. 

WAYS TO USE THIS KIT 

This kit can be used in a variety of ways 

for education groups as well as individual 

study and research. The material is 

intended to complement, and be used in 

addition to, the information provided in the 

exhibition catalogue and the exhibition wall 

texts. 

The images, activities and ideas assist 

with pre-visit preparation, during the 

gallery visit and to develop post-visit 

activities. Teachers are advised to adapt 

these activities to suit their students’ 

needs or to integrate areas of this 

resource into existing classroom units of 

study. 


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Key terms in bold are defined in the 

glossary at the end of this kit. A guide to 

additional reading and resources has been 

provided to assist in further study. 

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS 

Teachers are encouraged to adapt 

syllabus links from the list below to suit the 

system of their school’s state. Use this list 

as a starter for planning, or talk to the 

Education staff at the MCA or other 

Multiplicity venues for ideas. 

Visual arts/Creative Arts 

• The role of the Curator 

• The role of the Contemporary Museum 

• Working in series, developing a Body 

of Work 

• Postmodernism 

• Conceptual Framework—Artist, 

Artwork, Audience, World 

• Exposure to a range of artistic practice 

• Diversity of media and techniques 

• Art and politics, art and current events 

• Music and performance in 

contemporary culture 

• Artist’s Practice, alternative practice— 

artist-run spaces, artist networks, 

collectives 

English 

• Analysing Visual Texts 

• Literacy strategies in the Visual Arts 

• Oral and research skills 

• Response to visual stimuli 

• Creative writing and response 

• Critical essays and reviews

Society and Environment 

• Artworks as commentary about 

interconnectedness between humans, 

society and surroundings 

• Social issues presented from a 

particular community’s point of view 

• Visual arts as a reflection of 

contemporary culture 

• Visual arts as a reflection of cultural or 

personal identity 

Australian History 

• Postcolonialism 

• Indigenous cultures and histories 

• Recent changing rights and freedoms 

ESL/NESB/CALD 

• Developing a visual arts vocabulary list 

• Written and oral responses 

• Cultural identity and issues in the visual 

arts 

• Indigenous cultures and histories 

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW 

Multiplicity explores the development of 

prints and multiples from the 1960s to the 

current day through works drawn from the 

permanent collections of the MCA and the 

University of Wollongong. Both art 

collections house significant works by 

Australian and international artists who 

use prints and multiples as their primary 

medium, or who have made critical 

contributions to this area of artistic 

practice. 

The exhibition presents a selection of 

prints and multiples that embody an 

alternative and often humorously 

irreverent approach to art making. This 

influential area of artistic production 

emerged from Pop Art of the 1950s and 

the conceptual movement of the mid- 


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1960s. Until then the production of prints 

and multiples had been viewed as 

secondary to the more ‘important’ media of 

painting and sculpture. The 

experimentation with process and 

institutional critique that marked the 

development of conceptual art led to a 

major shift in this hierarchy. 

Works in the exhibition are presented over 

three specific periods: 1960s – 70s, 1970s 

– 1980s and the 1990s – present. The 

impact developing technologies has made 

on artistic practice over these forty-six 

years is clear. The diversity of media and 

techniques includes silkscreens, artists’ 

books, photo lithographs, wallpaper, 

photocopied ‘zines, limited edition 

readymades, mass-produced objects 

such as golf balls, record and CD covers, 

and web-based works made for the 

express purpose of downloading, printing 

and distributing to as broad an audience 

as possible. 

Through this wide range of production and 

dissemination, prints and multiples are 

arguably the most democratic of art forms, 

often inexpensive and available through 

alternative channels. In some cases they 

are made with the express purpose of free 

distribution. In this way, the artists 

demonstrate the blurring of boundaries 

between the exhibition spaces and the 

artwork as collectable commodity, 

interrogating the very nature of prints and 

multiples and the original work of art. 

Extracted from the Multiplicity introductory wall text, 

written by Glenn Barkley and Katie Dyer.

Summary of Exhibition Sections 

1960s – 1970s 

• Artist’s Books 

• Screenprinting in the 1960s 

• Ed Ruscha 

1970s – 1980s 

• Posters 

• Earthworks 

• Multiples 

1990s – present 

• Printmaking and Indigenous Art 

• Art & Music 

• Artist, Prints and Technology 

THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG 

ART COLLECTION 

The University of Wollongong Art 

Collection is a dispersed collection spread 

across campus in areas accessed by staff, 

students and visitors. Collecting prints has 

allowed the University of Wollongong to 

fulfil their mission of making a substantial 

body of artwork accessible to the 

university and wider community; prints are 

usually substantially cheaper than 

paintings or other works by major artists, 

therefore the University has been able to 

build a collection of outstanding material 

with a relatively modest acquisitions 

budget. 

As the collection has grown it has become 

well known for the quality of its print 

collection which has led to a number of 

quite substantial gifts of prints. In 

particular, two large gifts of over 350 prints 

by international artists were given by Dr 

Douglas Kagi in 2004 and 2006. The 

University also has a major Indigenous 

Australian print collection of over 500 

works, making it arguably the most 


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important tertiary collection of material of 

this type. 

The University Collection recognises and 

reflects the recent history and tradition of 

printmaking in Wollongong, and includes 

works by Redback Graphix who created 

their screenprinted posters while based in 

Wollongong during the 1980s. This 

tradition is ongoing, with Duckprint 

workshop based in Port Kembla, as well 

as the printmaking departments of the 

University of Wollongong and West 

Wollongong TAFE, keeping an active 

printmaking profile within the region. 

Edited from text provided by Glenn Barkley. 

THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY 

ART COLLECTION 

Collecting is crucial to the MCA as it 

defines it as an art museum: an institution 

that acquires, houses, cares for and 

protects an evolving collection of art 

works. It contributes to the MCA’s unique 

position as the only museum in Australia 

dedicated to collecting as well as 

exhibiting contemporary art. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art holds 

over 5000 artworks in two collections, the 

J.W. Power Collection and the MCA 

Collection. Together these are referred to 

as “the MCA collection”. 

The J.W. Power Collection is the largest 

of the MCA’s collections and was 

established through the Power Bequest to 

The University of Sydney, and has been 

held in trust by the MCA since 1991. 

Within the Collection are over 1000 

paintings, oil sketches and drawings by 

John Power himself, as well as a variety of 

works by other artists including kinetic

work from the 1960s and 1970s, Op Art, 

performance pieces, Pop Art, minimalist 

works, and more recent works from the 

1980s. A subsidiary of the J.W. Power 

collection is the Ramingining Collection of 

Aboriginal Art. 

� 

The MCA collection comprises over 5000 

works acquired after 1989 until the 

present. Separate smaller collections 

include: 

• The Arnott’s Biscuits Collection of 

Aboriginal bark paintings: A collection 

of 285 bark paintings donated in 1993 

by Arnott’s Biscuits Limited, featuring 

work by Aboriginal artists from the late 

1960s through to the early 1980s. 

• The Loti and Victor Smorgon 

Collection of Contemporary Australian 

Art: Donated to the MCA in 1995 by 

private collectors Loti and Victor 

Smorgon, this collection of 154 works 

is a remarkable survey of work of the 

1980s and 1990s by Australian artists 

• The Maningrida Collection of 

Aboriginal Art: Maningrida is an 

Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land 

in northern Australia. This collection of 

objects by Maningrida artists is held in 

trust on a long-term basis by the MCA 

in agreement with the Maningrida 

Community. 

• Contemporary Art Archive: offering a 

broader understanding of art practice, 


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the Archive includes works of art and 

other related source materials that are 

often overlooked by conventional 

histories and museum collections—but 

which give valuable insight into artists' 

work and thought processes. 

1968 was the year that the Power 

Collection at the MCA first acquired a 

print. The collection holds a number of 

prints and multiples from different eras by 

both significant international and 

Australian artists. 

The MCA collection is an invaluable 

resource for exhibitions and loans. An 

extensive touring program has been 

established, along with an active loans 

program for regional, national and 

international institutions that contributes to 

developing relationships and makes the 

collection accessible to a wide audience. 

Collecting is an essential part of the 

MCA’s commitment to supporting 

contemporary Australian artists. Through 

ongoing care, documentation, 

conservation and storage the MCA 

ensures that these works and therefore 

the story of Australian art and its global 

context will be preserved for future 

generations. 

Museum of Contemporary Art, 2006

FOCUS AREAS 

This is a summary of key exhibition 

themes or aspects in Multiplicity. Use this 

as teaching notes to help prepare for the 

gallery visit, to assist with preparing an 

essay topic or assignment, or as selfguiding 

notes while at the museum. 

Framing questions and activities which 

provide further context for considering this 

exhibition are at the end of each section. 

Extracted or edited from the Multiplicity exhibition 

catalogue, room sheets and introductory text. 

1. CONCEPTUAL ART 

Overview 

Multiplicity includes many works related to 

conceptual art practice, where a concept, 

process or idea is prioritised over 

aesthetics or form in an artwork. 

Conceptual art takes a radical departure 

from traditional art making and its concern 

with technical proficiency. Instead, it views 

art as a vehicle to consider ideas of what 

art is and how it might function in the world 

socially, economically and philosophically. 

Art historical context 

The historical underpinnings of conceptual 

art lie in the work of French Dada artist 

Marcel Duchamp. Critical of art as 

commodity and the bourgeois systems 

that it operated within, Duchamp randomly 

chose everyday objects such as a bicycle 

wheel and stool, gave them a title and 

displayed them in exhibitions as art. These 

are called readymades and their purpose 

is to question the function of an art object 

in society. 


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The work of Marcel Duchamp is preemptive 

of the prints and multiples that 

artists began to make in the 1960s. From 

1914 onwards Duchamp created many 

printed works, culminating in The Box in a 

Valise (1941). His influence on the 

production of contemporary multiples, 

particularly his idea that everyday objects 

can be art if determined so by the artist 

and the context of their display is 

unparalleled. This provided artists with an 

opportunity to produce art that could be 

readymade and mass-produced, 

inexpensive and above all, conceptually 

driven. 

German conceptual artist Joseph Beuys 

frequently used found objects and 

materials to make multiples. When 

questioned why he made multiples, he 

replied: 

It’s like an antenna which is standing 

somewhere and with which one stays in 

touch. … One person says: Yes I’ve got 

such a bottle. Another one has a wooden 

box and a third one says: I’ve heard 

something about political activities, and so 

all sorts of different concepts converge 

and that’s what I’m interested in, that a 

whole lot of concepts come together. 1 

Beuys’ work in the exhibition, Plasterstein 

(1975), reflects this idea. This readymade 

consists of three black cobblestones 

printed with the artist’s name. Unlike 

Marcel Duchamp, who chose objects at 

random, Beuys’ choice of objects are 

determined by conceptual concerns often 

related to science, economics or society. 

The cobblestones in this work have 

associations with labour and production. 

1 Bernd Klüser and Jörg Schellmann, ‘Questions to Joseph Beuys’, 

Joseph Beuys Multiples, Editions Schellmann, Inc., 1985, unpaginated.

What are usually unacknowledged objects 

taken for granted for their utilitarian 

function are transformed into objects of 

aesthetic and cultural value once removed 

from their original context and inscribed 

with the artist’s signature. 

Art and language/artist’s books 

Jasper Johns’ Alphabet (1969) pushes the 

boundaries of printmaking materially, 

technically and conceptually. The artist 

has chosen to emboss the letters of the 

alphabet into the paper—physically 

embedding the letters into the paper, 

removing them from a literary context into 

an aesthetic one. It is not the alphabet that 

is recognised, but shapes, lines and 

texture. 

From the mid-1960s there was an 

increased interest in the field of artists’ 

books and the possible intersections 

between art and language. Figures such 

as German philosopher Ludwig 

Wittgenstein and American artists Joseph 

Kosuth and Sol Le Witt considered the 

possibilities of language outside its role in 

describing experience. Whilst Jasper 

Johns has played with art and language in 

a traditional print edition, other artists 

such as Ed Ruscha made artists books 

that could be mass produced. 

A key component in artist’s books of this 

period was the wish to take them beyond 

the gallery and exhibiting context—they 

were meant to be cheap and readily 

available and able to move into a variety of 

different contexts. The books represent an 

attempt to break down the gap between 

audience and artist and to challenge the 

hegemony of the gallery as the only 

space where art could happen. 


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Ruscha’s interest in the boundaries 

between high and low art is apparent in his 

mass-produced, mass-distributed books. A 

number of these publications are included 

in the exhibition, and are considered by 

the artist as being far more accessible in 

terms of availability and price than his 

paintings. 

Every building on the Sunset Strip (1966) 

presents a series of photographs 

documenting every building on the 

notorious Sunset Strip in Hollywood, 

displayed on a concertina-like unfolded 

single piece of paper. This book is one in 

an edition of 1000, and is often considered 

the key artist book of the 1960s. Ruscha 

once stated, “I am not trying to produce a 

precious limited edition book, but a mass 

produced object of high order.” 2 

You may notice a small stamp on this work 

stating that it belongs to Inhibodress. This 

was an artist-run initiative in Australia in 

1970, run by a group of young Australian 

artists at the forefront of conceptual art 

practice in Australia including Mike Parr, 

Peter Kennedy and Tim Johnson (only 

Johnson is included in Multiplicity). 

Tim Johnson’s work Be an artist (c. 1970s) 

is an artist’s book detailing moments of 

transcendence the artist experienced 

while working as a high school teacher. 

Simple yet profound moments are typed in 

a cheaply produced and bound book in an 

attempt to break down barriers between 

artist and audience. The work also 

challenges an understanding of the studio 

or gallery being the only spaces where 

2 Schwartz, A (Ed.), Leave any Information at the Signal. Writings, 

Interviews, Bits, Pages: Ed Ruscha, October Books, MIT USA 2002, 

p.11. From Coplans, ‘Concerning Various Small Fires: Edward Ruscha 

discusses his perplexing publications’, originally published in Artforum, 

v.5, February 1965

artistic experiences occur, locating art 

within the everyday instead. 

Fluxus 

Fluxus originated with Lithuanian born, 

American artist George Maciunas. Artists 

Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Yoko Ono and 

Nam June Paik were associated with the 

movement. (All of these artists except 

Maciunas and Paik are included in 

Multiplicity). 

Following an anti-art, anti-bourgeois Dadalike 

sensibility, Fluxus is loosely defined as 

an attitude rather than a style, 

characterised by a sense of spontaneity, 

playfulness and social and political 

activism. It aimed to shift art away from art 

as an object, to art as performance, 

happening, attitude or behaviour situated 

in the everyday. Five Fluxus publications 

are included in the exhibition, which 

according to exhibition curator Glenn 

Barkley, “were cheap, pulpy and playful— 

a cross between a personal diary, 

calendar of events and performances, 

surrealist collage and supermarket 

catalogue.” 3 

Focus Questions 

• Who do you think made the original 

cobblestones in Joseph Beuys’ multiple 

Plasterstein, and how? What has 

Beuys done to change how these 

objects operate in the world both 

functionally and economically? 

• Beuys highlights issues surrounding 

production—both labour production 

and artistic production in Plasterstein. 

What social concerns might this work 

reflect? 

3 Glenn Barkley, ‘Multiplicity’, Multiplicity: prints and multiples from the 

collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the University of 

Wollongong, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2006, p. 5 


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• How does Every Building on the 

Sunset Strip challenge traditional 

economic functions of art? 

• How does the current display and 

concertina-like format of Every Building 

on the Sunset Strip impact on an 

understanding of the work? How might 

this contradict the original intention and 

production of the artwork? 

• Compare and contrast the content, 

format and production values of Ed 

Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset 

Strip with Raquel Ormella and Regina 

Walter’s various Flaps ‘zines. How do 

they reflect the artists’ concerns? 

• Do you think that objects or words are 

more effective in communicating an 

artist’s idea? Use artworks in the 

exhibition to illustrate your argument.

Tim Johnson Be an artist c.1970s 

bound book, photocopy 

26 x 21 (closed) 

Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Archive, 

gift of the artist, 1991 © the artist 

Photograph: Jenni Carter 


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2. ART AND POLITICS 

Overview 

Many of the works in Multiplicity engage 

with political issues. Some works promote 

a cause or protest against an issue, whilst 

others engage more subtly in the politics 

of knowledge, production, distribution and 

display, interrogating the very nature of art 

and its place in society. 

The beginning of the poster movement in 

Australia is mapped from Earthworks 

through to later works from the 1980s by 

Redback Graphix. The inclusion of these 

workshops is an attempt to place their 

production within a much broader 

aesthetic and conceptual framework that 

goes beyond their political and social 

history base. 

While Earthworks was motivated to 

promote political causes, Redback 

Graphix began as a commercial enterprise 

that also produced activist material. 

However, both organisations produced 

print material promoting sexual equality, 

Indigenous rights and trade unionism. 

Guerilla Girls focus on highlighting 

inequalities within the art world and wider 

society. 

Political campaigns 

Prints and multiples provide a method for 

the proliferation of political material into 

the vernacular. Simple production 

methods like silkscreen printing, or 

photocopying allow art to be mass- 

produced and cost effective. Many political 

campaigns use posters or publications to 

communicate in simple, punchy visual and 

written statements. 


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Like the Pop artists, Earthworks, Redback 

Graphix and Guerilla Girls knowingly 

embrace the low art, commercial 

associations of posters and publications, 

but turn them on their head by making 

work that is conceptually and visually 

sophisticated, playing with the boundary 

between high art and popular culture— 

delivering images and colours that fuse 

perfectly with cutting politics and satire. 

Earthworks Poster Collective operated out 

of the Tin Sheds Art Workshop at the 

University of Sydney during the 1970s and 

early 1980s, and promoted causes outside 

of the political mainstream, such as 

feminism, Aboriginal land rights and anticapitalism. 

The notion of collectivism is 

political in itself—reflecting anti-capitalist 

social ideals related to the importance of 

community and collective power. 

The poster A way to a woman’s heart is 

through her masochism (1979) illustrates 

how Earthworks has drawn on a Pop Art 

aesthetic, with simple graphics and text 

that work together to communicate a 

feminist message. The poster by Marie 

McMahon, How to Make a Poster (1976), 

takes print production one step further, 

and reveals the artist’s methods, by 

providing instructions on how to make a 

poster. 

Collectivism and anonymity is also an 

important aspect of the Guerilla Girls’ 

practice. The Guerilla Girls are a 

collective, and the individual identities of 

the members are protected. When the 

Guerilla Girls appear in public, they wear 

gorilla masks to hide their faces.

The following statement from their website 

explains the Guerilla Girls’ collective 

identity and purpose: 

We’re feminist masked avengers in the 

tradition of anonymous do-gooders like 

Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and 

Batman. How do we expose sexism, 

racism and corruption in politics, art, film 

and pop culture? With facts, humor and 

outrageous visuals. 4 

Multiplicity presents a publication by the 

Guerilla Girls from 1994, Hot Flashes, 

vol.1. no.4, Top Ten Signs You Are Being 

Tokenized. This work uses irony and 

humour to expose the subtle prejudices 

that exist in the art world against someone 

outside a white, middle-class, 

heterosexual or male majority. 

Indigenous printmaking 

Aboriginal printmaking has its roots in the 

simple hand-prints seen in rock art, in 

what could be considered a simple early 

form of stencilling. Within this exhibition it 

is possible to trace the beginnings of the 

contemporary Indigenous print movement 

and consider how it was influenced by the 

screenprinted poster tradition that began 

within workshops such as Earthworks 

Poster Collective and later the influential 

Redback Graphix. 

The posters also provide a historical 

perspective on the Aboriginal rights 

movement in Australia, as well as 

highlighting some of the social concerns 

and issues affecting Aboriginal people 

from the 1970s until now, and how art has 

been used as a way of promoting causes 

and expressing experience. 

4 Guerilla Girls, Guerilla Girls website, , 

viewed 12 March 2007 


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We belong to the land …(Feral Pigs) 

(1989) by Marrnyula Mununggurr (printed 

by Alison Alder) is an example of 

collaborative printmaking where 

printmaker Alison Alder has created a print 

from a painting by the artist Marrnyula 

Mununggurr. The images in this print tell a 

story about the destruction of land and 

habitat by feral pigs, and the text provides 

a statement about Indigenous 

relationships to the land. This print 

combines narrative imagery with text to 

raise awareness of an environmental issue 

that was having a detrimental impact on 

Aboriginal society. 

Marie McMahon’s print You are on 

Aboriginal land (1984) frames an image of 

an Aboriginal woman standing in a 

landscape of earth, sea and sky with the 

colours of the Aboriginal flag. This work is 

reflective of the Aboriginal land rights 

movement and a concern for making non- 

Indigenous Australians aware that 

Australia belonged to Aboriginal people for 

thousands of years prior to white 

settlement. 

Pregnancy (1988) reflects health concerns 

related to drug and alcohol use, and the 

small text at the bottom of the poster 

refers to a ‘drug offensive’ that the poster 

was a part of. It is interesting to note that 

while the poster is credited to Marie 

McMahon on the exhibition wall label, the 

small text states the poster was “Produced 

by Aboriginal and Islander People of 

Australia”, suggesting a collaborative 

artistic process. 

Redhand Prints has worked with 

Indigenous inmates in prison to create 

prints that tell stories about crime and 

subsequent life in prison. All your freedom

gone (2000) is a screenprint depicting 

prison scenes accompanied by a simple 

narrative about the artist’s experience of 

imprisonment. This print serves a dual 

function—to reflect the experiences of the 

artists and to promote the ‘Ending 

Offending—Our Message’ program and 

website run by the Northern Territory 

Correctional Service. 


• Who is the intended audience for 

Pregnancy? How does this change 

when the poster is displayed in a 

different context, such as a 

contemporary museum? 

• Why would it be important for a poster 

like Pregnancy to involve Aboriginal 

and Torres Straight Islander people in 

its production? 

• Identify the intended audiences for You 

are on Aboriginal land. Where do you 

imagine a poster like this was 

displayed to reach this audience? 

• Why do the Guerilla Girls use humour 

as a strategy? Why is their publication 

considered to be art? What primary 

audience is this publication aimed at? 

• Why do you think the Guerilla Girls 

never reveal their individual identities? 

If you knew who the individual 

members of Guerilla Girls were, how 

would it change the way you thought 

about their art? 

• Compare and contrast the imagery and 

text in Marrnyula Mununggurr’s We 

belong to the land …(Feral Pigs) to 

Toni Robertson’s A way to a woman’s 

heart is through her masochism. 


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Marrnyula Mununggurr (Printed by Alison Alder) 

We belong to the land … (Feral Pigs) 1989 screenprint, not editioned 

plate size: 97 x 37, sheet size: 101.7 x 38 

University of Wollongong Art Collection, purchased 2006 

© the artist

3. ROLE OF THE MUSEUM 

Curatorial framework and practice 

Multiplicity is curated by Glenn Barkley 

who is Curator of the University of 

Wollongong Art Collection, and Katie Dyer, 

formerly the Touring Exhibitions and 

Projects Coordinator at the MCA. 

The word ‘curator’ derives from a word 

meaning ‘to care for’. A curator can have 

many roles; they care for collections of 

artworks, present exhibitions of artworks to 

the public, and contextualise artworks in 

an exhibition within cultural, historical or 

aesthetic frameworks. Many curators have 

studied art history or fine arts and artists 

often work as curators too. In an exhibition 

a curator might present an argument that 

is illustrated by the works they have 

chosen, or they might simply choose to 

display artworks they think are interesting, 

or that follow a theme. 

The curators of Multiplicity have chosen to 

present artworks from the MCA and 

University of Wollongong Collections by 

date, contextualising the works within 

historical time periods. The exhibition is 

divided into three sections by date, 1960s 

– 1970s, 1970s – 1980s and 1990s – 

present. 

The following quote from Glenn Barkley 

explains the rationale behind this curatorial 

decision: 

The exhibition is split into three different 

periods that attempt to track quite distinct 

changes to approaches within each 

period. The 1960s – 1970s section is 

almost like a rediscovery of the power and 

potential of the print medium; the 1970s – 

1980s tracks how printmaking and 


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multiples dovetailed into wider ideas about 

the exhibition and display of art by 

bypassing the museum/gallery system and 

making art more accessible; while the 

1990s – present reflects the more 

pluralistic nature of contemporary art and 

printmaking/multiples. 

Dividing the exhibition into three distinct 

time periods provides a curatorial 

framework that builds a structure around 

two collections that are quite vast and 

diverse. It allowed us to easily select 

artworks according to chronological criteria 

and the flexibility to allow a broad crosssection 

of artistic approaches. 

There would be a number of different 

shows you could put together from 

combining the two collections; for instance 

an exhibition of printmaking looking at 

technique and process rather than ideas. 

Glenn Barkley, February 2007 

Challenging authority 

The Museum of Jurassic Technology has 

a work titled A Flayne mouse… (c.1993) 

included in Multiplicity. The Museum of 

Jurassic Technology operates as a real 

museum in Los Angeles and is also 

considered a conceptual art work 

conceived by Museum curator David 

Wilson. The Museum claims to display “a 

specialized repository of relics and 

artefacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an 

emphasis on those that demonstrate 

unusual or curious technological qualities. 

On the other hand the Museum serves the 

general public by providing the visitor a 

hands-on experience of ‘life in the 

Jurassic’...." ’ 5 This is a peculiar statement 

5 Museum of Jurassic Technology, Museum of Jurassic Technology 

website, , viewed 12 March 2007

as the Jurassic period occurred prior to 

humans and technology. 

Exhibits in the museum are an ambiguous 

blend of reality and fantasy, bringing to 

attention the authority that museums hold 

in creating and disseminating knowledge 

and questioning the trust that is placed in 

them. David Wilson once stated 

“Confusion can be a very creative state of 

mind; in fact, confusion can act as a 

vehicle to open people’s minds. The hard 

shell of certainty can be shattered…” 6 

This ‘confusion’ reflects the post-modern 

notion of multiplicity. French philosopher 

and theorist Jean-Francois Lyotard wrote 

extensively about this idea. Lyotard 

believed that ‘grand narratives’ such as a 

belief in historical progression and the 

ability of science to explain everything are 

inadequate to interpret the world around 

us. Therefore, Lyotard proposed that we 

have become aware of a multiplicity of 

often conflicting ways that meaning is 

produced, disseminated and understood in 

the world. 

The authority of art institutions and the 

methods in which status is conferred upon 

an artist or artwork is also questioned by 

Sydney-based art collective N.U.C.A.—the 

Network of UnCollectable Artists. The 

group produced a series of 50 cards 

N.U.C.A. collectable cards profiling artists 

whose work exists outside of commercial 

or material spheres in a parody of 

Australian Art Collector magazine’s annual 

feature on Australia’s “50 Most Collectable 

Artists”. 

6 David Wilson in an interview with author Lawrence Weschler, 

originally aired on NPR, October 27, 2001. From ‘Museum of Jurassic 

Technology’ entry in Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia website, 

 



Page 15 

The artists featured in the N.U.C.A. cards 

are from across Australia, and via email 

call-outs were asked to submit a work 

which was then ranked with a rating from 1 

to 5 on a series of criteria. Categories 

included, “Was the artwork done for love 

or money?” and “Was the project ugly or 

beautiful?” (more points were given for 

“love” and “ugly”). The points were added 

up and a ranking of ‘uncollectability’ 

awarded by the collective. The cards are 

packaged in the format of collectable 

baseball or bubblegum cards and 

originally sold for $4 per pack of 8 random 

cards, with a piece of “Artificial Orange 

Flavoured Gum” included. They were 

originally distributed at Melbourne’s Next 

Wave youth art festival, then at galleries 

and various other outlets across Australia, 

and traded at organised swap meets. With 

the money made from sales of the cards, 

N.U.C.A were able to award ‘UNCO’ 

grants to some of the ‘uncollectable’ artists 

to fund a project. 

Like The Museum of Jurassic Technology, 

N.U.C.A. shows the abilities of prints and 

multiples to bypass traditional art 

audiences and institutions, and present a 

biting critique of their authority. 

The work Museums are DEAD (1976) by 

Museum Curators Class is a conceptual 

artwork made using simple materials and 

printmaking methods. The work reflects a 

number of postmodern concerns about 

knowledge, power and authority. There 

are many layers of irony apparent in this 

work and its display context, not least that 

the computer paper upon which the print is 

made was once ubiquitous and now 

obsolete—making the work a historical 

example of the development of computer 

and printing technology worthy of display

in a museum. Not much is known about 

the artist or artists who created this print, 

except that it was made at Tin Sheds, 

where Earthworks were based. 

Considering this, along with the nonprecious 

materials, it is an interesting work 

through which to examine Museum 

collection policies, and how the context of 

display might impact on how an artwork is 

‘read’ and understood. 


• Describe how N.U.C.A. uses irony in 

the presentation and production of their 

cards. 

• Discuss as a group how you think the 

meaning or effect of N.U.C.A’s 

bubblegum cards may have been 

changed now this is part of a museum 

collection. 

• What is ironic about works by The 

Museum of Jurassic Technology being 

displayed at the MCA? 

• How does The Museum of Jurassic 

Technology reflect some of Lyotard’s 

ideas? 

• Discuss the correlation between the 

type of paper and the statement printed 

onto it in Museums are DEAD. 

• Research some artist networks or 

collectives in your local area or via the 

internet. How do they operate outside 

the usual museum or art dealer 

networks? Are artists now acting as 

curators? Ask one of the artists to visit 

your class, arrange a studio visit or 

email some questions to the artists. 

• Discuss how Multiplicity has been 

curated. Identify some key curatorial 

strategies. Do you think the curators’ 

decision to divide the artworks into 

three categories defined by time period 

is effective? Why or why not? How 

does this impact on the way you 


Page 16 

understand and respond to the 

artworks? 

• Discuss why the MCA might want to 

organise and display an exhibition of 

prints and multiples. Why would the 

MCA collaborate with the University of 

Wollongong? Research other museum 

or university collections. 

• How do you think the key MCA 

audiences (or audiences of your local 

venue) respond to the exhibitions? Do 

you think prints and multiples are 

appealing and accessible to the 

general public? Why, or why not?

Museum Curators Class Museums are DEAD 1976 

screenprint 

sheet size: 21.5 x 38 

Museum of Contemporary Art, gift of Julie Ewington, 2006 

© the artist 

Photograph: Jenni Carter 


Page 17

4. ART AND TECHNOLOGY 

The commercial printing world in the last 

ten years has thrown up a variety of 

challenges and opportunities to 

contemporary artists. As technology has 

improved access to a range of machinery 

which can often be utilised in small studios 

and the home, what was once seen as 

new reproductive technologies has rapidly 

been replaced, superseded and outdated. 

In the 1960s when Ian Burn’s Xerox Book 

was produced, photocopying was a 

relatively new medium. Since then 

photocopiers have become so obligatory 

as to appear old-fashioned. 

Technique and production in Pop Art 

Pop Art engaged with the sensibilities of 

popular culture—with advertising, the 

mass media and celebrity, and was 

concerned with mirroring some of their 

qualities. Many Pop artists rejected more 

expressive forms of art making such as 

painting and drawing, and chose print 

making to reflect conceptual concerns 

related to originality, mass production and 

authenticity. 

Many Pop artists employed printmaking 

techniques to produce a flat picture plain 

with hard-edged lines and solid blocks of 

colour that were devoid of expressive 

qualities. This particular aesthetic can be 

seen in the work by Andy Warhol and 

Patrick Caulfield and is reminiscent of the 

attention-grabbing aesthetic of advertising. 

Artists were attracted to screenprinting 

because it is “… less autobiographical 

than etching or lino—it hasn’t their 

dependence on the hand of the artist: in 

that sense it is a modern printmaker’s 


Page 18 

medium.” 7 This reflects the Pop artists’ 

interest in questioning the role of the artist 

and the artistic concern for authenticity, 

originality and expressiveness. 

In Andy Warhol’s Hot dog bean (1969) the 

artist matches a seemingly banal 

consumer object with an inexpressive 

visual style, reflecting his interest in the 

excessive consumerism that America was 

swept up in during the post-war period. 

The image is seductive, with bold lines, 

rich colour and a gleaming lid of silver 

paint. It has a similar style to advertising of 

the time which tried to sell products by 

making them appear glossy, sexy, strong 

or fun. Warhol has used simple 

composition and flat colours, with the 

image placed in the centre of the picture 

plain with a blank background and single 

point perspective. 

New Media 

Deborah Kelly responds to current political 

issues in Australia. Her work takes the 

form of stickers, badges, posters and 

images that are mass-produced and 

mass-distributed. Her work reflects 

concerns about the relationship between 

church and state, the treatment of 

refugees in Australia, and the rights of gay 

and lesbian people, amongst other issues. 

Kelly uses new media technology to create 

and distribute her works. 

Untitled (2001) was made by the collective 

boat-people.org, of which the Kelly is a 

member. The work pairs a familiar image 

of a tall ship, emblematic of the ‘first fleet’ 

7 Kelpra Studio: an exhibition to commemorate the Rose and Chris 

Prater Gift, Tate Gallery Publications, London, 1980. p.5 From Glenn 

Barkley, ‘Multiplicity’, Multiplicity: prints and multiples from the 

collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the University of 

Wollongong, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2006, p.5�

of European settlers in Australia with the 

words ‘boat people’. This term was 

originally used to describe Vietnamese 

refugees arriving in Australia on small 

boats, but has been more widely used by 

politicians and the media in recent debates 

about refugee issues in Australia. The 

boat-people.org group were inspired to 

make this work after attending a 

conference where an Aboriginal participant 

referred to non-Aboriginal people as “boat 

people”. 8 Untitled highlights the irony that 

is apparent in Australian resistance to 

refugees and migrants. It was originally 

projected guerilla-style, illegally onto the 

sails of the Sydney Opera House. 

Kelly actively engages not only with 

political issues, but with politics of 

reproduction and the place of art in 

society. Sometimes Kelly’s works are 

available for download from various 

websites allowing the general public to 

print and distribute her images without 

breaking copyright laws, which would 

usually prohibit the reproduction of an 

artist’s work without their permission. Kelly 

often takes her work outside of a fine-arts 

context, making it accessible to a broad 

audience by situating it on the World Wide 

Web, making it emailable, and by giving 

unlimited permission for reproduction. As 

part of Multiplicity, Kelly has allowed her 

works to be reproduced by downloading 

them from the MCA website 

(www.mca.com.au). In doing so, Kelly is 

raising questions about the print making 

and the technology that it involves —is the 

artwork the PDF file, or the printed image? 

8 ‘Transcription of the discussion between Ilaria Vanni and Deborah 

Kelly’ 16 th January 2005, Klartext! website, , 



Page 19 

Design 

There are a number of artists in Multiplicity 

who also follow a concern for bringing art 

into the everyday, fusing high-art 

conceptual drive, with low-art functionality. 

Melbourne-based design collective Third 

Drawer Down’s selection of tea-towels are 

printed with artworks by internationallyrenowned 

artists such as the European 

art/rock/DIY band Chicks on Speed. Third 

Drawer Down sell their tea-towels through 

retail outlets at a fraction of the cost of an 

original artwork by the artists they work 

with, making the artists’ work accessible to 

a broad audience. By printing the work on 

tea-towels, Third Drawer Down brings 

high-art into an everyday, banal 

situation—drying up dishes. 

Like Third Drawer Down’s art tea-towels, 

Owl Wallpaper fuses a low-art, decorative 

art form with high-art conceptual concerns. 

The repetitive motif of owls, branches and 

spider webs in Owl Wallpaper (2002-2003) 

creates a spooky, intriguing installation in 

the gallery. Noonan has appropriated 

wallpaper—an old-fashioned decorative 

technique usually associated with unemotive 

floral or subtle abstract designs 

and applied a design that points to the 

artist’s interest in film, the gothic and 

popular culture. 

The work is printed as a negative image, 

reminiscent of a filmic technique often 

seen in old horror films where an image 

reverts from positive to negative to create 

an effect of shock. While the imagery in 

Owl Wallpaper carries with it association 

of night-time, or horror-film imagery, the 

work invites the audience to bring their 

own associations to form an imaginary

narrative about what is going on. The 

black and white colour, and dense pattern 

of the wallpaper give the gallery space a 

retro feel. The flat, decorative nature of the 

imagery connects to Pop Art. 

For Multiplicity Noonan has provided each 

venue with 20 sheets of wallpaper. The 

work is then installed directly onto the 

gallery walls. In the past, the artist has 

explored different display options, 

including placing other artworks over the 

top—blurring the boundaries of the artwork 

with the gallery walls, and referencing the 

domestic environment. 


• What symbols or stories are owls 

usually associated with? What do you 

associate with spider webs? 

• David Noonan has used repetition to 

create a particular effect in Owl 

Wallpaper. If he only used one image 

of the owls, how might you respond 

differently to the work? 

• Owl Wallpaper also comes in white on 

black. How would the work read 

differently in this colour combination? 

• How would an understanding of the 

work change if Owl Wallpaper was 

installed in someone’s house, rather 

than an art gallery? Would it still be 

considered art? 

• What do you think will happen to the 

wallpaper once the exhibition finishes? 

• Why would Deborah Kelly situate her 

work online? What audiences do you 

think she is trying to reach? 

• Why do you think boat-people.org 

decided to project Untitled onto the 

sails of the Opera House? Describe 

some other exhibition contexts. 


Page 20 

Andy Warhol Hot dog bean 1969 

screenprint, edition 250 of 250 

sheet size: 88.9 x 58.4 

Museum of Contemporary Art, JW Power Bequest, purchased 1987 

© Andy Warhol Foundation, /ARS 

Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney 2006 

Photograph: Jenni Carter

5. ART AND MUSIC 

Overview 

The relationship between contemporary 

art practice and music can be seen in a 

number of works in Multiplicity. There are 

many connections between contemporary 

art practice and music, with contemporary 

artists and musicians often sharing similar 

conceptual and cultural concerns, and 

experimental drive. 

Many other artists in Multiplicity have a 

history of working with musicians such as 

Richard Hamilton who designed the cover 

of the Beatles’ 1968 double album The 

Beatles (or the White Album). Andy 

Warhol took this a step further by working 

as manager and collaborator with the 

legendary band the Velvet Underground, 

designing the classic peel-off banana 

sticker cover for their debut album The 

Velvet Underground and Nico (1967) 

Warhol also designed the original cover for 

the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers (1971). 

Art and Musical Composition 

Tom Phillips Mental Ornamentik is a score 

that was first performed in 1969. Phillips 

has described his music as ‘compositions 

of a non-composer’ and his musical works 

are closely aligned to the work of avantgarde 

composer Cornelius Cardew with 

whom he worked in the 1960s. Mental 

Ornamentik consists of a chart or 

‘gapmap’, which notes pitch and time. The 

second part of the score consists of 

graphic symbols or ‘ornaments’ to which 

the player responds. Mental Ornamentik 

was one of a series of works produced in 

the 1960s by English design and print 

workshop Circle Press. 


Page 21 

Slave Pianos is a collective of visual and 

performing artists who transform modern 

and contemporary works by a variety of 

Australian and international visual artists 

into piano notation. The collective creates 

a pastiche of popular sheet music and in a 

final transformation the scores are run 

through a ‘slave’ or player piano/pianola 

that plays the pieces with the final result 

appearing as a musical performance. 

Punk and DIY 

Raymond Pettibon came to prominence in 

the 1980s with his illustrated record covers 

and posters for LA hardcore punk band 

Black Flag. Pettibon’s cryptic and 

sometimes violent obsessions with LA 

noir, cults and subcultures fused perfectly 

with Black Flag’s brutal sound. 

DIY is an approach to art and music 

production associated with the punk 

movement of the 1970s. Punk was an antiestablishment 

and underground musical 

genre that operated outside of the 

mainstream and championed an antivirtuosic 

approach to making music. DIY 

culture is characterised by low-tech 

resourcefulness and inexpensive 

production, relies on strong community 

ties and word-of-mouth, and offers 

alternatives to the mainstream. 

Included in the listening post within the 

exhibition is Sonic Youth, an American 

band inspired by the punk movement and 

DIY ethic. The band were part of a 1970s 

experimental art and music movement in 

New York called No Wave, which blurred 

distinctions between music, sound and art. 

With a lack of concern for traditional 

musical techniques, Sonic Youth 

experiment with cheap electric guitars, and

the sounds that could be made through 

unusual tunings, or by placing objects 

between the strings (this is called a 

prepared guitar). Sonic Youth have a 

history of connection with contemporary 

art. Lead singer Kim Gordon worked both 

as an artist and writer for Art Forum after 

graduating from art school and has 

curated exhibitions. Many of the band’s 

album covers have been designed by 

established contemporary artists including 

Richard Prince, Mike Kelley and Raymond 

Pettibon. 

Sonic Youth’s album cover for Goo was 

designed by Pettibon and is based on 

drawings from the case of English serial 

killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. Sonic 

Youth also worked with another LA artist, 

Mike Kelley, who produced the cover for 

Dirty, which incorporates Kelley’s use of 

pre-loved and abandoned stuffed toys. He 

lines them up photographically like mug 

shots and then includes his own image— 

while the case includes a performance 

image which sums up the album’s title and 

was subsequently pulled from distribution 

by the record company. An edited version 

was then produced for sale. 

Collaborations 

Many rock bands have emerged out of artschools, 

including Australian band Mental 

as Anything. Multiplicity features Mental as 

Anything Dance all Band Alias (1977), a 

band poster designed by Paul Worstead 

for one of their concerts. For many bands 

posters are an effective promotional tool, 

and during the 1970s silkscreen 


Page 22 

technology provided a cheap method to 

mass-produce multi-coloured prints. This 

provided an opportunity for collaboration 

between artists and musicians, and band 

posters have been valued and collected as 

art works in their own right. 


• Apart from information about the 

venue, date time etc for the concert, 

what else does Paul Worstead’s poster 

communicate? 

• What kind of visual language and 

imagery does he use? How does the 

poster make you feel? 

• Compare and contrast Paul Worstead’s 

poster with a political poster in 

Multiplicity, identifying their different 

messages, audiences and visual 

language. 

• Look at records or CDs in a collection. 

What covers stand out? Examine the 

visual language or symbols used and 

identify any messages they 

communicate. 

• What promotional techniques do 

underground bands use to promote 

themselves now? 

• How have the ways underground, Punk 

or DIY communities operate changed 

with new communication technologies 

and the World Wide Web? 

• Do you think this contradicts punk/DIY 

anti-corporate, anti-establishment 

concerns? How?

Paul Worstead Mental as Anything Dance all Band Alias 1977 

screenprint 76 x 51 

Museum of Contemporary Art, gift of Julie Ewington, 2006 

© the artist 


Page 23

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES—KNOWING 

ABOUT ART; MAKING ART 

Primary Level 

Pre-visit 

Why do we collect things? Discuss this as 

a class, and make an illustrated list of the 

different people and places with 

collections, and what different kinds of 

things can be collected. Perhaps your 

school, or a school nearby, has a 

collection of artworks which you can 

arrange to view. 

What kind of things do your classmates 

collect? Conduct a ‘show and tell’ session 

of objects from the personal collections of 

students in your class. Come up with an 

interesting way to display some of the 

objects. Make sure you document the 

exhibition by taking photographs. 

Visit your local museum, gallery or 

university and look at their collection. Ask 

the curator why the museum has collected 

some objects and not others. 

Imagine you could choose an object to 

add to the MCA’s or your local museum’s 

collection. Write a simple statement 

explaining why this object would be an 

interesting contribution to the museum. 

For example, what does the object tell you 

about life in the past or life in the present? 

How is it special or important? 

Multiplicity has been divided into 

chronological sections for the exhibition 

display. Divide the class into one group 

per section and research two of the artists 

or one of the styles in each section. 

Present your findings to the rest of the 

class. 


Page 24 

In the gallery 

In each section of the exhibition, make a 

word list of materials, shapes and 

symbols. 

Select one work in each section of 

Multiplicity and draw it in pencil. Try to 

capture as much detail as possible. Note 

down the artist, title, date and materials 

from the wall label. 

Sit in front of the Earthworks print by Marie 

McMahon, You are on Aboriginal land. 

Draw the main compositional elements. 

Back at school, make a collaged image of 

yourself standing in your favourite place by 

tearing up coloured paper or old 

magazines and sticking them down with 

glue. Think about the symbolism of the 

colours you use. Write a simple statement 

that tells a story about you and this place. 

For example, a picture of you at the beach 

might have the statement ‘The sand burnt 

my feet.’ 

Post-visit 

Write a short story inspired by the images 

in David Noonan’s Owl Wallpaper. After 

the visit, use black and white to illustrate 

your story, and make an illustrated cartoon 

strip with captions. 

Make your own wallpaper. You could 

either draw, paint or print over existing 

wallpaper, or make your own prints using 

lino, polystyrene Foam Print or potatoes. 

Print your image in a regular pattern on 

long paper. Experiment with different 

display methods on the wall of your 

classroom. 

Discuss as a class how prints and 

multiples can be found easily, and can be 

made out of everyday materials. Make a

list of all the different prints or multiples in 

your classroom or home. Collect some 

everyday items and talk about their 

relationship with the world. Make an 

illustrated map or wall chart to display your 

findings. 

Use the political posters in Multiplicity to 

start a debate of how artists use images 

and text to explore their political concerns. 

Brainstorm some concerns of the class 

and try to come up with a material, object 

or symbol for each concern. For instance, 

empty chip packets might represent 

inequality in food distribution and world 

hunger. Change the object in some way, 

for example: incorporate text or paint the 

object in a different colour to represent the 

concern. Make a multi-media artwork or 

installation using your object. 

In small groups (collectives) make a poster 

that reflects another concern of the group. 

This could be an issue affecting your 

school community or the wider world. Use 

black and white imagery and text only, 

then photocopy it and put the posters up 

around your school. 

Research and read reviews of Multiplicity 

in your local newspaper or on the internet. 

Write your own review of the exhibition for 

your school newspaper or website. 

Secondary Level 

Pre-visit 

Investigate the Guerilla Girls’ international 

art practice by exploring their website 

(http://www.guerillagirls.com). In particular, 

read some of the reviews on the Our 

rumble in the Art World: the Venice 

Biennale page of the website and discuss 


Page 25 

the Guerilla Girls’ relationship with the art 

world. 

Examine the practice of Marcel Duchamp, 

and his use of readymades. Compare and 

contrast one of his readymade art objects 

with Joseph Beuy’s use of found material 

in Plasterstein, considering the rationale 

behind each artist’s choice of objects, and 

the social or political concerns each artist 

was addressing in their practice. 

Discuss as a class why institutions collect 

objects or artworks. Critically compare the 

collections of local galleries, universities or 

museums. Write a short essay examining 

a particular collection is linked with 

learning, the production of knowledge, 

collective identity and memory. 

In the gallery 

Listen to a track by Sonic Youth on the 

I-Pod in the gallery space, then look at the 

Mike Kelley album cover for Dirty. What 

correlations are there between the DIY 

ethos of Sonic Youth, their sound, the title 

of the album, and the artwork by Mike 

Kelley? Discuss why you think Mike Kelley 

has chosen to present a photograph of 

himself along with the toys. What effect 

does it have? 

Devise an alternative way to order and 

contextualise the artworks in the exhibition 

to how they are currently curated. This 

might be thematic, cultural or aesthetic. 

Draw a plan that sets out how you would 

place the artworks in the gallery. 

Post-visit 

Research Australian Intellectual Property 

law and the extension of copyright in 

Australia that came into effect in 2005 as 

part of the Free Trade Agreement with the

United States. Research the 

circumstances of the Sonny Bono 

Copyright Term Extension Act (otherwise 

known as the “Mickey Mouse clause”) in 

the United States. Have a classroom 

debate arguing for and against the 

extension of copyright in Australia. What 

could be some possible implications for 

museums or artists? 

Download Deborah Kelly’s images from 

the MCA website and write a critical 

review of her work. Consider issues of 

accessibility, her methods of 

communication, and how successful her 

work might be in reaching a wide 

audience. 

Design and make a multiple: 

• Think about an issue that is of concern 

to you, or survey your school or 

community for an issue that is of 

concern. Research the issue and 

gather information together—reflecting 

on how the issue has been presented 

by the media and any activist or lobby 

groups, including phrases and 

imagery. 

• Find an everyday object that might 

come to represent this concern—for 

example, a light bulb might represent 

issues to do with renewable energy. 

You could also use objects from the 

natural environment, but be sure to 

not collect objects from nature 

reserves or natural parks. 

• Make 5 different sketches in your 

Visual Arts Process Diary (VAPD) that 

mesh the issue of concern with your 

chosen object. Experiment with text, 


Page 26 

collage or printmaking techniques, 

including photocopying. Try to 

incorporate humour into one or more 

designs. 

• Make a simple change to the object 

that can be reproduced (to make 

multiples). For example, you could 

incorporate text, change the form of 

the object, or paint it in order to 

communicate about your chosen 

issue. 

• Give a title to your multiples, and 

display them with a wall label that 

provides a brief explanation of the 

work.


Page 27 

EXTRA ACTIVITY: HOW TO MAKE AN ARTIST’S BOOK 

Sydney artist Keg de Souza, part of the Network of UnCollectable Artists (N.U.C.A.) and also 

a bookbinder, designed this activity just for the Multiplicity education kit. These instructions on 

how to hand-make a book can be used to make a VAPD for notes on Multiplicity; for sketches 

for the “Make a multiple activity”; to compile a book of posters or record covers or to develop 

a ‘zine or artist’s book.


Page 28

GLOSSARY 

aesthetics: a concern for beauty. 

artist-run initiative: a gallery or art 

project that is initiated and managed by 

artists. 

blog: short for ‘weblog’. A diary that is 

published online. The person writing this is 

known as a ‘blogger’. 

bourgeois: the middle class, who may 

have materialistic and conservative 

values. 

collectivism: the practice of prioritising a 

group, rather than individuals. 

commodity: an object that can be bought 

or sold. 

conceptual art: art in which the idea of 

the artist is prioritised over aesthetics or 

form. The term was adopted by artists in 

the mid-1960s. 

Dada: an artistic movement that occurred 

around the time of the First World War in 

Europe that challenged artistic 

conventions and revelled in the absurd. 

DIY: an acronym for ‘Do it yourself’, DIY 

also describes a cultural movement 

associated with Punk that emphasises 

low-tech production values and anticapitalist 

concerns. 

edition: prints, multiples and books are 

often printed in a limited number, called an 

edition. 

ethos: the characteristic belief systems of 

a particular group, or culture of people. 


Page 29 

found objects: everyday objects that are 

appropriated as art. 

Happening: improvised or spontaneous 

performance-based events often involving 

audience participation, related to the 

Fluxus movement in the 1960s. 

hegemony: the predominant influence of 

one group over another. 

multiple: an artwork, often a small 

sculpture, that is produced as a series 

rather than a singular, original piece. 

PDF: Portable Document File, a format 

that preserves the fonts, images, layout 

and graphics of a source document for 

download. 

Pop Art: art that draws on popular culture 

and the mass media to make a comment 

on traditional art values. 

readymade: a term coined by Marcel 

Duchamp in 1915. A readymade is an 

artwork made from already existing, or 

found, objects. The ordinary object has 

significance placed upon it by the artist 

and by the context it is displayed in. 

screenprint: a print made when a stencil 

is placed on a screen and ink is forced 

through the screen onto a surface forming 

a layer of pigment onto the surface. 

Colours or images can be layered onto the 

one surface through the screen. Also 

known as a silkscreen. 

transcendence: going beyond usual 

human and material realms of experience.

underground: radical or experimental 

groups of people, or artistic movements 

that operate outside of the mainstream. 

virtuosity: the technical skill displayed by 

someone who is extremely proficient at art 

or music. 

vernacular: the common language 

spoken by ordinary people. 

‘zines: self-published, cheaply produced 

underground publications or magazines. 

FURTHER READING AND 

REFERENCES 

Exhibition Resources 

Multiplicity: prints and multiples from the 

collections of the Museum of 

Contemporary Art and the University of 

Wollongong, exhibition catalogue, 

Museum of Contemporary Art, 2006. 

Deborah Kelly downloadable PDF prints: 

www.mca.com.au 

Web-based resources 

Guerilla Girls www.guerillagirls.com 

Museum of Contemporary Art 


Museum of Jurassic Technology 

www.mjt.org 

NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders Inc. 

www.nswbookbinders.org.au 

University of Wollongong Art Collection 

www.uow.edu.au/crearts/UOWAC/ 

See this site for links to other University art 

collections. 


Page 30 

N.U.C.A. 

www.squatspace.com/uncollectable/ 

Prints and Printmaking in the Australian 

and Australasian region (National Gallery 

of Australia) www.nga.gov.au/ausprints 

Third Drawer Down 

www.thirddrawerdown.com 

Press resources 

Adie, K. ‘Prints go on show’, Illawarra 

Mercury, 14 th October 2006 

Enticknap, S. ‘No wonder they call it a 

body of work’, Print 21, 25 th February 2007 

General resources 

Diehl, E. Bookbinding: Its Background and 

Technique, Dover, 1980 

Harrison, C. and Wood, P. Art in Theory: 

An anthology of changing ideas, Blackwell, 

1992 

Kent, R. ‘LA STYLE: the art of Ed Ruscha’, 

Ed Ruscha (exhibition catalogue), 

Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004 

Livingstone, M. Pop Art: A continuing 

history, Thames and Hudson, 1990 

Osborne, P. (ed.) Conceptual Art, 

Phaidon, 2002 

Schellmann, J. (ed.), Joseph Beuys 

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Tallman, S. The contemporary print: from 

pre-pop to postmodern, Thames and 

Hudson, London, 1996

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Multiplicity: Prints and Multiples from the 

collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art 

and the University of Wollongong Education Kit 

produced by MCA Learning, February 2007 for 

the national exhibition tour. 

Kit written by Elise Routledge, MCA Educator. 

Contributions by Glenn Barkley and Justine McLisky. 

‘How to make an artist’s book’ designed for this kit by 

Keg de Souza, N.U.C.A. artist and bookbinder. 

Thanks to Glenn Barkley and Katie Dyer for 

permission to reproduce and extract exhibition wall 

texts and room labels. 

Published February 2007 by the Museum of 

Contemporary Art Limited, Sydney, Australia. ©The 

Museum of Contemporary Art Ltd, the artists, authors 

and photographers. All rights reserved. The publisher 

grants permission for this education kit to be 

reproduced and/or stored for twelve months in a 

retrieval system, transmitted by means electronic, 

mechanical, photocopying and/or recording only for 

educational purposes and strictly in relation to the 

exhibition Multiplicity. 


Page 31 

Multiplicity: prints and multiples from the 

collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art 

and the University of Wollongong 

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 

12 October 2006 – 25 March 2007 


Exhibition organised by the Museum of 

Contemporary Art. Curated by Glenn Barkley and 

Katie Dyer. 

proudly supporting the MCA Collection 

A Museum of Contemporary Art Touring Exhibition in 

Partnership with the University of Wollongong 

This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, 

an Australian Government Program supporting 

touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance 

for the development and touring of cultural material 

across Australia. 

An MCA National Touring exhibition: 

Tweed River Art Gallery 

3 May – 17 June 2007 

Lake Macquarie Art Gallery 

27 July – 9 September 2007 

Redland Art Gallery 

30 September – 4 November 2007 

Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Art Gallery 

11 December 2007 – 27 January 2008 

Dubbo Regional Gallery and Museum 

9 February – 30 March 2008 

The Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art 

18 April – 1 June 2008 

Latrobe Regional Gallery 

5 July – 31 August 2008 

The Museum of Contemporary Art is assisted by the NSW Government 

through ARTS NSW and by the Australian Government through the 

Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Visual 

Arts and Crafts Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and 

Territory Governments.

Education Kit - Art Gallery of South Australia

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Education Kit - Art Gallery of South Australia

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