The exhibition, Strangely Familiar, was one component of the Melbourne-Glasgow-Edinburgh Cultural Exchange Project, titled morning star evening star. Working from the principle that an exchange of ideas is most valuable and meaningful as an ongoing series of exhibitions, studio residencies and events over a twelve month period, a team of curators selected work by a diverse group of contemporary Australian and Scottish artists for the project.
In the project catalogue, some interesting parallels were drawn between artistic lite in Melbourne, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Each city is characterised by a thriving network of contemporary art spaces, university galleries and artist-run initiatives. This has created a particular context for producing art: a self-awareness among the respective art communities and a tendency toward 'situationist, time-based and performative practices'. Historical similarities are also cited, from nineteenth century industrialism and grided urban plans to the peripheral status of each city in relationship to European centres and the impact of this relative positioning on artistic activity. By holding the exhibitions across a range of venues, including the Centre for Contemporary Photography which hosted Habitat, and the Museum of Modern Art at Heide which will show Strolling: the art of arcades, boulevards, barricades, publicity, the curators were able to highlight certain 'themes' without making sweeping generalisations.
Each of the exhibits in Strangely Familiar centred around natural and built environments, re-presenting various locations to the viewer in terms of patterns of human behaviour. The transformation of the visual material was subtle and the installation seamless, particularly in the case of Melbourne artists Nicola Loder, Leslie Eastman, Andy Thomson and Daniel van Sturmer.
A series of large ink jet photographs on vinyl by Scottish artists Matthew Dalziel and Louise