Chicks on Speed at Craft Victoria – 25.02.2009

13 March – 24 April

A live workshop, studio, performance space and installation: Chicks On Speed combine cutting edge technology with contemporary craft.

Chicks on Speed have been interrogating the boundaries of art, craft and music since they first formed in Munich in 1997. In 2009 they bring their interdisciplinary practice to Melbourne, presenting their first Australian solo exhibition Viva La Craft!

Functioning as both a work in progress and a space to exhibit the real results of experimentation and research, Viva La Craft! will transform Craft Victoria's three gallery spaces into a laboratory of craft development. Traditional techniques of millinery, silk screen printing, ceramics, patchwork, tapestry and fashion tailoring will be combined with new research in technical innovation. Importantly, Viva La Craft! will feature the outcomes of collaborations with international and Melbourne-based practitioners, deconstructing and redefining established craft processes.

Appropriating the form of the "happening", an important political strategy of the Surrealists and Situationists, Viva La Craft! will engage Australian students, audiences and practitioners to bring contemporary craft practice into a public forum: an “art camp-ground” for making and designing.

Viva La Craft! is part of the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2009 Cultural Program.

Opening Thursday 12 March, 6-8pm To be opened by Abi Crompton, Director of Third Drawer Down

A Limited Edition Chicks on Speed poster developed exclusively for Craft Victoria, will be available to purchase from Craft Victoria during the exhibition. Further details about how to pre-order will be available soon.