Reboot: Olympic Fever

The Olympic Games have people in Australia and all over the world glued to their computers, television sets, and radios.

If you've contracted Olympic fever, a visit to Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker will be well worth your while...

Olympic Technology

 

Olympic footwear is the ultimate in state of the art performance. These shoes are designed
by specialist teams with expertise not only in industrial or product design, but mechanical
engineering, physiology, bio–mechanical and sports engineering and sports medicine.
The shoes are developed and tested in top secret high–tech biomechanics laboratories,
many of which are dedicated to producing the perfect running shoe.

Are you an Olympics devotee? Reboot is showcasing some of the most cutting edge sports technology from the Olympic Games in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, and London, including running spikes, boxing shoes, and sailing shoes. Features in the show are replicas of Usain Bolt's gold medal-winning sprinting shoes.

The Birth of Modern Sport

The infamous feud between German brothers Adolf (Adi) and Rudolf Dassler, known as the 'Sneaker Wars', resulted in the formation of shoe giants PUMA and Adidas. It also changed the face of sport forever, turning it from an amateur past-time into a multi-million dollar industry.

Adi and Rudolf formed shoe company Gebruder Dassler in 1924. The company quickly grew in profile and sprinter Jesse Owens was wearing Gebruder Dassler spikes during his four gold medal wins at the 1936 Olympics.

During WWII, underlying friction between the brothers exploded and the two became sworn enemies, with Adi starting Adidas and Rudolf starting PUMA. The family feud divided the brothers' home town of Herzogenaurach and soon each company had its own soccer team, and employees drank in different pubs and sent their children to different schools.

The Sneaker Wars were continued into the next generation by the brothers' sons, Horst and Armin Dassler. After the first major battleground, the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, each subsequent Olympics saw the brand battle intensify.

While other brands such as Onitsuka Tiger, Mizuno, Converse, Reebok, and Nike have since joined the battle, it was the fierce competition between adidas and PUMA that catapulted sport (and the humble athletic shoe) into the institution it is today.

You can read all the juicy details of the Dassler Sneaker Wars at the Reboot exhibition, as well as see the evolution that the humble sneakers has undergone over the years. 

Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker

Reboot will finish wrap up on 16 August, which only gives you a few more days to take a look. Whether your cup of tea is the Olympic element, fashion collaborations, or the Converse Blank Canvas Project, make sure you put it in your diary. See you soon!

Profile: The Cathy Freeman Foundation

The Converse Blank Canvas Project auction of Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers customized by leading Australian artists and designers will run at www.32auctions.com/BlankCanvas until 26 July. All proceeds of the auction will go to the Cathy Freeman Foundation. 

Established by Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman in 2007, the Cathy Freeman Foundation aims to ensure that young Indigenous Australians have the same opportunities and education as other young Australians.

The 2005 Australian Bureau of Statistics Report ‘The Health and Welfare of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ found a strong correlation between Aboriginal education, employment, and health. This supports the Foundation’s focus on education as a crucial intervention point.

The Foundation works with the Palm Island community, one of Australia’s largest Indigenous communities and the birthplace of Cathy Freeman’s mother and grandparents. The island population of about 3,800 includes approximately 1,000 school-aged Indigenous children. Challenges faced by the community include unemployment, poor literacy, truancy, and low graduation rates.

The Cathy Freeman Foundation believes that by working with the community and key partners to improve educational opportunities and outcomes, the problems within the Palm Island community can be overcome.

Funding from corporations, trusts, foundations, and donations are vital to the ongoing positive contributions by the Cathy Freeman Foundation to the Palm Island community.

By becoming a winning bidder on any of the Converse Blank Canvas Project shoes, your money will help the Foundation, and in turn the residents of Palm Island, to continue to close the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children.

You can read more about the Cathy Freeman Foundation at the website  - http://www.cathyfreemanfoundation.org.au/.

Bid on your favourite Converse Blank Canvas Project shoes!

The Converse Blank Canvas Project auction is now well and truly up and running. If you'd like to get your hands on an amazing customisation by the likes of Charles Robb, Judy Watson, or Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, go to www.32auctions.com/BlankCanvas to bid now! Here are just a handful of the fabulous shoes available:

Charles Robb

Alexander Lotersztain

Alfredo and Isabel with Miguel Aquilizan

Dai Li

Rob Corless

Sebastian Di Mauro

Simone Eisler

All photographs by Andrea Higgins for artisan.

Exhibition opening: Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker & The Converse Blank Canvas Project

On Thursday June 21, we held an opening night for our new exhibitions, Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker and The Converse Blank Canvas Project. The night was a roaring success and one of the biggest nights we have held this year. Many thanks to everybody involved!

The twenty pairs of Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers that were customised by leading artists and designers for The Converse Blank Canvas Project are now for sale by online auction. Visit the auction site and create an account to place a bid on your favourite pair! All proceeds will go to the Cathy Freeman Foundation, which supports indigenous education.

Also launching on the night were gorgeous works by retail feature designers Christina Waterson and Gregory Bonasera, the lovely new storefront design by QUT students as part of the ongoing Window Project, and Sue-Ching Lascelles' Racquet/Racket in the Ivory Street window.

The current displays will be in place until 16 August, so make sure you drop in for a look! 

All photographs taken by Andrea Higgins for artisan. More social photographs can be found here on our Facebook page.

Courtney Pedersen, Betsy Robb, Atticus Robb, Charles Robb

Opening speaker Chris Hartley, Queensland Bulls cricket player and sneaker enthusiast.

Ellie Williams, Jarrad Thessman, Jacqueline Sale

artisan CEO Liana Heath opening the exhibition.

Maddie Taylor, Miguel Aquilizan

Romy Willing, Milly Meehan, Leon Fitzpatrick, Simon Lawry

 

Stuart Cochrane, Dave Thome

Teresa Gomez, Liam Tagell, Atlas Harwood, Gail Sorronda

The Converse Blank Canvas Project

Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars creatively customised by Australian artists and designers. Photographs by Andrea Higgins for artisan.

The Converse Blank Canvas Project is a part of our upcoming exhibition Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker, and involves classic Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars customised by some of Australia's leading artists and designers.

The Project will launch this Thursday 21 June at 6pm along with Reboot, and the shoes will be sold by auction during the exhibition period. Stay tuned for more auction details!

We've been blown away by the creativity and innovation of the artists and designers involved. Above is a sneak peek of a handful of the shoes that will be on display. Amazing, right?

Artists/designers involved in the Converse Blank Canvas Project are:

• Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan
• Jason Bird
• Dean Brough
• Rob Corless
• Sebastian Di Mauro
• Christian Duell
• Simone Eisler
• Paul Fairweather
• Rafael Gomez
• Dai Li
• Alexander Lotersztain
• Charles Robb
• Rebecca Ross
• Wade Schaare
• David Shaw
• Gail Sorronda
• Simone Tops
• Sam Tupou
• Judy Watson
• Benjamin Werner

 See you at the exhibition!

Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker

Our upcoming exhibition, Reboot: Function, Fashion and the Sneaker, is currently being installed in the gallery. Join our Facebook event here.

Design, fashion and popular culture merge in this striking sports shoe design exhibition, curated by artisan. Olympic performance shoes rub heels with collaborations between iconic brands, artists and designers including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Yohji Yamamoto, Keith Haring, Mihara Yasuhiro, Undefeated and Alexander McQueen.

This exhibition also incorporates the Converse Blank Canvas Project: a collection of classic Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers creatively customised by leading Australian artists and designers. The customised shoes are to be sold by auction during the exhibition period.

To set the scene, the walls of the artisan gallery are currently being graffitied by artists from Jugglers Art Space and are looking quite spectacular! 

The exhibition will be opened by Chris Hartley (of the Queensland Bulls) at 6pm on Thursday the  21st of June. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to info@artisan.org.au or call us on (07) 3215 0800.