My fascination with BABABA INTERNATIONAL started with
POSSIBLE CURRIES. For just one moment my world was magically turned into a scene which might well have been in Kurt Weill's THREEPENNY OPERA. Ivan, one of the four young men in this collective, fulfilled a promise by delivering Robin and I two vegetarian curries at my nominated time and location. This was their project - we weren't expected to make a donation, our role in their project was simply to place an order and accept delivery. His arrival was announced by the dull thud of his Brechtian like cart filled with curries being dragged up the Victorian sandstone steps to our front door. Our curries were warm, super tasty and delivered right on time - they were made with the produce which had been exhibited at KUDOS GALLERY a week earlier. These same deliveries were made throughout metropolitan Sydney
So when Tom, another member of the collective, suggested that I visit their studio aptly named BABABA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT in Sydney's Redfern, although uncertain as to what I might capture, I couldn't resist.
By this point having also met the other two members of BABABA, Giles & Steve, I was slightly in awe of the way their brains worked, and was half expecting that I would be photographing the four of them frantically nutting out ideas, rather than photographing actual THINGS. This expectation was of course only heightened when I received this email confirming my arrival
But when Ivan welcomed me into the AIRPORT this morning, I think my first words were stupidly something like "oh, this place smells like work" because I was struck by the smell and sight of tools and machinery, and just about everything you might expect in a studio where art was being made. At this point I couldn't help but think of my forever travelling cousin's recent Facebook status update about the charms and spectacle of Dubai's International Airport...
Thank you gentlemen for having me
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| The one remnant from the building's previous occupant, a sex shop - shiny black plastic bags nailed to the wall |
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| Oliver Watts, on the ceiling |
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| Charlie Sofo book made of unfinished sentences, hanging by a bulldog clip from an electric cable |
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| pin board from their MOP Projects exhibition |
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| a work on paper for an upcoming project |
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| Bababa International also make websites for other people - this is an illustration for one such website |
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| Uncle Eric who was flown over for the construction of the MUD BATH |
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| for a future mud brick making project |
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| Koji Ryui suspended wire sculpture |
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| a group of clamps, ideal for clamp races |
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| a box of not so private papers |
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| poster for their FIRST DRAFT exhibition |
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| drawings by Tom & Ivan |
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| an illustration from their Brisbane show |
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