c'mon2

Tony Schwensen in 'The Centre' for Mona Foma

16 January 2020

Tony Schwensen is included in The Centre, as part of Mona Foma in Launceston, on now until 19 January, at ​Elphin Sports Centre.

​The exhibition takes over an old sports centre with a series of video installations, including Schwensen's 'C'mon' the documentation of a durational work he performed at the 2006 ANTI Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Finland.

"Schwensen in his daggy dark green 'Australian' tracksuit relentlessly served, retrieved and served again a single tennis ball for eleven hours, trudging from end to end, screaming 'c'mon' after each shot - an empty exhortation to himself against the drab backdrop of a tenement building, forlorn trees and grey European skies. The work is fingernails-down-the-blackboard material- an excruciating manifestation of the ugly Australian abroad."— Blair French, 'Tony Schwensen : Love it or Leave It', 2008.

Image: Tony Schwensen 'C'mon' (video still), 2006.