Dear Peter, Finally catching up with the book. Somehow I missed it when it was published last year, but it IS good to catch up with all that happened, after I’d stopped attending LFMC meetings following the cursory dismissal of the Working Party proposals (which you so assiduously detail, thank you).
The latter stages of the book are of particular interest as the passages are a clear record of what happens when ‘instrumentalities’ get above themselves and try and run things from the high ground – it leads to inevitable collapse. In many ways these sections are a case study of state capitalism and how it can go so badly wrong. …….. It’s good to see such a huge number of people and documents were consulted and synthesised into something so readable – a very successful postdoc for you Peter. All that’s needed now is for P. Mudie’s contribution to be published too. ….. I don’t think the Pommie MI artists realise how lucky they are to have their efforts recorded so fulsomely by two Aussies, able to stand back and study the whole glorious shermozzle, the epitome of the Bulldog Breed approach to doing things! Ken Wark described everything about the Australian contemporary art scene, administrators and funders included, all adds up to one huge artwork. The Poms did it first!”