Post-object or conceptual art raises all manner of questions about the self-referential nature of art.  Such art forms do not exist within the context of art history and they do not exist within the clearly defined spaces of galleries and museums.  They challenge the traditional ways in which art has been viewed, understood and appreciated.  When art moves out of its well established contexts of historical causalities and museum spaces, new means of production and new ways of viewing have to be found.  Some of these ways involve the introduction of ontological and ideological concerns as forces from which meaning can be drawn.

Most of the pieces in these exhibitions are not entirely conceptual or post-object but they use similar strategies as this type of art to encourage viewers to find new and different ways to engage with the works.  They have not moved into the area of art as event but they have moved well away from the old idea of two dimensional illusionality and attempted to construct 'real' relations in 'real' spaces.

Many of the works use unexpected juxtapositions of style, unusual adaptations of materials and an invitation to include process as part of the viewing experience.  The honours students seem to be more in control of these sorts of presentations than the graduates.  Anne Bennetts in What Price Landscape? has etched onto strips of supermarket print-outs and then displayed them in the form of a carefully designed wall hanging.  The connection between commercialism and damage to the landscape is made visually and conceptually.

David Prescott-Steed's untitled installation draws the viewer into a totally blackened space, as if separating self from senses, then introduces panels of brightly coloured light.  As one's eyes adjust, the colours at the edges of the panels seem to change into strips of electric turquoise.  Annukka Thwaites uses an audio-visual presentation showing the use of 'plastic money' to raise questions about the commodification of our culture and society.

Jenny Greatorex works in the traditional medium of textiles to explore issues concerning female sexuality.  Female forms are contorted and veiled in ways which are both confronting and thought provoking.  Barbara Rochfort has used the traditional collograph technique to produce striking panels of red, which are displayed against a white wall.  Xavier Pardos' installation of plaster and timber uses these more 'masculine' materials to reconstruct a representation of a prison cell which he entitles God is Watching You. Solitary Confinement Cell, Fremantle Prison.  This invites one to consider both psychological and spiritual spaces as well as the social and moral issues of imprisonment.  A feeling of isolation and dislocated spaces is also evoked by Davina Homer's three dimensional flower shapes in newspaper, wax and wire.

This graduate exhibition includes over two hundred pieces of work and makes use of a vast array of forms and techniques, from traditional textile work to computer generated images.  The overall impression is one of colour and diversity, both in ideas and in materials used.

Contingency through the commodification of art is definitely called into question by the contributors of both these exhibitions.  It is rewarding to see young people using their intellects as well as their hands.  They are engaging with all kinds of issues, social, political, spiritual as well as the role and nature of art itself.

Such enthusiasm and talent is worthy of a better venue than the studio spaces of a university art department, including one building, which is no more than a converted garden shed.  It is high time that universities and colleges allocated sufficient funding for graduating students to display their work in more appropriate surroundings.