What's On this week

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). Monash University Astronomers have developed an exhibition that explores and explains astronomy and how it is done. You can also buy a coffee downstairs and lounge in our relaxing reading area with books to peruse.

SUSAN FEREDAY | MARCO FUSINATO | DONNA ONG | FIONA PARDINGTON | PATRICK POUND | JACKY REDGATE | ELVIS RICHARDSON | FIONA TAN

Curator: Dr Kyla McFarlane

Found or anonymous photographic images and film footage are a fascinating subject for many artists. The snapshot, the amateur photograph, the flea market find, the postcard, videos uploaded to youtube, and the work of the anonymous, jobbing photographer have all provided material fodder, or acted as conceptual springboards for making new work.

Engaging with this material, the artists in Photographer Unknown enact a series of reversals, reprisals and re-workings - bringing the snapshot to the status of the fine art print, calling into question conventions of authorship, quality, the public and private, the nature of the archive and monumentality.

The Library is presenting 'A Doctor's Delights' to celebrate a remarkable gift. Dr Richard Travers is an expert in medical history who has transferred much of his valuable collection of over 15,000 items to the Monash University Library as a gift to future researchers. The current exhibition shows Dr Travers' favourite items from the collection.

The items on display can also be previewed in a virtual exhibition, supplemented by Dr Travers' own explanation of the history and significance of each item.

Presenter: Justice Eliezer Rivlin, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Israel.

The state of Israel is characterized by many conflicts: contradiction of ideas, differences of beliefs, divergence of opinions as to the national identity and clashes regarding the nature of the state. These conflicts are a result of the many ethnic groups in the country, the various religions observed in Israel, the extreme socio-economical differences and of the complex reality in which the state is constantly required to handle complicated security challenges.

This complex reality is naturally reflected in the legal issues that are brought before the Supreme Court. Furthermore, besides all these conflicts in the Israeli reality, the legal system itself was born into contradicting legal traditions, which echo the unique history of the state.

Therefore, a justice of the Supreme Court has the difficult, almost impossible task, of constantly balancing between all these contradictions. Not only must he balance between the different traditions, religions and beliefs but also between activism and "formalism", democracy and religion, human rights versus security needs and constitutional strive in a reality of a constitutional lacuna.

Presenters from Beyond Blue will speak about this organisation and its resources for people living with depression and also caring for someone with depression.

Also presenter from "Breaking Barriers" will speak about caring for people who are suffering illness.

The Master of Public Health offered by the Victorian Consortium of Public Health is an internationally recognised postgraduate degree, offered by four Victorian universities: Deakin, La Trobe, Melbourne and Monash. Monash University is coordinating the MPH during 2009.

Public Health is the combination of humanities and science that provides the knowledge, skills and practices to protect, promote and restore population health. A postgraduate degree in public health is highly relevant to the professional development and continuing education of a broad range of health professions. The Master of Public Health course provides graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct public health research; develop, analyse and implement policy; and to plan and evaluate health services and programs.

The information evening starts at 6.30 pm in Lecture Theatre 1, Basement, 207 Bouverie Street, Parkville and is followed by an expo by the Universities on the 4th floor. Supper is provided. The evening finishes at 8.30.

4th Annual Healthy Start to Life Annual Scientific Meeting -Thursday 5th November, 2009.

Sessions include "Developmental Biology", "Animal Models of Development and Disease" and "Prematurity, Development and Protection" and will showcase some of Monash University's research in these areas. Registrants are invited to submit abstracts for poster presentations at the Annual Scientific Meeting. For more details, visit For more information visit Healthy Start to Life website. Prizes will be awarded for the best poster presentations.

Healthy Start to Life National Conference on "Nutrition, Development and Health" - Friday 6 November, 2009. Will feature some of Australia and New Zealand's leading clinicians and researchers in the areas of human development and nutrition (see flyer on website for confirmed speakers).

Help mend minds...
The Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) is holding an art exhibition and silent auction to raise funds for research into improving the understanding and treatment for mental illness. With ongoing support MAPrc can provide a brighter future for those with mental illness, including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other conditions.

About the artists... There is still time to donate The art work has been donated by local artists, people from the community and consumers. It includes paintings, photographs, sculptures etc. If you would like to donate a piece of artwork, we would greatly appreciate your support. Please contact Dennyse Riach on 9076 6924. Artwork is required by 23rd October for our catalogue but will be accepted up until 5th November.

Venue & Parking:
The exhibition is being held at the AMREP Seminar Room at the Alfred Hospital. This is located next to the Ian Potter Library in the main hospital building. The hospital visitors car park is located on Centre Lane—enter off Commercial Road (fees apply). There is also parking available on surrounding streets which is free after 6.30pm.

Please come and enjoy some fine art, entertainment, canapes & bubbles and support a great cause.

All welcome.

Ryan Cayabyab is a renowned Filipino Composer, Conductor, Arranger, Pianist & Singer. His Genre includes Classical, Pop, Jazz and Religious. His works range from commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals, choral pieces, a Mass set to unaccompanied chorus, and orchestral pieces, to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and television specials.

He was the Executive and Artistic Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts. He was also a resident judge for the only season of Philippine Idol in 2006. Cayayab's current project includes the Ryan Cayabyab Singers (RCS), a group of seven young adult singers comparable to his prior group Smokey Mountain. The Smokey Mountain Chorale Group in the early 1990's was a group of Youth living in a Squatter Community near a Mountain of Rubbish. After Cayabyab trained them, Smokey Mountain became famous and produced popular and award winning songs.

As music director, conductor and accompanist, he has performed with leading Philippine music personalities at Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center in New York City; Carnegie Hall (both the Main and Recital halls) in New York; the Kennedy Center and the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.; the Shrine in Los Angeles; the Orpheum in Vancouver; even at the Circus Maximus of the Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. Ryan Cayabyab is a laureate of the Onassis International Cultural Competitions (2nd Prize), having won for original music composition for dance (2001). Ryan Cayabyab and his Singers perform in Melbourne to raise funds for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines through Gawad Kalinga (GK).

Buy tickets at the Monart box office web page.