OLD PEOPLE 2018; NEW PEOPLE 2018; DUE WEST 2018; RUN DEEP 2018; all digital images

Between the subjugation and indifference of colonial governance, Ngurungaeta, William Barak leads the Wurundjeri people in a sustained decolonising movement, seeking land-rights at Coranderrk. They petition ministers, writing letters and walking to Melbourne to protest directly to the Premier. is goes on in the face of dispossession. And, in 1881 there is a rupture in […]

I have long been concerned with memories of colonial violence in the Australian landscape; places that have witnessed harm and continue to hold these traumatic memories in the present. Their existence was something I was attuned to as a child constantly travelling regional New South Wales with my family, visiting places and people, connecting with […]

Through natural dyeing techniques, text- based scores, social practice and installation my work considers the practising of custodial ethics within still colonised and ecologically compromised contexts. The Decolonist Flags came about through imagining an Australian national identity underpinned by First Nations knowledges. Comprised of dyed thread, gum leaves and blossoms Decolonist Flag I is created […]

American contemporary mythologies spring from American founding mythologies. The events of Columbus’ arrival, the American revolution, and the signing of the Constitution washed away terra nullius to reveal the American nation. The enduring desire to avoid facts or truths is evident in America today via the fervor for conspiracy theory.[^1] Nearly fifty per cent of […]

The archive is built to keep out water. The archive is built on the edge of the floodplain of the Moonee Ponds Creek on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Water is excluded from the archive because of the risks it poses to paper and other organic materials. Mould can germinate […]

Artist: Ryan Presley Curator: Madeleine King Money passes through our hands every day, but do you look at what your fingers grasp and give? The representation of Australian people on our note currency is undeniably white despite having gone through various series of artworks since the Australian bank notes were first issued. In this time […]

HE’S HERE Where? The daily paper in the town where I live proclaims that HE has arrived. Who? Ed Sheeran. It feels so banal writing that. The visit of a British popstar is frontpage news. But still … HE’S HERE. Here he is. And here we are. HIS arrival makes the town. It announces where […]

Artist: Marikit Santiago The exhibition Coca-Colanised at Verge Gallery is Marikit Santiago’s most recent, and perhaps most political, solo exhibition yet. The show takes its title from the concept of ‘Coca-Colanisation’, a term describing the globalisation of American culture.[^1] Showcasing Santiago’s broad range – from paintings to installation – the show carefully examines an ongoing […]

Jason Phu studied at COFA, garduating with honours in 2011. He has been in residencies at CAFA (Beijing), NSCAD (Nova Scotia), DAC Studios (Chongqing), CAP Studio (Chiang May) and Organhaus (Chongqing). He has had solo exhibitions across Australia including at Nicholas Projects, CCAS Gorman Arts Centre, Alaska Projects and Ray Hughes Gallery. In 2015 he […]

Curated by Alison Bennett, Xanthe Dobbie and Travis Cox A silvery multi-plane ice film ripples across its 3D-rendered digital sea alongside a monotone, computerised discussion of a pet fish, toilet water sounds, some algorithmic casio samba bop and a repetitive phrase of American rapper Eve’s 2001 hit, ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind (ft. Gwen Stefani)’. […]

Artists: Joan Jonas, Jason Moran, Sylvia Palacios Whitman, Mark Leckey, patten. Curators: Catherine Wood, Isabella Maidment, Andrea Lissoni There is a particular gravitas, a level of respect, that an artist can earn by sheer tenacity and longevity. And judging by the scope and breadth of her career survey at Tate Modern in London, Joan Jonas […]

Artists: Mihyun Kang, Gwan Tung Dorothy Lau, Pixy Liao, Janelle Low, Andy Mullens, Ma Quisha, Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Sad Asian Girls, Zoe Wong. Curator: Sophia Cai I have an almost Pavlovian response to the idea of obedience. I was brought up to be filial, to understand that disobedience would be swiftly and severely punished. I […]

Watch video here » In 2016 we spoke with Debris Facility while they were undertaking a Gertrude Contemporary Studio Residency at 200 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. The Debris Facility is a conglomerate entity which generally inhabits the one human body, but whose boundaries and operations are leaky and evaporative. Since a corporate take over of a singular […]

Watch video here » Shelley Lasica’s practice is characterized by cross-disciplinary collaborations and an interest in the presentation of dance in various spatial contexts. Lasica’s practice spans 30 years and investigates the methodology around dance and movement and the various contexts in which they occur. She is interested in what dance means to people, how it […]

Artist: Mutlu Çerkez Curators: Charlotte Day, Hannah Mathews and Helen Hughes Mutlu Çerkez 1988 – 2065 is a considered survey of the late artist’s oeuvre that presents works dating from 1988 to 2005. For those unfamiliar with Çerkez’s work, the artist’s practice was defined by an overarching system of including a future date in his […]

Artists: eleven Collective – Abdul Abdullah, Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Hoda Afshar, Safdar Ahmed, Khadim Ali, Eugenia Flynn, Zeina Iaali, Khaled Sabsabi, Abdullah M.I. Syed, Shireen Taweel Curators: Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and Nur Shkembi Opening a conversation across complex and sometimes divergent temporalities, Waqt al-tagheer is a political, personal and often poetic exhibition. With new work from eleven, […]

Artist: Sarah Poulgrain Conversation in Two Parts is Sarah Poulgrain’s most personal work to date; or at least that’s what the pop critic inside me wants to exalt. In truth, the work left me feeling isolated from the artist. To be clear, I am not preparing you for a hatchet job review on the exhibition; […]

_Artist: Mikala Dwyer and Justine Williams, Amala Groom, Deborah Kelly, Kate Blackmore and Jacinta Tobin, Joan Ross, SodaJerk, Angelica Mesiti and Caroline Garcia Curators: Diana Baker-Smith and Kelly Doley As you walk into a dark room, the only source of light is from the screen. You look around. Can I sit? Do I stand? You […]

Artist: Caitlin Franzmann Should trees have standing? is a forty-six year old essay written by Trustee Chair in Law at USC Gould, Christopher D. Stone. Published in the early days of the environmental movement, Stone asks what it might mean if things we identify in nature were holders of legal rights. Essentially based on a […]

Artists: Seve de Angelis, Lina Buck, Mat Carey, Steven Carson, Jessica Orloff, Mae Finlayson, Josh Foley, Michelle Smith, Garth Howells, Erin Linhart, Paul Murphy, Alastair Mooney, Kimberley Pace and Darryl Rogers Curator: Paul Eggins From a simple numerical curatorial premise – seven spaces, seven pairs of artists – Seven is a testing of the granularity […]

Watch video here » Helen Maudsley’s personal visual language examines ideas of analogy, association and ambiguity, based on her reflections on the world around us. Maudsley discusses colour and composition as well as her experience of making art and how she feels her practice has changed over time. A senior Melbourne artist, Helen Maudsley has had […]

Artist: Del Kathryn Barton Apparently the National Gallery of Victoria has finally heard the call for fairer gender representation in their institution, because this summer we have been blessed with not one, but four, solo exhibitions by female artists at the NGV Australia in Federation Square.[^1] It is rather telling however, that running concurrently is […]

Artist: Jenny Watson Curator: Anna Davis Jenny Watson: The Fabric of Fantasy is a well overdue survey of the work of one of Australia’s most iconic painters, now in her fourth decade of practice. Thoughtfully organised by Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) curator Anna Davis, Jenny Watson’s most comprehensive retrospective to date is currently at […]