Projects
For past projects at Campbelltown Arts Centre, please see the following links:
A Hope: Khaled Sabsabi
https://c-a-c.com.au/a-hope-khaled-sabsabi/
Vernon Ah Kee: The Island
OK Democracy, We Need to Talk
Suzanne Archer: Song of the Cicada
We are all connected to Campbelltown, one way or another
http://c-a-c.com.au/we-are-all-connected-to-campbelltown-one-way-or-another/
Looking In: A Survey of David Hawkes, 1989 - Now
http://c-a-c.com.au/looking-in-a-survey-of-david-hawkes-from-1989-to-now/
Vernon Ah Kee and Adam Porter, Vernon Ah Kee: The Island, 2020.
Image courtesy of Campbelltown Arts Centre. Photo by Nancy Trieu.
Dwelling on the outside: searching for folk wisdom to connect to earth
Saturday 10 April, 2021
Sharing experiences of otherness, Mai Nguyễn-Long and Adam Porter will discuss how research and respect for ‘traditional’ expressive forms of cultural practices—particularly, folkloric practices—can offer instructive wisdom and help us recalibrate our understandings of contemporary art. This dialogue emphasises where translation and re-contextualisation occurs, and how this knowledge enriches our appreciation of our environment. Adam will explore how these ideas have shaped Mai’s practice, most recently sparked by ‘Vomit Girl’, a character who instructs Mai to re-build wood carvings into naked clay.
Reflecting on Adam’s participation in Re-Aligning the Cosmos, an on-ongoing project by The Factory Arts Centre (Ho Chi Minh City), this discussion will engage concepts of ‘earth’— this year’s chosen element of study—and seeks to examine the role, presence and meaning of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) in contemporary life. It will also examine how the elements are used in human superstition/spirituality, reflecting on their consumption (or neglect) that in turn, impact the human and non-human world.
This is the second talk in a four-part online talk series, as part of the Australia Council for the Arts ‘Curatorial Associates Program’. The talk is a partnership between The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, and is supported by Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Watch the webinar here: https://youtu.be/XyZOLBgyzBY
Further information here: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art | Dwelling on the outside: searching for folk wisdom to connect to earth
Thank you to the Australia Council for the Arts, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, The Factory Arts Contemporary Centre, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Mai Nguyễn-Long.
About Mai Nguyễn-Long (Bulli, Australia)
Mai is Australian born of mixed heritage and lives and works on Tharawal Country. She received her Bachelor of Arts / Asian Studies from the Australian National University (1991) with a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies from the University of Sydney (1993). In 1994 she spent a year in Vietnam studying Vietnamese language at Vietnam National University and Vietnamese Art History and Life Drawing at Hanoi University of Fine Arts; and in 1997, completed her Master of Arts in Visual Art from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University . In 2017 she received an Australian Government RTP scholarship to undertake a Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong (current).
Mai’s first exhibitions were held in Manila, Philippines – Transit Lounge (Arrivals-Departures) (1996), and Hanoi, Vietnam – E Chong: A Bilingual Installation with Incorrect Translations. Working in oil on canvas for the next ten years, her imagery became consciously figurative within surreal settings that overlaid stereotypical Australian culture with Asian icons and waterscapes as their unifying element. Mai returned to installation for a 2006 commission by Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, creating 3-dimensional mongrel dogs as a metaphor for cultural exploration and her identity, using papier mache to salute Southeast Asian folk crafts. The controversy generated by the “skins” of Mai’s Pho Dogs generated her performance/installation piece, The Burning of Godog at the opening of Nam Bang! curated by Dr Boitran Huynh-Beattie for CPAC (2009). While the mongrel dog has become a cultural trigger for Mai, and for those reading her work, equally it explores narratives that are extremely personal and self-reflective.
In 2014 Mai was commissioned by Wollongong Art Gallery to present a major solo show (curated by Gina Fairley). Bridging over 15 years of Mai’s practise, Beyogmos (“beyond the dog cosmos”) synthesized her intensely personal navigations through abstruse political landscapes questioning constructs of identity by drawing on a range of mediums. From 2014 a new character named Vomit Girl became dominant in her work, propelling Mai to reconnect with Vietnam. Late 2014 and 2015 she returned to Hanoi for residencies working with CICF Copyright Agency in the ceramic village of Bat Trang, and ACCA Viet independent curatorial group (working with Muong Studio Hoa Binh). Unpacking the context of Vomit Girl’s illness inspired her to undertake a Doctor of Creative Arts (DCA), titled, Beyond Diasporic Trauma: opening up an intersection between Contemporary Art and Folkloric Practices in Vietnam. Mai Nguyễn-Long is represented by Art Atrium, a Vietnam Foundation Ambassador, and President Vietnam Centre – Australia Chapter.
Radical Imagination in Art: Co-authorship, Shapeshifting and Time Travel
GAPS [ ] : ENCOUNTERS WITH ART. Episode 4, 2021.
Image: Eugenia Lim, Yellow Peril, 2015. video still (cropped), (17m59s, single-channel HD, colour, sound), installation, sculpture, digital prints. Collaborators: Tim Hillier (camera), Dan West (sound), Kat Chan (costume, props). Courtesy the artist.
For this episode of GAPS [ ], CoVA graduate fellows Genevieve Trail and Corinna Berndt invited curator, Adam Porter, to speak with artists Caroline Garcia and Eugenia Lim. Anchored around the potential of radical imagination in art, this episode explores questions concerning collaboration, participation, co-authorship and collective agency with a particular focus on the relationship between aesthetic strategy and socio-political engagement. The conversation moves through questions concerning solidarity, ideas of legibility and loss, and the exploration of personal and cultural histories through the notion of shapeshifting and time travel. Together, Adam, Caroline and Eugenia speak to the role of radical imagination in art as a vehicle for approaching various experiences of diaspora within colonial contexts.
Listen here: Radical Imagination in Art: Co-authorship, Shapeshifting and Time Travel - Whooshkaa
Thanks to Caroline Garcia, Eugenia Lim, Genevieve Trail and Corinna Berndt for the pleasure.
For more information on Caroline Garcia and Eugenia Lim, please visit their websites :
STUDIOS SWITCH
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
30 April - 03 July, 2016
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre has transformed its Switch Gallery into several open studio spaces to accommodate six artists. The nine week tenure is intended to support artists with personal space to induce intense research, artistic creation, professional development, networking opportunities and direct community access. The initiative is largely self-initiated by the artists and is not outcome driven.
The program is critical of institutional and curatorial practice. It questions definitions surrounding studio-based practice to best provide a platform for dialogue, access and sustainability. Members of the public will have direct access to artists revealing the countless ways in which artists work. Likewise, the program will provide artists with direct access to Liverpool’s vibrant communities in order to inform their practice.
The studios will be open to the public between 10am to 5pm, seven days a week (closed on public holidays).
2016 successful artists: Ace the Amara, Anna Kuroda, Caroline Garcia, Claudia Nicholson, David Capra and Matt Chun.
Photos: Ben Williams Photography. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
http://ben-williams.com/
Outer Space
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
04 December, 2015 - 07 February, 2016
"I do not see it according to its exterior envelope; I live it from the inside; I am immersed in it. After all, the world is around me, not in front of me."
- Maurice Merleau Ponty
Outer space, or simply space, can be defined as the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. The contemporary art exhibition Outer Space utilises this concept of the universe beyond the boundaries of Earth’s atmosphere as a metaphor to explore the limits and agency of the physical body and human psyche influenced by the environments that surround us – the ‘outer space’.
The iconic building that is Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre was originally the Liverpool Power Station; a small ‘packet power station’ built shortly after World War II to supplement intense winter demands and frequent power shortages. In 1976 the power station was decommissioned and left to languish until 1985. In 1994, Liverpool City Council opened the re-purposed building as Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. From 2004 - 2008 further refurbishments were made to the building including a 326-seat theatre.
In 2015 Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre celebrates its 21st birthday. As a cultural and multi-disciplinary arts facility, it is a space where ideas, art forms and philosophies fuse. Contemplating the history, architecture and the range of purposes this building has had, one may sense an imposing emptiness within the cavernous interior. The Outer Space exhibition looks to fill this space with new energy.
The novelty and spectacle of outer space exploration, science fiction, the history of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and its architectural skeleton are starting points with which the artists in this exhibition begin to reveal many complex layers of meaning that are overtly and/or covertly, critical about definitions of space. Emptiness, time, distance, freedom, purpose, ritual, mysticism, the norm and the unknown reveal where the internal and the external redefine borders.
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The selected artworks represent each artist’s concept of space that embodies physical and emotional explorations of self-awareness and human experience. These artist-led investigations are detailed through existing works and several new-work commissions by Adam Norton, Antoinette J. Citizen, Liam O’Brien and Mira Oosterweghel.
The exhibition also pays homage to the late Vernon Treweeke, affectionately known as the father of Australian psychedelic modern art. The artworks seen here were selected with the assistance of Vernon’s wife, Riri and his son, Julian and span Vernon’s eminent career from 1967 to 2014.
Realised by the power of the imagination and our innermost human desires, this exhibition aspires to provide moments of self-reflection. As acclaimed American science fiction writer and critic, Theodore Sturgeon stated:
…there's more in inner space than in outer space. Inner space is so much more interesting, because outer space is so empty.
This exhibition does not dismiss discussions of outer space beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. It suggests a deconstruction of our outer spaces or surrounding environments learned through visual language and emotion. To close your eyes and open your mind may seem like a bold statement or even contradictory within a culturally-loaded space such as Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, but the aim is for an experience that may incite fulfilment or further curiosity; to see a certain inalienable truth and sensitivity toward space in all of its forms.
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre would like to thank the artists, their representative galleries and private lenders for their contributions. Thank you to ArtsNSW and Liverpool City Council for their continued support. Special thanks to the Macquarie University Art Gallery and the Treweeke family for their compassion and desire to embody the spirit and legacy of Vernon Treweeke.
Artists include: Antoinette J. Citizen, Peter Hennessey, Haines and Hinterding, Christina Lissmann, Alasdair Macintyre, Adam Norton, Liam O’Brien, Mira Oosterweghel, Sylvia Schwenk and Vernon Treweeke.
Photos: Ben Williams Photography. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
http://ben-williams.com/
PARAMOR PRIZE: ART + INNOVATION 2015
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
31 January - 22 March, 2015
The Paramor Prize: Art + Innovation 2015 is a major contemporary art exhibition and annual acquisitive prize.
Artwork submissions were to address ideas about innovation and thinking about our future. The union of contemporary art and innovation in creative practice has the potential to create new knowledge, ideas and processes. The Paramor Prize: Art + Innovation encourages new ways of seeing, experiencing and interpreting the world around us.
The Paramor Prize: Art + Innovation was launched in memory of one of Australia's most loved and celebrated female modern artists, Wendy Paramor. Here artistic practice was innovative and forward thinking and as a Liverpool resident, Paramor exemplified the artistic creativity of the Liverpool region.
Paramor died at the age of 37 in 1975. A large collection of her works were gifted to Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and the Liverpool City Art, Heritage and Local Studies Collection. 2015 commemorates the 40th anniversary of Paramor's death.
Finalists include: Marian Abboud, Tim Andrew, Clark Beumont, Damien Butler, Penelope Cain, Carla Cecson, Simon Alexander Cook and Geoff Sellman, Gary Deirmendjian, James Dodd, Jacquelene Drinkall, Kath Fries, Sarah Goffman, Tim Gregory, Yvette Hamilton, Joanne Handley, Freya Jobbins, Ash Keating, Karena Keys, Rosalind Lemoh, Owen Leong, Leon Lester, Liana Lewis, Lorraine Maggs, Megan McPherson, Louise Paramor, Katy B Plummer, The Polka Dot Sisters (Sally Atkins and Kate Stewart), Diego Ramirez, Merri Randell, Erica Seccombe, Paul Snell, Susanna Strati, Gabriella Szablewska and Brent Wilson, Ioulia Terizis, Mimi Tong, Frank Trimarchi, Undrawing the Line (Zanny Begg), Carla and Lisa Wherby, Julie Williams and Jason Wing.
Photos: Ben Williams Photography. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
http://ben-williams.com/
Oceanic Arts Pacifica
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
11 October - 23 November, 2014
For over 30 years, the Director of Oceanic Arts Australia, Todd Barlin has collected traditional art and photographed ceremonies, rituals and initiations native to the people of the Pacific Island region. The exhibition Oceanic Arts Pacifica, presents a collection of artistic creations largely representative of Melanesia, but also of Micronesia and Polynesia. In partnership with Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Barlin had kindly made his collection accessible to the public in pursuit of providing further insight into the distinct practices and beliefs of communities and cultures within the Pacific Islands.
The artworks presented in Oceanic Arts Pacifica relate to themes of spirituality, mysticism, the divine and the supernatural suggesting that magic does in fact exist. This exhibition focuses on depicting the metaphysical and intangible qualities of Pacific heritage artworks were concentrated into three broad categories: shields, masks and figures.
The Oceanic Arts Pacifica exhibition illustrated the magic realism which exists in Pacific culture. The majority of artistic creations shown were used in ceremonial or ritualistic practice and are believed to contain deeply sensitive and symbolic references.
Special thanks to Todd Barlin of Oceanic Arts Pacifica, Gerrit Fokkema and Jason Schara of Visualize Productions.
A catalogue for this exhibition is available for sale through Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Exhibition installation shot.
Photo: Gerrit Fokkema. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Subject to Ruin
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
24 May - 6 July, 2014
“The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility”
- Ai Weiwei, October 10, 2010
Renowned Chinese contemporary artist and activist, Ai Weiwei, has been described as the most influential and important contemporary artist of our time. However, this did not occur without controversy. In 1995, Weiwei produced the artwork, Dropping a Dynasty Urn. As the title suggests, the artwork consisted of Weiwei purposely dropping an antique Neolithic Chinese vase from a height, which smashed into pieces as it hit the ground. The provocative statement underscored the disposability, in contemporary China, of signs and symbols of the past, displaced by a new consumer aesthetic of cheap abundance. Wei Wei’s artistic practice and social commentary continued to resonate concepts of liberal thinking and individualism – a deep desire for a civil society. As a result, Weiwei was mysteriously detained, placed under house arrest and fined for defacement of the Chinese government and was deemed a ‘radical’.
Some years later, we bore witness to the destructive act of September 11, 2001. This resulted in a worldwide revolution. Since then, security measures were prioritised and yet another war was contested in the Middle East. The crises that followed included more religious and cultural wars, jostling for oil reserves, a global financial crisis and bankruptcy. The saturation and obsession with apocalyptic-like threats which could inflict a destructive end has consumed global politics and our everyday lives, questioning morals and values. Are people their own worst enemies?
Subject to Ruin is a contemporary art exhibition that not only refers to facets of destruction, degradation and disaster in everyday society, it is a platform for reflection, experimentation and free speech with reference to actions of awareness and a need for change. The exhibition looks to make contemporary art accessible by inviting artists and audiences to question, discuss and deconstruct artworks (both literally and metaphorically) through a comprehensive engagement with the temporality of materials and process; whether that be meticulous and calculated, or spontaneous and reactive.
Featuring twenty four artists at different stages of their professional careers, each artwork represents the artist’s understanding and definition of ‘ruin’. Despite the novelty of wreckage and havoc, the selected artworks consist of many complex layers of meaning which may be read in various ways and are overtly, or covertly, critical of our social and political fabric. The notion of ‘ruin’, implying both strength and fragility, suggests that following a process of decay and deconstruction, not all is lost – the remains that are left over signify both despair and hope. Subject to Ruin is not a display of a dystopian view, but recognition of destruction, endings and beginnings, as necessary for growth and progress. The process of growth is a process of renewal. The exhibition challenges us to reveal our own prejudices and presumptions, influenced by an underlying dichotomy. This helps establish what we think about art and our political, social and cultural views, and further, demands a state of reflection and action/ memory and momentum.
Subject to Ruin, acknowledging the enactment of social responsibility, challenges structures of sovereignty, encourages a reinstatement of cultural value as an absolute human right and interrogates ideologies in a move toward open and fearless dialogue.
Links:
https://twitter.com/Artguideaust/status/471510818752700417
http://artguide.com.au/articles-page/show/subject-to-ruin-2/
http://www.garo.com.au/pages/hollow_promise_casula.html
http://ellabarclay.com/indexhibit/project/subject-to-ruin/
http://streetuni.net/image-gallery/subject-to-ruin/
http://www.2ser.com/component/k2/item/9060-a-subject-to-ruin-eric-demetriou-artist-interview
http://www.2ser.com/component/k2/item/6009-podcast-4
http://www.art-almanac.com.au/2014/04/subject-to-ruin/
Reviews:
http://sydneyart.me/tag/subject-to-ruin/
http://westsydneyfront.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/subject-to-ruin-has-a-sting-in-its-tail/
Photos: Simon Bennett and Adam Porter. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Nahrain: Two Rivers
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
8 February - 30 March, 2014
Nahrain is the name given to the region bordered by the Tigris and Euphrates river systems in West Asia and is believed to be the birthplace of civilisation which shaped ancient Mesopotamia. The two rivers channel through parts of Turkey, modern day Iraq, Syria, Iran and Kuwait. Often referred to as the “Fertile Crescent”, the region established a historically significant societal backbone, but is also a unique environment in its own right. Unlike the arid and harsh desert landscape identified with West Asia, the land situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is lush, productive and rich.
Nahrain: Two Rivers is a contemporary art exhibition that illustrates a glimpse of inspiration and sustenance, drawing focus on how people identify with a region and its distinctive characteristics. Artists from Australia and artists with Mesopotamian heritage present artworks that are both confronting and ambiguous, presenting a dialogue that encourages re-contextualisation. Nahrain: Two Rivers questions the origins of social, cultural and political constructs and explores common links and disparities between Mesopotamian cultures and the Western world.
The natural environment can have a profound impact on the social, cultural and political environment. Throughout time, the use, supply and control over land and water has been a highly contested topic. In recent times, the effects of population growth, urbanisation, war and pollution have exacerbated already diminishing resources, leading to a number of tensions between nations and people. This constant state of flux highlights our inseparable relationship with the natural environment and provides us with a chance to reflect on our actions and choices. Furthermore, Nahrain: Two Rivers draws parallels to local river systems in Sydney that have helped shaped Australian history and identity.
Artists include: Saif Almurayati, Brook Andrew, Mary Jane Caswell, Ella Condon, Raafat Ishak, Abbas Makrab, Kate Mitchell, Tom Nicholson, Josh Wodak and Jamil Yamani.
Catalogue essay can be found here: http://www.adamfporter.com/writing/
Kate Mitchell, Magic Undone, 2012
Photo: Adam Porter. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
LANDLOCK
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
30 March - 12 May, 2013
Landlock was a contemporary art exhibition that explored an unlikely relationship between Afghanistan and Australia - one of which is geographically defined by surrounding land mass; the other, completely surrounded by sea. Such differences have produced a shared dialogue that queries the political, social and physical environment occurring between the two regions.
With the growing population of Middle Eastern communities in Australia, especially in Liverpool and South West Sydney, Landlock reflected the stories of a significant culture that is unique to this region through contemporary artworks and community engagement processes. The notion of storytelling and the importance of documenting shared experiences is an integral theme. A sense of displacement and identity permeates the exhibition, challenging the audience to question their own place and purpose.
Artists include: Khadim Ali, Nasim Nasr, Rushdi Anwar, Andrew Garton, Amin Palangi and Sanaz Fotouhi.
Exhibition installation shot. Pictured: Artworks by Rushdi Anwar and Sanaz Fotouhi
Photo: Adam Porter. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Youngsters by Caroline Rothwell (Co-curated with Vi Girgis)
City of Sydney, Laneway Art and City Spaces
Caroline Rothwell proposes two unlikely bronze sculptures which play on the monumentalism of bronze in urban spaces as well as preconceptions about identity.
Youngsters stand within the trajectory of monumental bronze sculpture. The drapery, the shoes and the Contrapposto of the pose are all influenced by art history - from Ancient Classical sculpture to Rodin. Yet, the forms are completely contemporary. The clothes are current, as the baggy pants, hoodies and Dolce & Gabbana shoes suggest.
The figures undermine expectations and subvert stereotypes. They are purposefully diminutive; vulnerable, yet powerful. They represent small children dressed in hoodies and baggy jeans; one standing, the other hand-standing. Upon closer inspection, the standing child has plaited hair, further undermining social expectations. Furthermore, the interiors of the hoods and clothes are coated with bronze casts of quartz and coal, which are common Australian minerals, and thus comment upon Australia’s mineral economy and the spiritual culture of crystals.
Youngsters are a continuum of the themes that Rothwell has been exploring in her recent artistic practice. The surreal and fictitious encroaches on the realistic and scientific. These Youngsters have an uncanny, yet acceptable, presence in an urban environment. Passersby may think they see a familiar scene in a familiar bronze sculpture, but the stasis, scale and detail rupture such familiarity, creating a re-engagement with the objects and their surroundings.
On Barrack Street, a Youngster is handstanding beside the entrance of the entrance of the Burberry store. While her designer clothes are fitting next the high-end fashion store, her materiality and playful stance are at odds with the surrounding buildings’ historic authority. Furthermore, the baggy drapery on Youngsters reference the fluid folds of drapery on historic sculpture and have a formal relationship with the sculpture of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, also located in Barrack Street.
Following the Laneway Art and City Spaces program, Youngsters was acquired as a permanent sculpture by the City of Sydney.
For more information visit:
Caroline Rothwell, Youngsters, 2012. Photo: Adam Porter. Courtesy of the Artist.
CITY WILDERNESS TRAIL
Artists: Diego Bonetto, Tega Brain, Mark Gerada
Curators: Adam Porter, Vi Girgis
10 September 2012 - 31 January 2013
Various locations along George Street, Sydney CBD
Project: Laneway/City spaces
The City Wilderness Trail was a distributed art project which took visitors on a self-guided journey through the ‘wild heart’ of Sydney. It consisted of a series of signs located in the laneways and garden spaces along George Street.
The signs, mounted on walls or low poles, were modelled on the style of those found in Australia’s National Parks and Reserves. Each consisted of a hand-drawn black and white illustration with humorous, anecdotal and informative text about the species that make their home in, under or above our city’s streets.
The texts, which were sourced from a number of local animal experts, focused on “debunking misconceptions associated with urban animals”. Their purpose was to acknowledge Sydney’s role as host to incredibly diverse non-human populations, including birds, insects and mammals – some highly visible, others unseen by most visitors.
The signs covered 15 species: American cockroach, common garden skink, sulphur-crested cockatoo, feral pigeon, rainbow lorikeet, silver gull, Indian mynah, black rat, grey-headed flying fox, common brushtail possum, long finned eel, peregrine falcon, Australian white ibis, European red fox, – and human.
As part of the temporary artwork, the artists also organised a series of tours, where guides dressed as park rangers led visitors on fun, informative walks through the laneways.
More information here: City Wilderness Trail | City Art Sydney
Image by City of Sydney, 2013.