Ocula Report 58th Venice Biennale: May You Live In Interesting Times 24 May 2019 : Mohammad Salemy for Ocula The 58th Venice Biennale, May You Live In Interesting Times (11 May–24 November 2019), certainly benefitted from low expectations, given the lacklustre curatorial of the previous edition, when different segments of the show were conceptually framed with titles like 'Pavilion of Joys and Fears' and 'Pavilion of Colours'. Add to this the...
Ocula Conversation Zheng Bo Hong Kong-based artist Zheng Bo's social, ecological, and community-engaged art practice has, in recent years, focused on moving beyond a human-centred perspective to an all-inclusive, multi-species approach. He takes up marginalised plants and communities of people as subjects in his large-scale interventions, which reintroduce wildness into...
Ocula Report Auckland Art Fair 2019: Conversations Extended 24 May 2019 : Sherry Paik for Ocula The weather was clement for the annual Auckland Art Fair (2–5 May 2019), which was again at The Cloud on Queens Wharf. This year's edition was a get-together of 41 galleries, mostly from around Auckland and across New Zealand, with 5 spaces hailing from Sydney and the rest from Cook Islands (Bergman Gallery), Hobart (Michael Bugelli Gallery),...
Welcome to Artspace Visual Arts Centre – a leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo fronting Sydney Harbour.
Mission
Artists and their working practices are at the heart of Artspace. Advancing critical practices in contemporary art and culture, Artspace supports artists to create new work that defines the present and proposes future possibilities for contemporary art. As Australia’s leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, Artspace is both the key hub of the contemporary art community in Sydney, fostering dialogue between local artists, writers and curators and their national and international counterparts, and an evolving entity that connects with artists, audiences and ideas in an expanding range of sites regionally and globally.
Activity
Artspace is committed to the development of new ideas and practices in contemporary art and culture. Each year Artspace presents twelve to fifteen gallery-based exhibitions as well as touring and off-site projects; hosts around thirty artist residencies, a number the result of key national and international partnerships; operates a regular open studio program; initiates a range of public program and education activities including conferences, symposia, lectures and artist discussions; and publishes Column, a regular Artspace periodical as well as cultural theory books and artist monographs.
History
Artspace opened the gallery doors of its first premises in Surry Hills in 1983. From that moment on Artspace has supported critical and experimental practices across media and cultures. Artspace moved to its present location at the Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo in 1992. A few years later Artspace initiated a local and international residency program, significantly expanded at the beginning of 2007. Artspace has been a regular venue for the Biennale of Sydney from 1993 onwards. Since 1983 many of the major figures of Australian and international contemporary art have developed and presented major projects with Artspace, which continues to provide one of the most substantial platforms for contemporary visual art and related practices in Australia and the region. Artspace is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments, and is assisted by the New South Wales Government through Arts NSW and by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Artspace is a member of CAOs, the Australian Contemporary Arts Organisations network, and Res Artis, the International Association of Residential Art Centres.
Ocula Report Sydney Exhibitions to See: The Lowdown 7 Sep 2018 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula Sydney Contemporary returns to Carriageworks for its fourth edition between 13 and 16 September 2018 with 87 local and international galleries and a full programme of performances, talks, large-scale curated installations and tours. Beyond the fair, Sydney is abundant with standout shows that challenge perceptions around identity, the body, and...
Ocula Report Biennale of Sydney: Equilibrium & Engagement 25 May 2018 : Tess Maunder for Ocula SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement marks the twenty-first edition of the Biennale of Sydney (16 March–11 June 2018). Curated by Mami Kataoka, it brings together over 70 artists and artist collectives from 35 different countries exhibiting at 7 venues, including the Sydney Opera House, and marks the first time an Asian-born curator has been...
Ocula Conversation Angelica Mesiti Artist, Australia At the heart of Angelica Mesiti's practice—which moves through video, performance and installation—is an exploration of how the things that are unspoken can be used to communicate forms of expression, subjectivity, and history; and how different identities are carried through modes of language that are expressed both physically and...
Related Press Mami Kataoka's highlights for the 21st Biennale of Sydney ArtsHub : 1 March 2018 When a biennale or a triennial hits the headlines the first statistic to be published is the roll call of artists: '...70 artists and artists collectives from 35 countries presented across 7 exhibition venues'. It is a mantra that celebrates the broadest inclusion, but Mami Kataoka, Artistic Director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney, is more...
Related Press A Point of Encounter for Asia-Pacific: Sydney Contemporary 2017 art fair – highlights round-up Art Radar : 13 September 2017 While the cancellation of the biannual Melbourne Art Fair in 2015 appeared to some as a sign of the instability of the Australian commercial art market, for Sydney Contemporary it was good news. The fair opened on Thursday 7 September 2017 with a host of returning local and international galleries from across the Asia-Pacific region and closed with...
Related Press 'Superposition of three types' Art Almanac : 10 February 2017 Images converge then shift, contract and explode in a field of colour. Curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor and Talia Linz, Superposition of three types highlights the continuing effectiveness of colour and form in contemporary Australian art. Implicit in its title, the exhibition deals with the overlapping of different 'types' of practices; and the...
