Is Collaboration the Way Through? 1301SW to Open Its Second Gallery in Sydney

Jack Willet has just finished sourcing a table-tennis table when I speak with him on the phone. It's not an ordinary task for the director of 1301SW, but the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija requires it for a work in the gallery's group show, Lime and limpid green, a second scene (Part One). Last month, the show opened to reveal the table as the centrepiece of one of two main exhibition spaces, its distinct blue tabletop painted from edge to edge in white, oversized capital letters: 'THE TRUE EYE OF THE SOUL IS WATER.'

Set on George Street in Melbourne's inner south, 1301SW is a relative newcomer to the city's gallery scene. Its co-founders, Dominic Feuchs (director of Starkwhite in Aotearoa New Zealand) and Brian Butler (director of 1301PE in Los Angeles), wanted to open a space that could bridge their presence in the U.S. and New Zealand, as well as host local artists. Since opening in 2022, the gallery has expanded its roster to include Australian artists Tim Bučković, Lewis Fidock, and Joshua Petherick, among others, with their collaborative model affording a level of risk-taking and resource-sharing that might not be possible for other spaces the same age. Willet explains: 'As much as the market is seemingly global in its predicament at the minute, we're always looking at things from three perspectives and locations.'

Any hesitation Willet had about the initial prospects of opening a second space dissolved when Feuchs said to him, 'What else are we meant to do for the artists?'

'That struck me in a strong way,' Willet recalls. 'How else would we offer them a platform, an opportunity to explore and create and present new works?'

'This was equally the case for our audience and collector base. Learning, working hard—all that initial energy you have when you are a new entity—we might as well cross it over and make it happen across two sites. Of course it's daunting, but it's also very exciting. Luckily, we've got the right people in place to help us through.'

This month, 1301SW deepens its foothold in Australia with the opening of a second space at 3 Hiles Street, Alexandria, in a newly renovated warehouse. Designed by Australian architect Chris Connell, it shares many of the features that distinguish the Melbourne gallery, including a sawtooth ceiling, as well as a similar layout with two main exhibition spaces, a viewing room, offices, and a stockroom. At 420 square metres, with studs that extend up to 12 metres in height, it will be one of the largest spaces of its kind in Sydney.

'There will definitely be the opportunity for artists to use that scale,' Willet says. Sydney-born and -based painter Jonny Niesche, for instance, is already talking about the prospect of making monumentally scaled paintings and site-specific works.

Niesche describes the opening of 1301SW's new space as a milestone that comes at an interesting time for Sydney's art scene.

'There is a seismic shift happening,' he tells Ocula, 'with existing galleries closing, new ones opening, and a number of great artist-run spaces emerging. It feels really positive and regenerative.'

Niesche, who has worked with 1301SW since it first opened, praises the gallery's ethos: 'It champions what it believes is good, rigorous, and exciting. I love that it is not trend-driven.'

His work for Lime and limpid green, a second scene (Part One) consists of sapphire-blue mirror tape installed in a single horizontal line throughout the gallery walls at the artist's eye level. It's a subtle form of measurement that shares a conceptual affinity with Billy Apple®'s work in the neighbouring space, in which the wall is partially painted bright yellow in accordance with Apple®'s conception of the 'divine proportion'—the percentage of the artist's cut of a sale to that of the dealer. Also showing is a giant, gold balloon installation by Mikala Dwyer, along with Tiravanija's table tennis piece.

'It's nice to afford these artists the opportunity to present these kunsthalle-type pieces,' Willet explains. 'It's really quite immersive, and that will open up into a much more expanded discussion in Sydney,' he says, referring to the show's forthcoming second iteration.

The exhibition's title, Willet tells me, is taken from the opening lines of Pink Floyd's song 'Astronomy Domine' (1967). 'The song talks of a "limpid green", which is our brand colour, and I always like to play with the idea of clarity—to offer a glimpse of something and then shroud it in some obscurity. It also mentions a "second scene", which could point to the opening of our second space, or the next scene in our play. It's a chance to create space for a bit of reflection, and to ask: where to next?'

'Everyone's really thrilled,' he continues. 'Our artists are incredibly excited—especially those who live in Sydney, like Jonny Niesche, Jelena Telecki, Coen Young—because they can now have that home base with us.'

1301SW in Melbourne puts on around eight shows each year, a pace that Willet describes as 'slightly slower than most [commercial] galleries in Australasia'. He plans to work at a similar pace in Sydney and their 2025 programme is well underway, with artists like Bučković and Diena Georgetti set to present their debut shows in Sydney next year.

Willet is optimistic about the future of the gallery's partnership with 1301PE and Starkwhite. He describes it as 'a really beneficial exercise for all of us, to have this overarching collaborative nature of things. We're starting to see more and more glimmers of it everywhere.' He cites as an influential mode The Campus—a collaborative enterprise that opened in upstate New York in June this year, with six participating galleries (Bortolami, James Cohan, kaufmann repetto, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps, and kurimanzutto).

Melbourne-based painter Georgetti, whom 1301SW Sydney signed this year and debuted in their recent presentation at Sydney Contemporary, is an artist with dual representation within Australia, being also represented by Neon Parc in Melbourne.

'It makes the artists feel loved,' Willet says. 'And having these amicable relationships instead of this dull in-fighting is a terrific way forward.' —[O]

Lime and limpid green, a second scene (Part Two) is the inaugural exhibition at 1301SW in Sydney, opening 18 October until 16 November 2024.

Lime and limpid green, a second scene (Part One) is on view at 1301SW in Melbourne until 19 October 2024.

Published in collaboration with Melbourne Art Foundation, who produce Melbourne Art Fair (20–23 February 2025).

Main image: Exhibition view: Lime and limpid green, a second scene (Part One), 1301SW, Melbourne (30 August–19 October 2024). Courtesy the artists and 1301SW.