The National 2017: New Australian Art
Sydney’s premier cultural institutions today announced 49 artists to present work in the inaugural edition of The National: New Australian Art.
Art Exhibition
previously on
at
Art Gallery of New South Wales
in
Sydney
precinct,
New South Wales,
Australia.
From
Thursday 30 March 2017 to Sunday 16 July 2017
Event published by Art Gallery of New South Wales on Monday 05 December 2016.
Contact the publisher.
Opening on 30 March 2017 and running simultaneously as a unified exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), The National 2017: New Australian Art is the first edition of a six-year initiative, presented in 2017, 2019 and 2021, exploring the latest ideas and forms in contemporary Australian art.
The AGNSW, Carriageworks and MCA have collaboratively selected emerging, mid-career and established Australian contemporary artists – living across the country and abroad – to present work as part of a single curated program at the three institutions.
Connecting three of Sydney’s key cultural precincts – The Domain, Redfern and Circular Quay, The National: New Australian Art represents the only large-scale, multi-venue exhibition in the city to be focused solely on contemporary Australian art.
Curators for the 2017 edition of The National: New Australian Art are Anneke Jaspers, Curator Contemporary Art and Wayne Tunnicliffe, Head Curator Australian Art, AGNSW; Lisa Havilah, Director and Nina Miall, Curator, Carriageworks; and Blair French, Director, Curatorial & Digital, MCA.
Blair French, Director, Curatorial & Digital at the MCA commented: “This unique collaboration enables us to explore the themes and concerns of artists making work today in a way that a single organisation couldn’t undertake. The works reflect the diversity of subjects preoccupying artists and all Australians from a cultural, political and social perspective. Taking the form of sculpture, painting, installation, video, drawing and performance, this exhibition provides a snapshot of Australian art at this particular moment in time.”
At the AGNSW, The National 2017 presents contemporary artists who are engaging with marginal narratives and contested histories, including how these are shaped by uneven power relations and conflicting value systems.
Anneke Jaspers, Curator of Contemporary Art at AGNSW said: “The works at the Art Gallery of NSW have mostly developed from archival or field research, and are underpinned by social engagement. These artists navigate and reinterpret various histories – aesthetic, social, economic, environmental – to offer new readings of the present and the future. Many of the works offer an Indigenous perspective, or draw out connections to other geographic locations and cultures.”
At Carriageworks, the curatorial approach focuses on the current fluidity of identity – individual and collective, real and imagined. Works presented in The National 2017 at Carriageworks address the fractures and contingencies of Australian identity, with a strong cross-generational and crossdisciplinary focus.
Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah commented: “Artists at Carriageworks examine the self in the context of history, exploring questions of individualism, shared experience and relationally. Many of the artists will be making works that are created collaboratively and works across disciplines including contemporary performance.”
At the MCA, The National 2017 includes artists working with key concerns through time, pulling history through and beyond the present; in particular artists working with repeated gestures and processes, or returning to actions, images or motifs consistently through time in their practice.
The National 2017: New Australian Art opens on 30 March 2017 at AGNSW, Carriageworks and 31 March 2017 at the MCA. Entry to the exhibition is free at the three institutions.
Exhibition dates
Art Gallery of New South Wales, 30 March – 16 July 2017
Carriageworks, 30 March – 25 June 2017
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 30 March – 18 June 2017
Media contacts
Hannah McKissock-Davis, Art Gallery of New South Wales
02 9225 1671 | hannah.mckissock-Davis@ag.nsw.gov.au
Claire Johnson, MCA Australia
02 9245 2417 | claire.johnson@mca.com.au
Kym Elphinstone, Articulate for Carriageworks
0421 106 139 | kim@articulatepr.com.au
Artist list
Khadim Ali
Zanny Begg
Richard Bell
Gordon Bennett
Chris Bond & Wes Thorne
Matthew Bradley
Gary Carsley
Erin Coates
Megan Cope
Karla Dickens
Atlanta Eke
Emily Floyd
Heath Franco
Marco Fusinato
Gunybi Ganambarr
Alex Gawronski
Ghenoa Gela
Agatha Gothe-Snape
Julie Gough
Alan Griffiths
Dale Harding
Taloi Havini
Gordon Hookey
Ronnie van Hout
Helen Johnson
Jess Johnson
Richard Lewer
Peter Maloney
Nicholas Mangan
Karen Mills
Archie Moore
Claudia Nicholson
Tom Nicholson
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran
Nell
Rose Nolan
Raquel Ormella
Alex Martinis Roe
Stieg Persson
Elizabeth Pulie
Khaled Sabsabi
Yhonnie Scarce
Keg de Souza
Simon Ward
Justene Williams
Jemima Wyman
Tiger Yaltangki
