Melbourne Art Foundation has joined with over 50 Victorian cultural organisations, institutions, art spaces, satellite fairs and galleries to stage Melbourne Art Week from the 30 July to 5 August 2018; a dynamic winter program of exhibitions, events, talks, performances and workshops.
Melbourne Art Fair returns from 2 to 5 August 2018 (Vernissage, Wednesday 1 August) as the flagship event of Art Week and will take place for the first time across two venues: within the Southbank Arts Precinct and alongside Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). The Fair has been divided into three broad categories: ‘Galleries’, ‘Accent’ and ‘TIME’. Presented across four sites including Melbourne Art Fair, Buxton Contemporary, Federation Square and QT Melbourne, ‘TIME’ will display site-specific moving image, sound, and performance-based artworks curated by Hannah Mathews (Senior Curator, Monash University Museum of Art) and Rachel Ciesla (Curator and Administrator Galleries and Programs, Melbourne Art Foundation). The sector will feature a selection of new and recent works by Michaela Gleave (represented by Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne), Jess Johnson (represented by Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney), Sriwhana Spong (represented by Michael Lett, Auckland) and Angela Tiatia (represented by Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney).
Angela Tiatia, The Fall, 2017, high definition video 16:9, colour, no sound, 4 minutes 58 seconds. Courtesy the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney
The 2018 Project Rooms returns as a non-profit platform for cutting edge art spaces presenting experimental work within the context of a major visual arts event. This year, the Project Rooms will take place within the Melbourne Art Fair and will feature presentations from the Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art, Melbourne’s Gertrude Contemporary and Blak Dot Gallery, and The Physics Room from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Other highlights include the Visual Arts Awards on Saturday 2 August, as well as ‘From Will to Form’: Tarrawarra Biennial 2018, ACCA’s ‘A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness’, Buxton Contemporary’s ‘No One is Watching You: Ronnie van Hout’, VCA Open Studios and more.
The city will come alive during the week with live performances and creative workshops occurring throughout Melbourne and across the Southbank Arts Precinct. On Sunday 5 August, ACCA and the Melbourne Art Foundation will be holding ‘Weaving Workshops: Bush Toys and Baskets’, a hands-on workshop with senior weavers, Gunditjmara weaver Bronwyn Razem and Yorta Yorta weaver Donna Blackall, from the Victorian Aboriginal Weaving Collective.
Melbourne’s leading contemporary dance company Chunky Move will offer public contemporary dance classes for participants aged 18+ on Wednesday 1 August and Saturday 3 August, with a special Dance Party on Friday 2 August. Sessions are set to take place in Chunky Move’s dance studios in the Southbank Arts Precinct.
Other workshop highlights include ‘NEW YORK! NEW YORK!’ organised to coincide with 2018’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition ‘MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art.’ NGV Kids presents a large-scale participatory installation featuring displays, multimedia projections and hands-on activities designed to introduce children to the vibrancy of New York.
Phillip Adams BalletLab, Metamorphosen, 2018. Courtesy the artist
The program also includes Phillip Adam BalletLab’s Metamorphosen, a performance installation created in response to composer Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen (1945), in which body bags roll one after the other, onto a giant 18-metre inflatable designed by artist David Cross.
Melbourne Art Foundation, partnering with MLC Life Insurance, has commissioned a new performative work from Japanese-born, Australian-based artist Hiromi Tango (represented by Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney). Performed on the streets of the Southbank Arts Precinct and incorporating Melbourne’s iconic cultural landmarks including ACCA, the 2018 home of Melbourne Art Fair, the work titled Lizard Tail (Dawn) has been embraced as the visual identity for the celebrated Melbourne Art Week.
Hiromi Tango, Lizard Tail (Dawn), 2018. Courtesy the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf. Photograph by Michaela Dutková.
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley said, ‘Melbourne Art Week is set to take over our arts precinct with a celebration like no other. Through exhibitions, fairs, workshops, talks and performances, it will be an opportunity to deep dive into the best in contemporary art. Our Government is proud to support Melbourne Art Week. Events like this bring together some of our most exciting artists and organisations and showcase why Victoria is the creative state.’
