As we ruminate on a ‘new normal’ the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (IMA) are a few paces ahead responding in real-time to the impact of COVID-19 on the arts. ‘Making Art Work’ is a commissioning program inspired by Depression-era economic stimulus, which will also result in a book to be released in 2021. Supporting artists creatively and financially, it reinforces the importance of creative labour in a time where the cultural and economic value of art doesn’t feel like a priority.
Supported by the Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland, the initiative sees 40 artists deliver new works; with the IMA as mediator it shines a light on the, or a, gallery’s potential to stimulate the economy and ‘foster solidarity and demonstrate the public ‘use’ of art and the art institution.’
Artists, writers and a team of curators are working to four ‘curatorial pillars’, which are explained as: Unprecedented Times – projects that document the current moment, Industrial Actions – projects that activate the community to resist, protest, and organise, Permanent Revolution – projects that use radical thinking to build frameworks for our post-COVID future, and Relief Measures – projects that engage with care, assistance, and give back to community.
The first artists to debut new work in June were; Tony Albert, Kieron Anderson, Mariam Arcilla, ∑gg√e|n, Hannah Gartside, Mindy Gill, Kinly Grey, Susan Hawkins, Tori-Jay Mordey, Sally Olds, Amy Sargeant, and Des Skordilis. You can view their projects at makingart.work.
Audiences can look forward to the second round of projects on 10 August, 12 October and 7 December this year. While the artists all address the ‘four pillars’ in their own ways, a uniting theme seems to be a reassessment of the individual in relation to society, whether that is an experience of isolation, economic hardship, de-colonisation or the senses.
Later this year Grey will reveal a sensory experience which will reflect on a single afternoon the artist spent in a park, overlooking the city of Brisbane during Level 4 lockdown restrictions. Similarly, but wholly different, Hawkins looks for sonic magic in ‘banal’ domestic and industrial objects – underscoring that to see anew is a choice, whereas Gartside created novel pieces in June from old clothes, picking them apart to unite with new mates, to explore universal human experiences of connection, tenderness, loss, desire and pleasure.
Presently, Arcilla’s project ‘Interno’ will take shape as a series of resources paired with conversations with artists who are recalibrating their lives and making plans for a brighter future. You can listen to the podcasts as of 3 July, 17 July and 31 July.
On the weekend of 22 June, illustrator Mordey’s work was published in The Saturday Paper and made available to download. Her contemporary Indigenous art practice often reflects her Torres Strait Islander and English heritage. Skordilis also published a work in a May issue of the paper, reflecting on our interior lives during COVID-19.
Anderson learns Djarala Djarlo Tjidjen or earth oven cooking, from the Quandamooka peoples. Anthem by Sargeant in collaboration with FuzzWah uses the Situationist method of détournement to subvert the nationalist motifs and spectacle. Also a catalyst for change, Albert’s You Wreck Me is a parody of a music video by Miley Cyrus where Albert atop an exercise ball and chain topples statues of Captain Cook whilst, as the gallery notes, painted up for ceremony; his impersonation here recalls the reductive representations that are often imposed on First People.
