Building the Palace
Anna Mould, Cormac Kirby, Fei Gao, Livio Tobler, Miriam David, Mori
26 Apr–20 May 2023
Building the Palace presents characters, objects, architecture and atmosphere for a new cross-cultural palace that references and critiques our current relationship with memory, culture and real estate. The exhibition presents a fictional narrative through the guise of the artist's unique practices that delve into fantasy, form, and nostalgia.
Despite its grand associations, a palace is built with the intention of being a home. Examining this contrast we may ask, what makes a home? And further, how can architecture translate social and cultural change? The word palace allows us to explore multiple rooms filled with cultural, social, and personal artefacts.
This relationship between physical space and human meaning forms a blurry line between fiction and reality. The Palace has become mythical through the warping of history and its representation in fairy tales.
Building the Palace presents characters, objects, architecture and atmosphere for a new cross-cultural palace that references and critiques our current relationship with memory, culture and real estate. The exhibition presents a fictional narrative through the guise of the artist's unique practices that delve into fantasy, form, and nostalgia.
Anna Mould is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works on Gadigal and Dharug country in Sydney, Australia. Anna engages with a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, weaving, textiles, photography and drawing. She uses this eclectic mix of disciplines to explore complex social themes of empire, conquest, gender and national identity.
Cormac Kirby is a poet and urban planner working in Naarm, Melbourne. He has been published by No More Poetry and is currently finishing his first collection of poetry.
Fei Gao's practice is a continuous process of deconstruction and hacking. Exploring the intersection of banners, gaming culture, queerness, and urban landscapes. Recently, Fei is interested in how nostalgia and personal relationships with broken architecture and debris create imaginative worlds.
Livio Tobler is a furniture and object maker. Working with curves and texture, his objects take on full character whilst resting in homely spaces.
Miriam David is a lino print maker and sculpture artist from Sydney, Australia. Drawing from the world around, Miriam explores whimsical nuances.
Mori is a project that recognises the growing importance of architectural discourse and programming in the spaces of arts and culture in cities across the world and sees an absence of such opportunity in Sydney. Mori provides space for residency and research work, for collaboration, for exhibitions, performances, live talks and screenings to be presented, and
importantly, for informal but crucial conversations amongst students, young architects, and multi-disciplinary practitioners. It is a cultural institution built by its relationality.
Mara Schwerdtfeger is a composer and curator based in Eora / Sydney. Informed by interactions and perspectives within environments, her work questions the coexistence and understanding between those who inhabit them. In 2022, she presented the exhibition Gathering Geographies at Darren Knight Gallery alongside a performance program that brought live music and
interactive sculptures into the space. Beginning in 2019 she curated a longform processed based exhibition, Cycles, that was shown at Sheffer Gallery in 2021. Alongside Zoe Baumgartner she directs Temporary Position, a project for irl and url happenings that explore alternative presentations of narrative. Mara also works as an audio producer at the Powerhouse Museum and Liquid Architecture.