Opportunities for artists

New Agency, this mob

17 Jul–3 Aug 2019

As First Nation practitioners, ideas of art and public interface may fall either within self determined initiatives or, via opportunities afforded by external bodies; some of these opportunities ‘identified’ meaning, for First Nation practitioners only.

Within frameworks manifesting the ‘opportunity’ – the institution, their funding bodies, audience, consumers, curators, etc – ideas of affirmative action have witnessed steadily increasing opportunities for First Nation artists, commonly as access to space and resources.

The project Opportunities for artists is borne by the conditions of its manifestation and addresses how frameworks supporting the ‘opportunity’ are often problematic – in not only remit and provenance, but also as found in modes of engagement with the artists in question. Traversing the West Space ‘Centre for Contemporary art’ and the artist run space ‘Blindside’, Opportunities for artists explores how notions of inclusion might be performed rather than experienced and expresses the framework of its making.

Authorship, space and time.

Opportunities for artists is a collaboration between this mob and New Agency – coordinated by Kate Ten Buuren and Steven Rhall respectively. Framed by the physical spaces of West Space and Blindside, Opportunities for artists coalesces three weeks into this mob’s take over of West Space.

this mob is taking over west space for six weeks. there will be a bunch of stuff for blak people to see and do. follow us on Instagram @this_mob to keep updated and to see what events are open to the public, and what will be kept just for us.

Between July 18th 2019 to August 3rd 2019, the space known as Blindside is activated in conjunction with the this mob West Space take over. The distant West Space as site, including forms and activities emerging from 3 weeks of intervention, act as literal and figurative focus to Blindside as observer. Framed and marked by both time and relationship, architecture and infrastructure are expressed as form, along with various technologies employed in augmentation of the main concerns of Opportunities for artists.

Opportunities for Artists Writing Space

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Onsite, Exhibition, First Nations Project

Overview

Opportunities for artists sits as part of Blindside’s annual First Nation Exhibition Project.

As First Nation practitioners, ideas of art and public interface may fall either within self-determined initiatives or, via opportunities afforded by external bodies; some of these opportunities ‘identified’ meaning, for First Nation practitioners only.

Key Dates

Opening: 18 Jul 2019, 8am–10am

Problem and Project Reflection / yarn + print object release: 31 Jul 2019, 9am–10am

Acknowledgment

This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.

Biographies

New Agency is primarily concerned with First Nation curatorial, studio and exhibition practice, initiating and supporting critically reflective projects in response to frameworks viewed as aligned to this space. As an experimental art entity, New Agency explores ideas of the ‘expanded form’ in critique of colonial frameworks and the creation of ‘new agencies’ in First Nation art and curatorial practice.

this mob is a collective of First Nations artists based on Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Country. Over the past year, this mob have facilitated spaces and events that aim to build strength between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, celebrate blakness, and destroy imposed boundaries that try to inhibit our creativity and culture.

Program Partner

Presented by this mob and New Agency in collaboration with West Space