Acca Podcast

In this floor talk, recorded in ACCA's galleries, exhibiting artist Sahej Rahal speaks about his installation of artificial intelligence and sculptural works for ACCA’s exhibition, 'Feedback Loops' (7 December 2019 – 22 March 2020). Rahal’s installations, installations and digital works are part of a constructed mythology that he creates drawing upon sources ranging from local legends to science fiction. By bringing these into dialogue with each other, Rahal creates scenarios where indeterminate beings emerge into the everyday as if from the cracks in our civilisation. More info: https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/feedback-loops/ http://www.sahejrahal.com/ Recorded at ACCA on Saturday 7 December 2019 Thank you to our partners: Asia Engagement Partner: PR Asia; Exhibition Partners: AsiaTOPA, Dulux, Monash University, Quest Southbank, Playking Foundation, Colour Factory; Media Partner: Triple R Image: Sahej Rahal, 'Antraal' 2019 (still), sentient AI program. Courtesy the artist and Chatterjee & Lal, Mumb

In this lecture feminist art theorist and writer Professor Anne Marsh discusses the influential 1976 exhibition Australian & New Zealand Post-Object Art: A Survey — the first major exhibition curated by the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, and its legacy for experimental art in Australia today. This is the final lecture for 2019 in ACCA's to-year series 'Defining Moments: Australian Exhibition Histories 1968–1999'. The 2020 series will be announced shortly on our website here: https://acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ More information here: https://acca.melbourne/program/defining-moments-post-object-art-in-australia-and-new-zealand/ http://annemarsh.com.au/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 4 November 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM Image: Australian & New Zealand Post-Object Art: A Surve

The Psychology of Sounds Forum Listen to our forum about the psychology of music and sound, moderated by psychiatrist, author and media commentator, Steve Ellen. Building on the considerations of sound and the voice in healing and transcendence in ACCA’s exhibition Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act, this discussion brought together sound artist and co-director of FutureTense, Fjorn Butler; and music therapist at the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, Stephan Skov; with exhibition curator Annika Kristensen. Further info available here: http://acca.melbourne/program/the-psychology-of-sounds-forum/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 28 October 2019 Thank you to our exhibition partners: Exhibition Partners Melbourne International Arts Festival, Henry Moore Foundation, John Wardle Architects, Centre for Visual Art (CoVA), Dulux; Performance Partners Liquid Architecture, JMC Academy; Media Partner 3RRR FM

Lecture by Janine Burke, Respondent: Helen Hughes In this lecture, art historian and curator Janine Burke reviews pivotal radical feminist interventions of the mid-1970s, interrogating their legacy and exploring catalysts for collective feminist action, as well as their influence on Australian art history. Curator, writer and academic Helen Hughes responds and addresses the influence of this era on contemporary art and feminist thinking of today. More information available: https://acca.melbourne/program/defining-moments-a-room-of-their-own-creating-a-space-for-the-feminist-collective/ https://research.unimelb.edu.au/cova/people/centre-fellows/janine-burke https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/helen-hughes Recorded at ACCA on Monday 7 October Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM

Chance Composition: Haroon Mirza and James Rushford in conversation Artist Haroon Mirza is joined by collaborator and composer James Rushford in a conversation that provides insight into each of their practices, from their shared interest in the aesthetic and spatial possibilities of sound and sampling to their experimental approaches to collaboration. This conversation is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act, and the program of studio residencies that take place in the exhibition over September and early October. Further info available here: acca.melbourne/program/chance-composition/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 16 September 2019 Thank you to our exhibition partners: Exhibition Partners Melbourne International Arts Festival, Henry Moore Foundation, John Wardle Architects, Centre for Visual Art (CoVA), Dulux; Performance Partners Liquid Architecture, JMC Academy; Media Partner 3RRR FM

Doubting Writing/Writing Doubt: Public Readings Developed in partnership with RMIT University non/fiction lab The Doubting Writing/Writing Doubt workshops were held over August and September 2019 to look closely at the themes of ACCA's exhibition, On Vulnerability and Doubt, and to ask: "How can engaging with doubt and vulnerability help us let go of conventional writing positions, and go further into writing about art in the expanded field?" Listen here to the public readings by the 10 participants of their works, the final forms of which will be reproduced in a standalone publication. Further information: acca.melbourne/program/doubting-writing-public-readings/ Recorded at ACCA on Wednesday 21 August 2019 Thank you to our partners: RMIT University non-fiction lab, Art + Australia,Art Guide Australia, The Lifted Brow

Almost Anything Goes: Sculpturescape 1975 at Mildura Lecture by Julie Ewington In the 1970s Mildura became an unlikely epicentre of contemporary experimental art in Australia. Julie Ewington reflects in this lecture on the visionary leadership of Tom McCullough in staging the Mildura Sculpture Triennial, which morphed the town's Arts Centre from an exhibition of recent sculpture into a freewheeling consideration of contemporary forms that the state art museums could barely contemplate, let alone accommodate. Earth art, conceptual art, performance, feminist artists, ephemeral installations, artists living on site: Mildura commissioned and supported some of the first manifestations in a public art gallery in this country of ‘the expanded field’ of post-object art. Further information: acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 2 September 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin

Soft Touch: Brent Harris and Justin Clemens in conversation Artist Brent Harris and academic, writer Justin Clemens discuss the role of vulnerability, doubt, desire and touch in Harris' painting and printmaking practice, specifically with reference to the works presented in ACCA's exhibition, On Vulnerability and Doubt. Further info available here: https://acca.melbourne/program/brent-harris-justin-clemens/ Recorded at ACCA on Saturday 24 August 2019 Thank you to our exhibition partners: Exhibition Partners Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, Centre for Visual Art (CoVA), Dulux; Media Partners The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM

ACCA is pleased to host Chi Tran: Attention is a form of prayer as part of the 2019 WRITING & CONCEPTS program. A writer, artist and editor, Chi Tran presents this lecture in the form of a lyrical, prayer-like essay. Split into short chapters, Chi Tran's talk showcases 'how crucially feminist it is to combine poetry, autobiography, and critical theory,' as the speaker notes. This lecture is a meditation on embodied writing that seeks to simultaneously undo and affirm. WRITING & CONCEPTS is produced by Future Tense and moderated by Jan van Schaik and Fjorn Butler. WRITING & CONCEPTS is supported by each of the host venues, MvS Architects, RMIT’s School of Art and School of Architecture & Urban Design, Melbourne University and ART + AUSTRALIA. Further information: https://acca.melbourne/program/writing-concepts-chi-tran/ Recorded at ACCA on Thursday 29 August 2019

Bandits Live Comfortably in the Ruins by Sean Lynch Presented by the City of Melbourne Irish artist Sean Lynch visited Melbourne in August 2019 as part of a research project into creative practice in Australia, with Arts Melbourne. In this lecture Lynch speaks about his practice and recent work in terms of the public realm. Sean Lynch is interested in loose ends within stories: the lost footnotes and how to mediate their presence. The sculptures, installations, videos and publications generated in this process sway between the anecdotal and informative. Recent projects have included an exhibition of archaeological forgeries; a ‘storytelling’ installation at the Venice Biennale using sculpture and video; working with a fast food outlet now on the site of the forgotten first museum of London; cataloguing examples of vandalism and conservatism in modern art; locating remnants of the DeLorean car factory in the Atlantic Ocean; investigating alleged supernatural trees, in danger of destruction from new motorways

Clifton Hill Community Music Centre Lecture by David Chesworth. Respondent: Kelly Fliender The Clifton Hill Community Music Centre (CHCMC) was a lively place from 1976 to 1984, where artists from two distinct generations created, performed and debated. In this lecture, David Chesworth (coordinator between 1978-82) examines the CHCMC as one of the first places in Australia where the boundaries of performance, music-making, filmmaking and installation-making were dissolved. Further information: acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 5 August 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM

This panel discussion was presented alongside ACCA's exhibition 'On Vulnerability and Doubt' (until 1 Sept 2019) and focussed on self-doubt, imposter syndrome and the complexities for artists in putting themselves and their work on display. PANELLISTS: Exhibiting artist Charlie Sofo is joined by artists Kevin Chin and Jessie Scott and moderators from the Pro Prac Podcast Nicole Breedon and Kiera Brew Kurec. This program was recorded at ACCA on 17 July 2019 and was presented in collaboration with Pro Prac. This podcast is a special episode of the Pro Prac podcast – the talk behind the artist talk. Find out more here: https://soundcloud.com/propracpodcast Read more about the exhibition here: https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/on-vulnerability-and-doubt/

Inhibodress: Multimedia interference: Lecture by Peter Kennedy; Respondent: Sue Cramer Artist Peter Kennedy continues our lecture series on the game-changing moments in Australian exhibition histories, speaking on interference and Inhibodress, one of Australia’s first artist-run initiatives co-founded by Kennedy with Mike Parr, Tim Johnson and others. Sue Cramer, curator of Inhibodress 1971-1972, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 1989, responds considering the legacy of this work in conceptual art practice, and the politics of working with the history of performance art and re-staging historical exhibitions. Further info available here: https://acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ http://www.peterkennedy.com.au/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 8 July 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM

Hear from exhibiting artists in On Vulnerability and Doubt: Join us in the galleries to hear exhibiting artists Cherine Fahd (Sydney), Archie Moore(Brisbane) and Ambera Wellmann(Berlin), speak about their ideas informing the work in the exhibition and their practice more broadly. Submit your fear to Cherine Fahd's anonymous survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZLLPH8Q Read more about the exhibition here: https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/on-vulnerability-and-doubt/ Additional links: https://www.amberawellmann.com/ https://cherinefahd.com/home https://thecommercialgallery.com/artist/archie-moore/works Recorded at ACCA on Saturday 29 June 2019

This second 'Public Meeting' at ACCA features artist Tom Nicholson together with guest speakers Ryan Johnston, current Director of Buxton Contemporary and former Head of Art at the Australian War Memorial; and Dr Micaela Sahhar an Australian-Palestinian poet and researcher; and Dr Jordana Silverstein, an ARC Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Melbourne, researching the history of Australian child refugee policy from 1970 to the present. This program takes as its starting point, two key works in ACCA’s exhibition 'Tom Nicholson: Public Meeting' — 'Comparative monument (Shellal)' 2014–17, which draws on the complex history of the Shellal mosaic uncovered by Australian soldiers in Palestine during the First World War, and subsequently installed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra; and 'Comparative monument (Ma’man Allah)' 2014, which articulates historical links between Jerusalem and Australia. Further information: https://acca.melbourne/program/public-meeting-comparative-monument/ htt

In this public forum convened by ACCA Artist Educator Andrew Atchison, artists Emily Floyd, Kathy Temin and Trent Walter reflect on the monument and public sculpture. Taking the current ACCA exhibition, Tom Nicholson: Public Meeting, as a starting point this panel reflects on how the form of the traditional monument might be re-imagined to better engage the contemporary context and our collective futures. This event was part of ACCA Education's Masterclass series. Further resources: https://acca.melbourne/program/public-forum-reflections-on-public-sculpture-and-the-monument/ https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/tom-nicholson/ Recorded at ACCA on Wednesday 22 May 2019

Object and Idea: Lecture by Ian Milliss National Gallery of Victoria Curator Brian Finemore saw the 1973 exhibition Object and Idea as a smaller conceptualist sequel to the 1968 exhibition The Field. But one invited artist, Ian Milliss, declined to participate having already moved on to working with trade unions and resident action groups rather than exhibitions, galleries and art audiences. At Finemore’s request Milliss wrote a catalogue essay titled New Artist explaining his thinking, the beginning of a politicised cultural activism that was really only accepted by the art world many decades later with the rise of relational aesthetics and social practice. Further information: acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ http://www.ianmilliss.com/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 3 June 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturda

In this podcast you'll hear artist Tom Nicholson, ACCA Curator Hannah Presley and academic John Kean engage in an informal and open discussion in the galleries, taking Nicholson's work 'Gorge Photograph, 13 September 1939' 2017-19 as a point of departure for discussion. 'Gorge Photograph, 13 September 1939' 2017-19 reimagines a specific place and time, highlighting the complex relationship between Victorian watercolourist Rex Battarbee and Western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira. This Public Meeting is programmed alongside ACCA's exhibition 'Tom Nichoslon: Public Meeting' 5 April — 16 June 2019 Further information: https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/tom-nicholson/ https://acca.melbourne/program/public-meeting-gorge-photographs-namatjira-batterbee/ Recorded at ACCA on Saturday 18 May 2019

Digging for Honey Ants: The Papunya mural project Lecture by John Kean. Respondent: Hannah Presley The creation of murals at the Papunya School in 1971 is cited as the singular catalyst that set off the Western Desert Painting movement. The truth of this claim is in fact more complex, confounding and consequential. In this lecture, John Kean examines the subject of the murals and the broader social context in which they were created, and reveals how this mythic gesture (on walls that few outside the community saw), signified a telling shift in colonial relations. Further information: acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ https://papunyatula.com.au/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 29 April 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM

Lecture by John Kaldor AO; Respondent: Rebecca Coates Described as ‘somewhere between a monument and an event’, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 'Wrapped Coast – One Million Square Feet', at Little Bay, Sydney, in 1968–69, was an extraordinary project that had an indelible impact on public art and inspired an enduring legacy for Australian culture. 'Wrapped Coast' was the first major environmental project by the internationally acclaimed French husband-and-wife artist duo. 'Wrapped Coast' was the inaugural Kaldor Public Art Project and, over a 50-year period, 33 ground-breaking projects followed. Links: https://acca.melbourne/series/defining-moments/ http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/ https://christojeanneclaude.net/ Recorded at ACCA on Monday 15 April 2019 Thank you to our partners: Abercrombie & Kent Presenting Partner; Centre for Visual Art (CoVA) Research Partner; Event Partners Melbourne Gin Company, Capi and City of Melbourne; Media Partners Art Guide Australia, The Saturday Paper, 3RRR FM