OUTER SPACE ANNOUNCES 2022 - 23 PROGRAM
Outer Space today announced its 2022-2023 exhibition program for its gallery at the Judith Wright Arts Centre (JWAC).
Since its inception in 2016, Outer Space has established itself as an emerging leader in Queensland’s visual art community, transitioning from an artist-run initiative to a contemporary art organisation with the primary purpose of supporting the professional development of artists, curators, writers and administrators.
Outer Space Director, Hamish Sawyer’s program reinforces Outer Space’s commitment to an inclusive and diverse program that highlights and presents the work of people – particularly at the early stages of their career – from a range of cultural and economic backgrounds, and showcasing emerging artists from across Queensland.
Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said Outer Space would deliver a vibrant and ambitious exhibition and installation program at JWAC in 2022 – 2023, following the success of its 2021 – 2022 program presented at the centre.
“Outer Space will continue to showcase and celebrate Queensland creative talent and serve as an important platform in supporting professional development and career pathways for our local artists,” Minister Enoch said.
“The Queensland Government provides funding of $400,000 to Outer Space through the Organisations Fund 2022 – 2025 to support Queensland contemporary arts and artists.”
“The Outer Space exhibition program will enhance JWAC’s role as a vibrant home to some of Queensland’s most dynamic artists and arts organisations,” the Minister said.
Sawyer said the programming committee was overwhelmed by the calibre and number of applications received through this year’s call out, with the enjoyable but daunting task of selecting just seven projects out of more than 140 submissions from artists across Australia.
“The resulting program showcases a diverse range of practices, which reflect the many currents of emerging and contemporary art. What unites these various projects is the way in which they respond to the unique architecture and context of Outer Space’s gallery, located in the iconic JWAC,” said Mr Sawyer. “It is obvious that the successful applicants have given great thought to how their projects will both activate the gallery space and engage the many audiences who pass by and through JWAC.”
Outer Space’s 2022-23 calendar will launch with an exhibition by Sunshine Coast-based collective Studio 26, from 18 June to 16 July. The collaborative curatorial project by Sunshine Coast’s Petalia Humphreys and Jaime Kiss will present EDIT-ism, showcasing the works of six regional artists.
Next is a collaborative exhibition between Sarah Poulgrain and Dana Lawrie, which will transform Outer Space into a site-specific installation from 23 July to 20 August, addressing topics such as alternative housing models, permaculture, environmental and communal sustainability, skill-sharing and DIY contemporary arts communities.
From 27 August to 24 September, artist, educator and performer David Thomas will mark a significant development in his practice in Perpetual Movement (Dis) Order, bringing together furniture design, modernism and local artists in a changeable display that questions the traditional hierarchies of visual art.
Following Outer Space’s annual fundraiser exhibition from 29 September to 8 October, Queensland College of Art graduate Sha Sawari will present a mix of new and existing projects from 15 October to 12 November, which reflect the Afghani-born artist’s own lived experience of displacement in relation to migration, identity, place, memory and nationhood.
The last exhibition for 2022, Nothing is more important than hanging out, is by Melbourne artists Sarah Brasier and Jemi Gale who will take over the gallery with an immersive installation comprising a mural, paintings, and neon sculpture, embodying their ongoing collaboration and friendship.
To kick off 2023, from 14 January to 11 February, Gold Coast curator Danni Zuvela and Libby Harward (a descendant of the Ngugi People of Mulgumpin) will set up a quasi-laboratory in their new collaborative artwork CONTINUOUS CULTURE: FEMINIST FERMENTATION STATION – an audio-visual installation featuring a live fermentation, reworking western scientific methods from feminist and Indigenous perspectives.
Finally, from 18 February to 18 March, Quandamooka artist Kyra Mancktelow will present an exciting new body of work that responds to the Outer Space gallery, continuing her ongoing investigation into the legacies of colonialism through printmaking, ceramics and sculpture.
Sawyer said the program’s last two exhibitions represented Outer Space’s ongoing and strong commitment to providing a platform for Queensland First Nations artists. “Another strong thread throughout our 2022-2023 program is the collaborative nature of a number of projects by emerging female artists, pushing their respective practices in exciting and new directions,” said Mr Sawyer.
The 2022-2023 program announcement comes off the back of Supercut, an Outer Space initiative which is currently underway and sees 45 artists from around the state exhibit their work regionally and digitally. The first exhibition of the 2022-2023 program also follows the gallery’s Steeper than Legal, which presents the vital practices of eight artists from flood-affected northern New South Wales and further solidifies Outer Space’s dedication to meaningful collaborations with emerging practitioners from across Queensland and Australia.
For more information about Outer Space and its upcoming program of exhibitions and events visit outerspacebrisbane.org.
Outer Space is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland
For further information, interviews or images, please contact:
Al Poiner
admin@outerspacebrisbane.org
0414 353 372
Outer Space acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia, and specifically on our country, Meanjin, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
