News

JULY 2017

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Holly has been busy installing the new permanent display at the NSW State Emergency Service HQ in Wollongong. So many weird and wonderful things to curate for the first time - jaws of life, Geiger counter, large animal rescue harness and a full size flood rescue boat.

Ryuichi Fujimura and Kate Sherman performed in Corrine May Botz's images of The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths in A Working Model of the World at UNSW Galleries

Our commissioned artists are working hard to develop their artworks for Something Else is Alive: Sydney and the Animal Instinct opening next month at Customs House. Garry Trinh has captured the ubiquitous Australian White Ibis in this untitled photograph.

May 2017

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Holly caught up with David Capra at FBI Radio recently to talk about her exhibitition A Working Model of the World at UNSW Galleries.

La Perouse shell worker and living treasure Esme Timbery placing the last bit of sparkly glitter on her Sydney Opera House ahead of the opening of A Working Model of the World at UNSW Galleries, curated by Holly Williams and Lizzie Muller.

Glenn has flown to the northern hemisphere and is currently resting his wings in Paris, enjoying the open spaces in the centre of the city (as well as all the museums).

april 2017

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Meet Bailey Haggarty - Assistant Director of Seagulls at the Australian National Maritime Museum. We kitted Bailey with a GoPro to film his adventures for an upcoming project - stay tuned!

Kenzee Patterson's 2016 work Money Spinner will be a part of A Working Model of the World, curated by Holly Williams with Dr Lizzie Muller at UNSW Galleries.

As part of her exhibition onetoeight: Australia's First Prime Ministers at the Museum of Australian Democracy, Alison Alder has created this wallpaper featuring the wives of the early leaders.

january 2017

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Detail of Patrick Pound's The Museum of Glass in the group show Intrinsic Properties / Inherent Vice at Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra, curated by Holly Williams for Ausglass.

Holly Williams with architect Mike Stevenson at the new build for the SES Visitor Experience underway in Wollongong.

As part of our research for the Customs House exhibition Something else is Alive: Sydney and the Animal Instinct, we ventured to the the NSW Mounted Police Museum at the Redfern barracks. Here is Fibre the horse modelling equine riot gear.

november 2016

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On the day of the US election and apt for the success of the billionaire class, Holly and the UQ Art Museum team installed Daniel McKewen's work 'The virtual nation of Mammon', which charts the Forbes list of billionaires and their relative wealth against the US population - part of the next instalment of Creative Accounting.

Jon Rose - The Museum has gone live as part of LiveWorks at Performance Space!

At the Junction of Two Rivers, Simon Yates made an amazing comic book to go with his installation The Duel at the Old Western Stores building. Napoleon and The Duke of Wellington battling it out to rule the town.

october 2016

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Just in time for the Xmas shopping period, Glenn's first solo show opened at Utopia in Sydney.

The glamorous side of curating... Ready to install At the Junction of Two Rivers via a stop at Bunnings Dubbo.

SEPTEMBER 2016

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Liane Rossler is one of the amazing artists participating in the Wellington residency project At the Junction of Two Rivers. Our recent studio visit to Liane's studio brought together a few of Glenn's favourite things - art, pots and plants.

Luke Letourneau has previewed Ivan's show Yoshua Okón: Octopus for the September issue of Art Almanac. Join us for the exhibition's opening at the Ideas Platform at Artspace, Sydney on 15 September.

Creative Accounting opened at Albury LibraryMuseum with some fantastic loans from their museum collection including some gold scales from the Black Range mines, some alternative currencies from WWII and Pin # Meltdown by Albury Art Prize winner Inga Hanover

August 2016

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Holly Williams made the mother of all excel Lists of Works after a studio visit with Jon Rose for a co-curated project with Jeff Khan for Performance Space. See his weird and wonderful instuments at Carriageworks in October.

Glenn Barkely has managed to unite his love of horticulture and art for Objects in Space: Artists in the Gardens his latest curatorial project at Peacock Art Gallery and Auburn Botanic Gardens.

Unpacking in our lovely new office in Newtown. Sharing the space with the wonderful folk at 10 Group.

In preparation for the forthcoming exhibition A Working Model of the World, Holly visited the City of Sydney archives and viewed the work of the City's resident model-maker Richard Braddish.

July 2016

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Bring out the oversized scissors! One of the more involved projects from the first part of the year, the University of Wollongong's new Sporting Hall of Fame, was officially opened by the UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings, CBE.

We were lucky enough to spend a week with the artists in Wellington for At the Junction of Two Rivers. Karla Dickens, Asher Milgate, Raquel Ormella, The Ronalds, Liane Rossler and Simon Yates rocking in out an old fountain-come-garden-ornament.

Bit of work in progress for a project proposal we are working on with Melbourne artist Jon Campbell ahead of his latest solo show Absolutely Disgusting with Darren Knight Gallery

Creative Accounting was opened by the Mayor of Manningham (replete with gold chains) at Doncaster's Manningham Art Gallery. This iteration of the project also included a new 11m long piece bylocal ceramicist Tracy Muirhead.

June 2016

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Holly Williams and Glenn Barkley had a great site visit to the Wellington Caves, scouting locations for At the Junction of Two Rivers. Glenn also discovered his long lost cousin Michelle Barkley when she came to interview us for the Wellington Times.

We've been delighted to be working with Lee, Ashley and Sophie from Dunn + Hillam Architects on a couple of really interesting projects including the proposed conversion of a heritage building into a gallery. They have a really fantastic studio in Botany that we have loved spending time at.

This painting by Chayni Henry inspired Glenn to stay at the real Paravista Motel when he went to Darwin in June for a studio visit with Franck Gohier for his forthcoming solo show at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 2017.

May 2016

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Glenn was invited to write the catalogue essay for Robert Brain’s wonderful survey at Bathurst Regional Gallery. The exhibition presented Brain's prolific tapestry practice across themes such as homoerotica, art history and gender politics and is imbued with irreverent humour and unexpected juxtapositions.

Curated by Holly Williams, Creative Accounting opened at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery in Windsor for the first stop on and 18-month long tour. Convict love token specialist Paul Donnelly's talk was a highlight of the accompanying public program.

OVERUNDERSIDEWAYSDOWN, the Australian Ceramics Association Biennial opened at Manly Art Gallery & Museum. Curated by Glenn Barkley, the exhibition considered ceramics' present currency within the art world and the reasons why it is of such interest to artists.

A few changes at The Curators' Department and exciting times for Ivan Muñiz Reed as he relocated to San Francisco with his husband. Ivan will be continuing as an Associate Curator with TCD and will be coming back in September for his project at Artspace, he'll be busy with his PhD in the meantime. Our team is expanding with Chloé Wolifson and Isabel Hesketh joining us on a regular basis with the odd guest appearance by Bev Shroot.

April 2016

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We are thrilled to announce Arts NSW's support for our upcoming project in conjunction with Orana Arts. At the junction of two rivers: the Wellington Residency Project invites three metropolitan and three regional artists to participate in a multi-week residency, culminating in exhibitions of new, site-specific works in October 2016.

Currently in development, the project Octopus at the Ideas Platform in Artspace will introduce the work of prominent Mexican artist Yoshua Okón to Sydney audiences for the first time. The solo project curated by Ivan Muñiz Reed will be launched in September

March 2016

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We had a great day leading a tour of the 20 Biennale of Sydney for 10 Group's Contemporaries program. The tour kicked off with Glenn Barkley's introduction of Richard Bell's work at the MCA forecourt and continued with a tour of Cockatoo Island led by Holly Williams and Ivan Muñiz Reed.

We are thrilled to be part of this year's Art Month with Where to start, a tour of Redfern and Chippendale galleries with Ivan Muñiz Reed, and The Engine of Creativity, a panel discussion (including Barbara Flynn, Glenn Barkley, Jess Cook and artist Lindy Lee) moderated by Alex Bowen, that explored the different elements of the artistic eco-system in Sydney.

Ivan Muñiz Reed has been commissioned by the MCA Australia to write a substantial text on the practice of Mexican artist Hector Zamora for an upcoming publication, which will be available in July 2016. The publication will build on Civic Actions: Artists’ Practices Beyond the Museum, a conference convened by the MCA's C3West in September 2015 that focused on the possibilities of artistic practice in public space.

January/February 2016

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January marks our first 12 months of operation! We are hugely thankful for such an amazing year and feel incredibly lucky to have collaborated with so many amazing artists and institutions. We are also very excited with our line-up of upcoming projects - more news coming soon!

Championed by Holly Williams, the Sporting Hall of Fame: a Celebration of Excellence at the University of Wollongong's Recreation & Aquatic Centre is underway and looking sharp. The project will be officially launched in May 2016.

We are incredibly proud of Glenn Barkley's inclusion in Magic Object: The 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. His installation Temple of the Worm will be on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia until 15 May.

DECEMber 2015

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Expressions of Interest in the 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial have now opened which will be curated by Glenn Barkley. The touring exhibition opens at the Tamworth Regional Gallery in October 2017; EOI's close on 29 February, contact the gallery for more information.

We are delighted that the Museum of Australian Democracy are looking to acquire Donna Fortescue's substantial work Beneath the Southern Cross we Stand from the Right Here Now exhibition which runs until March 2016.

November 2015

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Ivan Muñiz Reed, Holly Williams and the Department’s excellent intern, UNSW Masters student Amanda Saker, went to Canberra to install Right Here Now with the really amazing team at the Museum of Australian Democracy, ahead of the opening on November 17.

ALEKS DANKO – MY FELLOW AUS-TRA-ALIENS, co-curated by Glenn Barkley and Lesley Harding opened at Heide Museum of Modern Art on the 7 November. The exhibition includes work from close to five decades of Danko’s multifaceted practice.

October 2015

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In late October and early November, Holly Williams went on a research road trip to regional venues for Creative Accounting including to Western Plains Cultural Centre, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, the Museum of the Riverina in Wagga Wagga, Albury Library Museum and Manningham Art Gallery in Melbourne. Including this very excellent former bank from a small town between Albury and Wagga.

On 29 October, Glenn Barkley spoke at the launch of Paul Becker/10 Group’s latest creative enterprise - Contemporaries: art experiences for the socially curious. We are looking forward to participating in their program.

An adapted iteration of Here I give thanks: John R Walker curated by Glenn Barkley opened at Utopia Art Sydney November 28. The exhibition continues until 21 November.

Holly Williams had serious foundry envy during a visit to Urban Art Project's amazing facility in Brisbane where they fabricate artworks and assemble them to full scale before sending them off to their new locations around the world.

september 2015

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Installation Contemporary at the Sydney Contemporary art fair was a huge success with outstanding works appearing in surprising places across Carriageworks, including this monumental work by Gregor Kregar. View the artworks

Preparation for Right Here Now, Regional Arts Australia's National Visual Arts Showcase is well underway. The exhibition of eighteen regional artists opens at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House next month.

Craig Judd gave TURN TURN TURN a great little write up in the September issue of Artlink. He called it 'Glenn Barkley’s best production to date.' Read on...

As part of the MCA Young Ambassadors program Ivan Muñiz Reed was invited to speak with Jess Johnson about her latest solo exhibition Endless Future Terror Forever at Darren Knight Gallery.

AUGUST 2015

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Artists for Installation Contemporary announced ahead of Sydney Contemporary art fair which launches on 9th September. We are thrilled to have on board Tony Albert with Stephen Page, Gunjan Aylawadi, Vicky Browne with Simon Reece and Darren Seltmann, Ham Darroch, Scott Eady, Helen Eager, Glen Hayward, Gregor Kregar, Justine Khamara, Laith McGregor, Christine McMillan Callum Morton, Mylyn Nguyen, Stephen Ralph, Brian Robinson, Caroline Rothwell and Alex Seton. The Curators’ Department will be giving daily tours across the duration.

Holly Williams has just come back from a week at the Banff Centre in Canada for the seminar Curating Lively Objects: Post-disciplinary perspectives on media art exhibition led by Dr. Lizzie Muller and Dr. Caroline Seck Langill. Attended by a number of curators, artists and academics including Brook Andrew, Bec Dean, Lucas Ihlein and Matthew Connell alongside Canadian counterparts the seminar examined curatorial practice within a post-disciplinary framework, with a particular focus on the “liveliness” of media art objects and practices that situate themselves across, between and after disciplines.

Space for excellence. Indulging our interest in finding new ways to engage audiences with archives. The Curators’ Department are excited to be designing and curating a new space for sporting excellence, extending the model of a Hall of Fame. It will be a dynamic space that celebrates achievement and participation across the history of the University of Wollongong, as part of their Recreation and Aquatic Centre refurbishment.

Glenn Barkley and Heide’s Lesley Harding co-curated ALEKS DANKO – MY FELLOW AUS-TRA-ALIENS which opened at the MCA on the 30th July. The exhibition includes work from close to five decades of Danko’s multifaceted practice.

July 2015

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Guest edited by Glenn Barkley, Art Monthly's July issue launches in Canberra this Friday 10th July alongside the ceramics triennale at Craft ACT. Issue no. 281 includes texts on the history of indigenous ceramics; texts on work of Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Janet de Boos, Ron Nagle and Margaret Tuckson; and a great article by Megan Robson on Aleks Danko, featuring many of his works to be included in an upcoming survey exhibition at the MCA opening in July (Curated by Glenn Barkley and Leslie Harding - presented in association with Heide Museum of Modern Art).

Thanks to everyone who came along to the opening of Here I give thanks: John R. Walker and to the in-conversation event on Saturday 4 July at the Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra. The exhibition continues until August 10.

It's a very rare and special treat to be surrounded by this selection of 10 works by the legendary artist Rosalie Gascoigne in the area where she sourced many of her materials. The works in this exhibition beautifully illustrate the strong link between Gascoigne's work and the nearby landscape of Lake George - their spare elegance and intensity. We were thrilled to see many of Rosalie's family members, friends and colleagues at the opening in Goulburn Regional Gallery. The exhibition continues until 22 August.

June 2015

Frances Djulibing, Yukuwa feather string yam vine, 2013 — Frances Djulibing, *Yukuwa feather string yam vine,* 2013

Turn Turn Turn launch at National Art School, 2015 — *Turn Turn Turn* launch at National Art School, 2015

We are delighted to announce that Glenn Barkley has now become a registered valuer for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. His area of expertise includes Australian and NZ art, art archives, documentation, ephemera, textiles, ceramics, glassware, fibre items, new media, time-based and digital art; Indigenous prints, drawing, textiles, paintings and sculptures, ceramics, glassware, fibre items, new media, digital and time-based art after 1970 and European and American printmaking and artist-books after 1950.

Glenn Barkley's String Theory, an MCA touring exhibition that explores expanded notions of textiles and craft-based traditions, is currently showing at Wollongong Art Gallery. The exhibition presents artworks from sculpture to photography, painting to video, and will be open until August 30.

An amazing turn out to celebrate the opening night of TURN TURN TURN: The studio ceramics tradition at the National Art School, curated by Glenn Barkley. It was incredible to see generations of the NAS community in one room, from Peter Rushforth who established the Ceramics Department to the current students.
See more opening night images.

Holly Williams returned from the Vessel/MADA International Curatorial Retreat in Bari, Italy via an extended trip to New York, Philadelphia, Venice and London where she met with many wonderful artists and curators and is on the away to securing an exhibition in NYC in 2017.

May 2015

Chris de Rosa, Artificial Kingdom, 2013 — Chris de Rosa, *Artificial Kingdom*, 2013

TCD have been commissioned by Regional Arts Australia to curate their national showcase in Canberra. Right Here Now features a great selection of artists from across our wide brown land including Chayni Henry, Chris de Rosa, Raymond Arnold, Sandra Hill and many others.

Building on its success in 2013, the international art fair Sydney Contemporary returns to Carriageworks in September and The Curators’ Department has been invited to curate this year’s Installation Contemporary component, which needless to say, we are pretty excited about.

april 2015

McLean Edwards, LA Story #2, 2012. Oil on canvas — McLean Edwards, *LA Story #2*, 2012. Oil on canvas

The Curators’ Department hit the road to Kandos for the Cementa festival where Issue 27 of experimental art journal Runway, guest edited by Glenn Barkley on the theme of ‘Outside,’ was launched.

Later in April we also visited John R. Walker's studio in Braidwood, in preparation for his upcoming show Here I give thanks at Drill Hall Gallery, and Goulburn Regional Art Gallery to chat about another of our upcoming shows The Daylight Moon: Rosalie Gascoigne and Lake George.

We are thrilled to be collaborating with Sydney-based painter McLean Edwards in the production of a major monograph of his work. The publication will include a central text by Glenn Barkley and a comprehensive selection of reproductions of the artist's paintings and drawings from past and present. The book will be available in February 2016.

march 2015

Art Month launch, National Art School, 2015

Enrique Ježik's studio in Mexico City, 2015

With Glenn as Artistic Director, this year’s hugely successful festival Art Month Sydney featured more than 300 exhibitions & events over 200 artists in 100 galleries with over 95,000 visitors. Some of the many highlights included Art at Night events, Collectors’ Space exhibition, artist led tours and Buy Art and Artcycle tours.

Ivan Muñiz Reed traveled to Mexico City where he had the opportunity to visit the studios of artists such as Enrique Ježik and Lorena Wolffer as well as curator/artist Guillermo Santamarina from Museo Carrillo Hill. He was well accompanied by colleagues Susan Gibb (Associate Curator) and Frederique Bergholtz (Director) from 'If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution', an initiative specialising in performance and performativity in contemporary art.

february 2015

The Curators' Department has officially launched! A massive thank you to all our friends and colleagues who joined us at The Commercial for the kick-off. We are humbled by all the expressions of support and well wishes. Looking forward to a busy year full of exciting projects and we're thrilled to be able to share them through our website and social media channels. Look us up on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!