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(Frontmatter, contents and abstract only - full thesis can be requested by direct message to author). This thesis examines questions of place-making and identity formation in Contemporary Art, and their influence on artistic and... more
(Frontmatter, contents and abstract only - full thesis can be requested by direct message to author).

This thesis examines questions of place-making and identity formation in Contemporary Art, and their influence on artistic and exhibition practice into the early twenty-first century. Its research scope encompasses global considerations of decolonisation, cultural displacement, migration, translocality and environmental disruption, explored from a range of perspectives, including the transnational imaginary of a Global South. The research arises from the author’s curatorial work, and its arguments are ‘bookended’ by two curatorial case studies for recent exhibitions, contextualising the research as a response to questions arising from exhibition practice. With an emphasis on both artist-focussed practice and viewer experience, some key curatorial values – locality, identity, discursivity and affectivity – are identified as an analytical and evaluative framework to examine diverse exhibitionary forms and practices worldwide. Key contexts and terms of reference are established at the outset, followed – in Chapter 2: Narratives – by an art-historical framing for the research, interrogating established Euro-American narratives, and investigating the emerging structures and networks of a rapidly-globalising ‘exhibitionary complex’ (Bennett, 1988). The multi-scalar manifestations of this ‘Global Contemporary’ are examined through multiple lenses, including a history of influential exhibitions, emerging platforms and curatorial developments. These investigations are further contextualised – in Chapter 3: Topologies – in relation to recent literature on locality, identity and affect, across a range of related disciplines, encompassing art history and theory; critical theory; anthropology and spirituality studies; spatial, social and cultural histories; and aspects of contemporary economics and politics. Chapter 4: Praxis is focussed on curatorial and exhibition practice across numerous sites and exhibition platforms worldwide, with an emphasis on major museums and recurrent international exhibition platforms such as biennials and triennials. It investigates diverse deterritorialised and precarious forms of art and ‘non-art’ practice, and the challenges faced by curators in presenting such practices in contemporary exhibitions, concluding with a reflection on socially-engaged practice. Chapter 5: Curatorial Case Studies provides detailed analysis of two exhibitions studied as part of field research in Europe and the Middle East, and Chapter 6: Futures explores emerging trends and possible future developments for exhibition practice, suggesting some sightlines to the future for the independent art sector. This is followed by a second Curatorial Case Study – for the exhibition platform The Museum of Dissensus – addressing issues arising from the research. Conclusion summarises key research arguments and findings. 
Copyright controlled. Please see contents list for links to ebook.
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This is a midway PhD project – produced as part of an exhibition (also titled 'The Museum of Dissensus), part of a series ('Ex Libris Fisherarium') exploring intersections between plastic and literary art forms, curated by David Corbet at... more
This is a midway PhD project – produced as part of an exhibition (also titled 'The Museum of Dissensus), part of a series ('Ex Libris Fisherarium') exploring intersections between plastic and literary art forms, curated by David Corbet at the Fisher Library, University of Sydney, from October 2016-February 2016.
It contains an introductory essay by David Corbet and essays and text extracts by several other writers: Susan Best, Ivan Muñiz Reed and Matt Poll.
It features images and texts (from numerous cited sources) exploring the work of 49 artists: Abdul Abdullah, Jumana Emil Abboud, Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Francis Alÿs, Kader Attia, Tania Bruguera, Nick Cave, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Chimurenga, Dadang Christanto, Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser, Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Félix González-Torres, Guerrilla Girls, Julie Gough, Dale Harding, Edgar Heap of Birds, Pierre Huyghe, Guo Jian, Jonathan Jones, Jumaadi, Yuki Kihara, Glenn Ligon, Laura Lima, Teresa Margolles, Shaghayegh Mazloom, Queenie Nakarra McKenzie, Kent Monkman, Zanele Muholi, Clinton Nain, Paulo Nazareth, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Fiona Pardington, Mike Parr, Ben Quilty, Imran Qureshi, Rosanna Raymond’s SaVAge K’lub, Marwan Rechmaoui, Lisa Reihana, Doris Salcedo, Alex Seton, Hito Steyerl, James Tylor, Adriana Verejão, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Kara Walker, Jason Wing.
This essay explores space through placelessness and the ‘translocal,’ looking at various artistic practices occurring nomadically, outside of institutions, and through a social practice framework. It discusses works that are... more
This essay explores space through placelessness and the ‘translocal,’ looking at various artistic practices occurring nomadically, outside of institutions, and through a social practice framework. It discusses works that are locally-specific but exist within an international, and perhaps intangible, community.
Reproduced courtesy Runway Australian Experimental Art, Issue #35 'Space', 2017 (online).
A critical exploration of the quinquennial exhibition Documenta 14, staged in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017. It includes a range of contextualised views from diverse writers and critics, drawn from numerous sources, as well... more
A critical exploration of the quinquennial exhibition Documenta 14, staged in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017. It includes a range of contextualised views from diverse writers and critics, drawn from numerous sources, as well as reflections and opinions by the author.
Reproduced courtesy Eyeline journal #88: Eyeline Publishing, Brisbane Australia, 2018.
The article arises from an ongoing curatorial project, titled ‘The Museum of Dissensus’. It interrogates the nexus between art and politics, and examines notions of dissent, political activism and responses to hegemonic power in the... more
The article arises from an ongoing curatorial project, titled ‘The Museum of Dissensus’. It interrogates the nexus between art and politics, and examines notions of dissent, political activism and responses to hegemonic power in the cultural realm. The art museum is increasingly a site of critique, dissent, activism and other artistic responses to social injustice. Beyond the visible hierarchies of state, corporate and institutional structures, artists and exhibition-makers must also engage with the entrenched cultures of the exhibitionary complex, seemingly-benign, but historically inscribed by an alliance of government, academia and commercial art world players.This article focuses on silenced and effaced histories that often result from a still-pervasive master narrative of North Atlantic Modernism as a template for exhibition-making, from both a curatorial and artist-practice point of view. It references numerous practitioners worldwide, with an emphasis on First Peoples and diverse othered groups, including feminist, queer and self-taught artists, many from Australia and New Zealand.
Thoughts on Qalandiya International, Palestine, 2016
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Research Interests:
A review article originally published online in December 2015. The website is currently under re-construction.
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Research Interests: