With the vision to celebrate all that is art and inspire art lovers, collectors, buyers and the art curious annually under one roof, ‘Sydney Contemporary’ 2023 delivers its most impressive program to date.
From 7 to 10 September, ‘Sydney Contemporary’ at Carriageworks will host over 90 galleries from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore alongside more than 500 artists working across a diverse range of creative practices. Creators from the fields of design and architecture will also be in the spotlight and the inaugural acquisitive MA Art Prize will award $10,000 to one emerging artist whose work is on display.
Sera Waters, Specks: unimaginable futures, 2020, linen, ffelt, cotton, sequins and hand-made sequins, 31 x 35cm. Courtesy the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery, South Australia
The rich program of events will unfold across nine themed sectors: Galleries, Future, Paper, Performance Contemporary, Installation Contemporary, Talk Contemporary, Create Contemporary, Art Night, and Art Walks & Talks. Here’s a snapshot from the 2023 program.
Leading galleries will showcase their artists in curated exhibitions in gallery booths with many also presenting artist talks, including Charles Nodrum Gallery with Samara Adamson-Pinczewski, Dominik Mersch Gallery with Lottie Consalvo, N.Smith Gallery with Joan Ross, Hugo Michelle Gallery with Richard Lewer, Trent Park, Justine Varga and Sera Waters, Arthouse Gallery with Clifford How, and D’Lan Contemporary with Contemporary Art’s Elders – Spinifex Arts Project, and others.
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah’s Dead Horse (2022) will be on view at Installation Contemporary among large-scale works by Alex Seton, Sam Jinks, Brian Robinson, Jenna Lee, Jon Rafman, Julie Rrap, Lindy Lee, Louise Zhang, Mikala Dwyer, Roy Wiggan, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, and Tony Garifalakis.
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Dead Horse, 2022, carved and stained wood, 60 x 216 x 290cm. Courtesy the artist and Moore Contemporary, Western Australia
Performance Contemporary will highlight the energies and versatility of performance art. An extraordinary durational performance titled RED TAPE by Wiradyuri women and conceptual artist Amala Groom “negotiates the bureaucracy of the imposition of third-dimensional reality on her spiritual and physical bodies by singing a song in Wiradyuri, wrapping herself in 44 rolls of red electrical tape and then jumping through a hoop.”
Choreographer, dancer, teacher and Pasifika woman Fetu Taku’s performance titled Spectrum in Volume will explore the transitional dynamics of scale work and how varied degrees of strength in movement can influence the emotion and gesture behind it.
Talk Contemporary curated by Samantha Watson-Wood and Karen McCartney will broadcast innovative reflections on art, architecture, design, fashion, music, and food, through the art of conversation.
“This year’s art conversations revolve around unpacking sexual identity and representation in the image, landscape painting as a political tool, uncovering female artists from leading creative minds, the effect of the selfie and important history of self-portraiture and how the arts reflect, predict and shape the future. This year I am excited about the rich and diverse conversations conducted by some of the most important and interesting thought leaders in our country,” says Watson-Wood.
For a hands-on experience children of all ages and adults alike are invited to activate their own creativity at the Squiggla Making Space presented by Eckersley’s Art & Craft and explore “the fundamental elements of mark making – dots, lines and marks in all their infinite possibilities.”
See the full program and purchase tickets here for Sydney Contemporary 2023.