What’s on Calendar

EXHIBITIONS

• 10am

  Gallery opens

  Open every day, except Christmas & Good Friday

  Times vary. See Opening hours

• Performance

  BMX bike performance

  A celebration of street culture in contemporary art

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 15 minutes
  Front of the Gallery
  Free

• 10.30am

  Exhibition talk

  Exhibition talk by Edmund Capon and John Kaldor

  Gallery director Edmund Capon and John Kaldor introduce the new contemporary galleries.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• 11am

  Tour

  Contemporary art speaks Mandarin

  Free Mandarin Language Tour 免費普通話導覧

  Join our Community Ambassadors for a highlights tour of the new contemporary galleries, featuring the John Kaldor Family Collection, in Mandarin and explore the profundity of contemporary art.

  歡迎參與我們社群使者為您介紹當代藝術精選的導覧，讓您在觀賞藝術之餘，更可探索作品之內涵。

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Ticketing and membership desk
  Free

• For kids    Performance    Tour

  Interactive character tour: Pertinos

  Join our new Gallery character Pertinos on a lively tour of the contemporary galleries, specially written and created by children’s author Geoffrey McSkimming

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Entrance court
  Free

• Exhibition talk    Tour

  Walking tour with Justin Paton

  The curator of ‘Unguided tours’ explores the idea of the journey in art.

  In association with Unguided tours.
  Duration 45 minutes
  Temporary exhibitions gallery
  Free

• For kids    Performance

  Gallery Kids Sunday performance 2011

  Open Weekend special events

  See Open Weekend 2011

  Duration 2 hours
  Entrance court
  Free

• Workshop

  Help create a Sol LeWitt wall drawing

  A rare chance to participate in creating one of LeWitt's wall drawings.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 5 hours
  Function space
  Free

• 11.30am

  Exhibition talk

  Contemporary Asian art talk

  Natalie Seiz, the Gallery's assistant registrar of Asian art, discusses the contemporary Asian art collection.

  Duration 30 minutes
  Lower Asian gallery
  Free

• Film

  ArtDocs film screenings

  Art City: Making it in Manhattan

  Dir. Chris Maybach, USA, colour, 58mins, 2002
  Unlike any art movie you’ve ever seen, Art City is big, breezy, informed entertainment about the people who make contemporary art. Artists, along with collectors and dealers, bring to life the art capital of the world, New York, as it plunges into the 21st century.

  Presenting a wide range of status, age, and ethnic backgrounds, the film moves into lofts, studios and galleries for intimate scenes of artists at work. They discuss inspiration, aesthetic issues, the meaning of success and how they overcame hardship to pursue a lifetime in art.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour
  Centenary Auditorium
  Free

• 12pm

  Exhibition talk

  Contemporary artists talk

  Callum Morton

  Callum Morton’s sculptures combine incisive social observation, ideas about urban design and contemporary living, and an interest in the legacy of minimal sculpture. Motormouth 2002 is a sculpture of two freeways, scaled 1:10. It continues Morton’s consideration of the intersections between public and private space and in particular the ‘non-spaces’ of urban design such as freeways, shopping centres, service stations, cinemas and convenience stores. In this talk, Morton discusses both his practice and Motormouth.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• Tour

  Eikoh Hosoe guided tour

  An introduction to the exhibition

  In association with Eikoh Hosoe.
  Duration 1 hour
  Upper Asian gallery
  Free

• Music

  Live music with The Rescue Ships

  Singer/songwriters Brian Campeau and Elana Stone of The Rescue Ships perform original music and sounds from the 1960s.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour
  Cafe
  Free

• 12.30pm

  For kids    Performance

  Interactive storytelling: contemporary art

  With Open Stage Productions

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Entrance court
  Free

• Celebrity talk    Lecture / symposium

  Special lecture by Tate curator Jessica Morgan

  Jessica Morgan discusses the Tate’s collection.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour
  Domain Theatre
  Free

• 1pm

  Performance

  Butoh performance

  'Evocation' by Yumi Umiumare

  In association with Eikoh Hosoe.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Entrance court
  Free

• 1.30pm

  Exhibition talk

  Contemporary artists talk

  Janet Laurence

  Laurence is best known for her site-specific installations that extend from the museum or gallery space into the natural world. Her works echo architectural forms while preserving a sense of instability and transience drawn from her observations of nature. In her talk, Laurence discusses her practice and her work In stance of memory 2005 in the Gallery’s contemporary collection.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• Tour

  John Kaldor Family Gallery audio-described tour

  Tour of the John Kaldor Family Gallery for people who are blind or vision impaired

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• Music

  Live music with The Rescue Ships

  Singer/songwriters Brian Campeau and Elana Stone of The Rescue Ships perform original music and sounds from the 1960s.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour
  Cafe
  Free

• 2pm

  Performance

  Performance art by Destiny Deacon

  An opportunity to see the first presentation of a new performance work by artist Destiny Deacon.

  In association with art + soul.
  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 15 minutes
  Centenary Auditorium
  Free

• Exhibition talk

  Contemporary galleries talk

  Rhana Devenport, director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, discusses the work of Nam June Paik and the development of new media.

  Devenport has worked extensively with artists in Asia and the Pacific region as a writer, editor and curator, producing major projects with Nam June Paik, among others. In this talk, she looks at Paik’s work in the John Kaldor Family Collection, including TV Buddha and TV cello, and discusses his significant role in the development of new media. Korean-born Paik (1932–2006) was one of the first artists to work with television and video, transforming both forms of popular media into art. He is also credited with inventing the term ‘electronic superhighway’ and stating that ‘the future is now’.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• Film

  Identities

  Paris is burning

  Dir: Jennie Livingston 1990 (US)
  71 mins 35mm Colour Rated M
  This joyous, witty and poignant documentary is a tribute to the community of New York’s minority drag queens – gay black and Latino men who invented the dance style of ‘vogueing’. Pop star Madonna appropriated and streamlined vogueing, whose movements are based on fashion magazine poses. Paris Is burning shows where it all began: in the community halls of Harlem, where contestants from rival ‘houses’ would gather to compete in makeshift dress-up contests. Some of the competitors present themselves as elegant, glamorous women in designer outfits, while others adopt a more mundane persona: college student; military man; Wall Street businessman; aristocrat. The criterion by which all this make-believe is judged is that of ‘realness’. Inviting us behind the scenes, director Jennie Livingston presents an exhilarating portrait of a society of outcasts which seems to have found an effective way of defying the world that scorns them.

  This screening is in conjunction with the Archibald Prize, New contemporary galleries and Open weekend 2011.

  In association with Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes 2011.
  Duration 1 hour, 11 minutes
  Domain Theatre
  Free

• Film

  Open Weekend 2011 film

  Paris is burning

  Dir: Jennie Livingston 1990 (US)
  71 mins 35mm Colour Rated M
  This joyous, witty and poignant documentary is a tribute to the community of New York’s minority drag queens – gay black and Latino men who invented the dance style of ‘vogueing’. Pop star Madonna appropriated and streamlined vogueing, whose movements are based on fashion magazine poses. Paris Is burning shows where it all began: in the community halls of Harlem, where contestants from rival ‘houses’ would gather to compete in makeshift dress-up contests. Some of the competitors present themselves as elegant, glamorous women in designer outfits, while others adopt a more mundane persona: college student; military man; Wall Street businessman; aristocrat. The criterion by which all this make-believe is judged is that of ‘realness’. Inviting us behind the scenes, director Jennie Livingston presents an exhilarating portrait of a society of outcasts which seems to have found an effective way of defying the world that scorns them.

  This screening is in conjunction with the Archibald Prize, New contemporary galleries and Open weekend 2011.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour, 11 minutes
  Domain Theatre
  Free

• Performance

  Drawing demonstrations

  Discover more about drawing techniques in our newly refurbished works-on-paper study room.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 2 hours
  Study room
  Free

• 2.30pm

  Exhibition talk

  Arlo Mountford and Charlie Sofo in conversation

  Artists Arlo Mountford and Charlie Sofo talk with curator Justin Paton.

  In association with Unguided tours.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Temporary exhibitions gallery
  Free

• Performance

  Beat poetry with Miles Merrill

  Miles Merrill performs Jack Kerouac's ‘On the road’ and Allen Ginsberg's ‘Howl’ with multi-instrumentalist Trevor Brown

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• Workshop

  Zoetrope workshop

  Explore early technologies in the development of new media art with artist and curator Ricky Subritzky

  In association with Unguided tours.
  Duration 2 hours
  Domain Theatre foyer
  Free

• 3pm

  Performance

  Breakdancing performance

  A celebration of street culture in contemporary art

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 15 minutes
  Entrance court
  Free

• Film

  ArtDocs film screenings

  Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawings

  Dir. Edgar B. Howard and Tom Piper, USA, colour, 55mins, 2010
  During the four decades of his career, Sol LeWitt produced more than 1200 wall drawings using a deliberately limited repertoire of lines and geometric shapes to create works of remarkable complexity. His decision to utililse other artists to install his wall drawings in architecturally diverse spaces informs the execution of his works. Like a musical score, his wall drawings play differently each time they are produced.

  This film takes as its focus the retrospective of LeWitt’s wall drawings at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, which opened for a 25-year run in November 2008. The exhibition includes 105 works from 1968–2008, installed posthumously, on roughly 40,000 square feet of old mill wall surface – the most expansive view of LeWitt’s oeuvre in a single space.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 1 hour
  Centenary Auditorium
  Free

• 3.30pm

  Exhibition talk

  Contemporary galleries talk

  Wayne Tunnicliffe, the Gallery's senior curator of contemporary art, discusses the work of Robert Rauschenberg.

  Rauschenberg (1925–2008) was one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, forming a bridge between abstract expressionism and pop art. He came to prominence in the 1950s for his ‘combine’ works, in which he blurred the lines between art genres by uniting traditional mediums such as oil on canvas with sculptural elements drawn from found objects. Rauschenberg’s focus on surface texture and materiality had its roots in abstract painting, but by reintroducing identifiable symbols to the art of the American avant-garde, along with Jasper Johns, he paved the way for later artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to examine issues arising from American popular culture.

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Contemporary galleries
  Free

• 4pm

  Music    Performance

  Live music with Mr Percival

  A unique musical experience

  In association with New contemporary galleries.
  Duration 30 minutes
  Entrance court
  Free

• 5pm

  Gallery closes

  Normal hours: 10am–5pm, Wednesdays till 9pm

  See Opening hours