Upending I Mending
The University of Canberra’s Faculty of Arts and Design annual exhibition
Monica Andrew, Rhonda Ayliffe, Ben Ennis Butler, Louise Curham, John Dahlsen, Dianne Firth, Caren Florance, UK Frederick, Katie Hayne, Paul Hetherington, Kerry Martin, Max Maxwell, Ross McLennan, Vahri McKenzie, HK Plum, Claire Rosslyn Wilson, Sam Tomkins, Bethaney Turner, Jen Webb, Kirsten Wehner and John White
Pivot Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre
Opening 6pm Friday 20 May 2022
20 May – 3 July 2022
John Dahlsen’s mapping of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch recuperates unlovely materials – found plastics collected from Australian coastlines – into engaging formal patterns. We are invited to contemplate both the rapid accumulation of microplastics in our oceans as well as John’s acts of restoration when he picks up the tiny pieces. Place-based restoration runs through these works as one connecting theme: it is no coincidence that creative responses flourish where damage is great. Other works upend any rush to repair that may paper over damage that needs to be dwelt with. This collection mends and upends, often together, with slow-going practices of repair keeping company with exuberant explorations of breaking and unmaking.
About the artists:
The University of Canberra’s Faculty of Arts and Design annual exhibition presents diverse creative responses to the inspiration, and provocation, of the theme Upending | Mending. Our artists, designers and creative educators bring together a variety of approaches to their practice – recuperating found materials, collaborating with communities, using art to focus attention on ugly matters – but share a sense that creative expression is central to their ways of reflecting, repairing and questioning the world.
Exhibitions Live Free Public Workshop: Exploded View
with Ursula Fredrick and Vahri McKenzie
1-3pm, Saturday 28 May 2022
FREE, bookings essential
Have you ever wondered what the inside of your electric toothbrush looks like? Your stapler?
In this free drop-in workshop, visual artist/engineer UK Frederick assisted by curator/performance artist Vahri McKenzie will guide you through the process of disassembling a defunct appliance or household object. The component parts will be arranged onto paper in a creative ‘exploded view’ and printed using a photosensitive process.
What does the new image suggest; Is the object or image the resolved state? In a world-full of discarded objects, what is precious and what is waste? How is transformation possible?