Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism
15 Dec 2017 - 25 Mar 2018 at ACCA in Melbourne
Continuing ACCA’s ongoing series of Big Picture exhibitions focussing on contemporary art’s relation to wider social, cultural and political contexts, Unfinished Business is a major exhibition conceived to animate critical, albeit under-represented, practices and debates within contemporary Australian art and society.
Surveying the diverse scope of feminist art practices – including painting, performance, photography and film to community engagement and cultural activism – the exhibition focuses upon the dynamic formal invention and social engagement of feminist artists. It explores strategies and analyses of gender identity and representation, intersectional politics, and practices which embrace performative codes, text and media technologies, humour and critique.
Adopting a collaborative, polyphonic form which encourages diverse voices, practices and debates, Unfinished Business presents new commissions and recent work alongside selected historical projects, programs of film and performance, and a publication with contributions by art historians, artists and theorists from the 1970s to the present.
The exhibition is being developed by a curatorial team that includes ACCA’s Artistic Director Max Delany and Senior Curator Annika Kristensen, working in collaboration with:
• Paola Balla, Wemba-Wemba and Gunditjmara artist, curator and academic, Victoria University
• Julie Ewington, curator, writer and broadcaster, and previously Head of Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art
• Vikki McInnes, Managing Editor, Art & Australia, and Research Development Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts
• Elvis Richardson, artist and initiator and chief researcher of CoUNTESS
Asking why feminism is still relevant, necessary and critical, Unfinished Business explores trans-generational legacies, inheritances and shifts, alongside contemporary conditions and concerns – to stimulate new debates and discussions around the ‘unfinished business’ of feminism today.
Further announcements about participating artists to follow.
Unfinished Business Exhibition Catalogue > Now available to purchase online