Exhibits,
Austin Buckett, Omar Chowdhury, Avni Dauti, Dara Gill, Liam O’Brien, Mira Oosterweghel, Clare Rae To not believe in the divine, yet always aspire to reach it
Opening: Wednesday 22 July, 6pm Dates: 22 July – 8 August 2015
Text by Henry Andersen
‘To not believe in the divine, yet always aspire to reach it’ broadly deals with the intricacies and intersections of rituals and repetition. Through the presentation of new and pre-existing works, the project brings together seven young Australian artists to explore how ritualistic acts (religious and secular) may carry new meanings through laborious repetition and also to consider endless repetitive gestures as a set of rituals.
The project has invited artists to work from a title to reveal multiple perspectives and create a conversation without being contained by a fixed statement. The exhibition title takes its premise from Giorgio Agamben’s precept that to believe in the divine and not aspire to reach it is the only way to achieve happiness. By reversing Agamben’s assertion, the exhibition title alludes to Sisyphean notions of repetition and the indefinite postponement of closure.
‘To not believe in the divine, yet always aspire to reach it’ will comprise of a series of events including live performance and a film screening, utilizing various spaces across the BUS Projects site. The project will also include a written essay, commissioned as a central component of the exhibition rather than a reaction to it.
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Callum Ross (born 1990, Sydney) is an independent curator living and working in Melbourne, where is his undertaking a Post-Graduate Diploma of Museum Studies at Deakin University. Callum has completed curatorial internships at the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) for Art as a Verb, 2014 and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in the International Art Department for The Horse, 2015. He also co-curated A Dot on a Line for the Queensland Festival of Photography, 2014. Callum has written for several institutions and publications including MUMA, NGV and LUCIDA Magazine. He currently holds the position of Assistant Registrar at The Arts Centre, Melbourne.
Dara Gill was born in 1986 in Sydney Australia where he currently lives and works. Gill holds a BCA in Visual Art & Design from the University of Wollongong, 2007 and a BA (Honors) in Fine Art (Sculpture) from the University of New South Wales, Art and Design, Sydney, 2009. His solo exhibitions include; Non-Sense, Barry Keldoulis Gallery, Sydney, 2012; In action, Inaction Kings ARI, Melbourne, 2012 and MOP Projects, Sydney, 2011; Unwish, Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney, 2010.
Liam O’Brien utilizes personal experience, intuition and theoretical texts to produce video and performance works that explore the human condition under advanced capitalism. O’Brien graduated from the Queensland College of Art (Griffith University) with 1st class honors in 2010, and has since developed his practice through a number of local and interstate exhibitions. Recent solo exhibitions include; Surrogates, Sullivan + Strumpf Fine Art, Sydney, 2014; Glaze, Emerging Artist Program, Boxcopy ARI, Brisbane, 2013; Shooting Blanks, Current Projects ARI, Brisbane, 2012.
Clare Rae’s practice utilizes the body, gesture and performative photography to explore feminine representation. She completed her Master of Fine Art degree at Monash University in 2014, where she teaches in the Fine Art program. Recent solo & group exhibitions include 20+5+9, Sutton Projects, Fitzroy, 2015; Melbourne Now, NGV, Melbourne 2014; Re-Raising Consciousness, TCB, Melbourne 2014; Crossing Paths with Vivian Maier, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy 2014; Performing Absence, West Space, Melbourne 2014; William & Winifred Bowness Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, 2014; Interact, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, 2013.
Avni Dauti is a multidisciplinary artist based in Melbourne. Dauti completed an Honors degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts at Monash University in 2013. He has exhibited at West Space, TCB Art Inc., Living Museum of the West, TRAMA Centro, Seventh Gallery, Kings ARI, MADA Gallery, and Kingston Art Centre.
Mira Oosterweghel is an artist living and working in Melbourne, she graduated from Monash University with First Class Honors in 2013. Mira has exhibited her work in various artist run initiatives and festivals employing research methods to investigate structures of power in connection with the body in space. Mira utilizes the body in performative ways to question and engage with systems of power.
Austin Buckett (b. 1988) is an Australian artist working in mediums that explore the perception of audible and visual materials through repetition, space, and durational frameworks. These mediums include works for various concert settings, audio-visual installations and the production of conceptually focused studio albums.
Image: Liam O’brien, I’m Too Drunk to Tell You 2011, high definition single channel video. 10min
