CCAS 2019 Annual Report

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Image TROY-ANTHONY BAYLIS Emotional Landscape 17, 2009

Oil on canvas, 170cm x 145cm

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Canberra Contemporary Art Space Board and Staff respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Canberra and the ACT region, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples on whose unceded lands our galleries are located; their Ancestors, Elders past and present; and recognise their ongoing connections to Culture and Country. We also respectfully acknowledge all traditional custodians throughout Australia whose art we have exhibited over the past 37 years, and upon whose unceded lands the Board and Staff travel.

Cover Image SASKIA HAALEBOS Threshold, 2019

Acrylic on lasercut MDF, dimensions variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Annual Report 2019

Contents

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Executive Summary Artistic Program CCAS Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

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Events and Public Programs

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Statistics

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Board and Staff

72

Thank You

Image LENDON / BEER As Yet Untitled, 2018:15 Acrylic on MDF, 240cm x 26.4cm x 26.4cm each, installation variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

CANBERRA’S CENTRE FOR INNOVATION, NEW IDEAS AND DIRECTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS

Image DEAN CROSS White Dogs, 2019

Wood, acrylic paint, kiln-formed glass, rope, concrete, wire, particle board, dimensions variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS) is Canberra’s flagship contemporary arts organisation. It promotes and presents new ideas, new art forms and delivers accessible contemporary art for all.

CCAS supports contemporary art in Canberra by presenting innovative exhibitions that challenge perceptions. It enables artists to connect with national and international peers and expand their practice. Exhibitions are supported by programs that engage with diverse audiences to examine and promote understanding of contemporary culture.

Recognised by artsACT as a Key Arts Organisation, CCAS is one of a national network of contemporary arts organisations that can be seen as laboratories for testing new ideas and directions for the contemporary visual arts. CCAS exhibitions and related public programs were located at Ainslie+Gorman Arts Centre and CCAS Manuka in 2019. CCAS is a notfor-profit association incorporated in 1984 and is supported by a Board and professional staff that have up-to-date skills in the arts, law, finance, business, marketing and academia.

Image JOSHUA SLEEMAN-TAYLOR m4 Preserved, 2019

Intaglio print on paper, 140cm x 120cm, AP/3EV

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Executive Summary

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Executive Summary 2019 has brought momentous historical change to Canberra Contemporary Art Space. Having occupied galleries at Ainslie+Gorman Arts Centre (A+GAC) since 1987, over several years the Board and Staff have prioritised the search for a stand-alone premises that will re-establish CCAS’s identity. Following a period of delicate negotiation with A+GAC, artsACT and The National Capital Authority (NCA), by the end of 2019 CCAS was prepared to move to East Space at 44 Queen Elizabeth Terrace in Parkes. East Space is located at the centre of Canberra’s major tourist attractions, and thus CCAS expects an immediate increase in audience engagement. This will be the first time that Canberra’s contemporary artists have had a dedicated venue in the Parliamentary Triangle, and East Space provides extra room for growth and the development of contemporary practices alongside The National Gallery of Australia and The National Portrait Gallery. The move will not only provide artists with significantly improved exhibition conditions but will also give CCAS the necessary independence to raise funds through corporate and social events. An increased profile and greater accessibility will render CCAS a more attractive prospect for private sponsors, while a significant reduction in rent will be redirected into wages and programming. In 2024/25 CCAS will occupy a custom-built gallery in the Kingston Arts Precinct, a major development of the ACT Government, The Suburban Land Agency and GEOCON. We are currently working with the government, developers and architects Fender Katsalidis on plans for this most exciting development for the visual arts and crafts in the ACT. Program Evaluation Supporting the production and presentation of new work – and in line with our social responsibilities – CCAS continues to provide a lively and innovative platform for artists across all generations to test new ideas through provocation, dialogue and rigorous curatorial engagement. CCAS supports artists at pivotal moments in their careers with resources, including the provision of space, access to audiences and a high level of institutional and curatorial support. This enables artists to produce ambitious, ground-breaking new works and projects that could not otherwise be realised. In coming years we aim to invest in greater visibility for the institution and to create opportunities for diversified audiences to participate in our artistic program.

CCAS produced six exhibitions at the A+GAC galleries supporting sixteen artists and twenty two shows at CCAS Manuka including twenty six artists. The year began with the thirteenth iteration of BLAZE, CCAS’s annual exhibition of emerging artists which provides a prestigious platform for Canberra’s newest practitioners to showcase their talents. Always one of the most anticipated shows of the year BLAZE THIRTEEN continues the creation of an archive of emerging practice in the ACT and convincingly positions the work of local artists in a competitive space with peers both national and international. Curator David Broker included artists who have developed a high degree

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Executive Summary

of technical proficiency presented through innovative ideas that challenged audiences. Unfinished Business shifted the focus to artists who could be considered to have established careers, have significant community profile, but do not necessarily have access to venues for their work. Alexander Boynes brought together Nigel Lendon, Rebecca Mayo and Peter Alwast all of whom have taught at the Australian National University School of Art and Design (ANU SoAD) for an exhibition that demonstrated that established practices continue to gain momentum. The exhibition also featured work from LENDON / BEER, Lendon’s collaborative partnership with fellow Canberran artist Emma Beer. Tainted Love concentrated on contemporary notions of love after the advent of same sex marriage in Australia with an emphasis on the LGBTIA+ community and the ways that current expressions of love are been filtered through new technologies, popular music and social media. Gê Orthof arrived from Brazil in October to undertake a residency of six weeks supported by the Government of Brazil and the Brazilian Embassy in Canberra. The second residency with artists from Brasília, mata! mata conflated issues of environmental degradation and political inaction that currently plague both Australia and Brazil. Orthof’s presence provided an opportunity for Canberra based Naomi Zouwer to work alongside an international peer producing Objects of Empathy consisting of paintings and objects handed down through her ancestors who immigrated to Australia in the 1950s, their significance to family and culture being reinterpreted through the artists eyes.

Since 1983 as the Bitumen River Gallery, CCAS Manuka has provided Canberra’s artists with a manageable and economical space to test their ideas as well as present and sell their work commission free. Programmed by Alexander Boynes in 2019 the Manuka exhibitions achieved the highest standards in many years with competitive applications from artists and groups who appreciate the artistic independence that only this gallery offers. The year began with a special event in which Brazilian artist-in-residence Christus Nóbrega bid farewell to Canberra with In the Footsteps of Priscilla, a work in progress that focused on his travels to Sydney, Broken Hill, Coober Pedy and Alice Springs following The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. In September Hilary Wardhaugh used the space to exhibit a series of photographs of couples living with dementia. Sponsored by Ilford, Memories are made of this was an exhibition with significant implications for the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Australian families and Hilary generously donated the proceeds of sales (over $2,000) to dementia research through Dementia Australia. Throughout the year CCAS has continued to upgrade Manuka facilities with the assistance of artsACT Arts Facilities, installing reverse cycle air conditioning and this is a process that will continue into 2020.

Executive Summary

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Public programs and the publication of online catalogues have continued throughout the year based on audience demand; 3 catalogues were produced providing analytical information about each exhibition. CCAS has played an important role in professional development programs and actively encouraged visits from The Canberra Institute of Technology’s (CIT) diploma classes and the ANU SoAD. These sessions not only introduce future artists to the practices involved in producing exhibitions but also focus on discussion around the organisation’s role within the broader arts ecology. Two musical events complemented CCAS’s program and attracted new audiences, including Up Close @ Gorman with the International Music Festival in May and later with the Embassy of Brazil an outdoor concert by acclaimed classical guitarist Chrystian Dozza. Working with Naomi Zouwer (Artist-in-Residence at the Ainslie School) throughout the year CCAS forged a productive relationship with students and teachers opening its doors to two drawing workshops during BLAZE THIRTEEN. The Tainted Love opening included performances

by Jordana Bragg, Angus McGrath and Anni Doyle Wawrzyńczak followed by artists talks by Troy Anthony Baylis, Karena Keys and Angus McGrath as the exhibition closed. In the lead up to exhibitions by Gê Orthof and Naomi Zouwer the gallery was transformed into an open studio for six weeks culminating in a “meet the artists” day which drew 450 visitors on Canberra Aids Council’s Fair Day. Importantly, as CCAS prepared to move to its new location, the process of planning for 2021-2024 began.

Consultant Freda Hanley undertook a survey of stake holders including artists, members, donors and funding bodies, from which a number of common themes emerged.

CCAS a is highly valued and well-respected organisation in the arts community. It fills a gap in the Canberra arts landscape presenting work outside the commercial and domestic sector and takes risks. CCAS performs an invaluable role in mentoring new and emerging artists and there is significant demand to bring back the residency programmes that were suspended following the loss of Australia Council recurrent funding in 2017. Hanley’s survey found that CCAS was a nimble organisation and should remain so. Diversification of funding streams was also identified as a matter of urgency; this will be a priority as CCAS adapts to the more conducive and independent environment of East Space. That said, as the new year begins and the reporting season opens, the spectre of COVID-19 appears menacingly in the horizon bringing with it many new challenges for the arts both in the ACT and throughout Australia.

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Executive Summary

Financial Report The year ended 31 December 2019 was financially challenging for CCAS with the financial statements showing we incurred losses of $36,768 for the year. The Board had been aware of the likelihood of a deficit as a number of major decisions were made during 2019 including: • • •

Relocation from Gorman House to East Space Employing a gallery assistant from February 2019 Engaging a consultant to facilitate a strategic plan

These decisions were made after lengthy negotiations and discussions which were all aimed at securing a financially viable future for CCAS albeit at a significant cost initially.

The Board would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the ongoing financial support CCAS receives from both ACT Arts and the Australia Council. Grants were received totalling $195,988 (operational) and $49,000 (VACS) from the ACT Government and $37,279 from the Australia Council. This support is greatly appreciated and fundamental to the financial viability of CCAS. In addition the Board has accepted our auditor’s recommendations to adopt a number of accounting standards that have had a negative impact on our results to the tune of approximately $4,000.

The Board is very confident that 2019 was an aberration financially and that 2020 will see a return to financial results that will produce a small surplus. The initiatives introduced in 2019 will have a positive future impact on CCAS financially due to the following facts: •

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The relocation to East Space has been negotiated with significantly lower rental than at Gorman House and will save $31,000 in year 1 and then $23,000 per annum in ongoing savings on rent for the following 4 years.

The Board is very confident that the move to East Space will attract a significant increase in gallery visits due to the high profile location of East Space A very proactive fund raising plan that addresses a number of strategies to ensure that fund raising will contribute significantly increased revenue for CCAS when the gallery can reopen

Executive Summary

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A fund raising committee will be addressing the following strategies: • Promoting tax deductible donations to all gallery visitors by way of a phone or credit card tap screen on entry / exit • Membership drives with tiered benefits • Corporate Sponsorships of major events • Fund raising events – eg art auctions • Opportunity to “piggy – back” off major Canberra lakefront events – eg Enlighten and Skyfire Covid 19 has obviously delayed the planned gallery opening at East Space in 2020 but CCAS has received financial benefits from government support packages from both Job Keeper and Cash Bonus for business that has assisted us in retaining the full complement of staff. We have also not been paying rent since 1 March 2020 which has assisted our cash flow.

A combination of all the above factors has resulted in CCAS being in a strong cash position currently (August 2020) and the Board being very confident CCAS will generate a surplus in 2020 and be able to continue to generate small surpluses from 2021 onwards.

Due to our loss in 2019 our auditors have qualified our audit report stating that there is material uncertainty as to whether CCAS can continue to operate as a going concern. The Board understands the auditors concern but due to the steps taken to improve the financial results we are very confident that 2019 was an exception and that once Covid 19 restrictions are lifted CCAS will have an exciting and financially viable future at East Space and remain an important part of Canberra’s Art community for the foreseeable future.

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Executive Summary

Executive Summary

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Thank you and Farewell Justine van Mourik CCAS Chair of two years, Justine van Mourik resigned at the end of 2019. With a steady hand, Justine has piloted CCAS through a period of momentous change, leading the period of delicate negotiations out of the Ainslie+Gorman Arts Centre and into East Space. Justine is returning to Adelaide after many years to take up a position at the South Australian Museum, so while we are sad about her departure, we wish her the very best. Good humour and determination have marked Justine’s time at the head of CCAS and we have a great deal to thank her for. As we enter into a new era with East Space and the Kingston Arts Precinct, Justine’s legacy will shape CCAS’s character and future for years to come.

Amanda Biggs Interim Chairperson / Secretary

Ian Whyte

Treasurer

David Broker

Director / Public Officer

2020

Image JUSTINE van MOURIK with winner of 2018 CCAS Member’s Exhibition, TOM BUCKLAND

Photo David Broker

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Image SKYE JAMIESON Plaster on my Left Eyelid, 2019

Pure pigment on canvas, 120cm x 100cm

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Artistic Program

Artistic Program CCAS

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Artistic Program BLAZE THIRTEEN Dean Cross, Skye Jamieson, Alex Lundy, Saskia Haalebos, Joshua Sleeman-Taylor, Curated by David Broker 15 February - 13 April

BLAZE is an annual exhibition of emerging ACT artists who have demonstrated a fresh, irreverent and provocative approach to art making. For thirteen years it has been an important stepping-stone for Canberra’s new artists, providing a platform to extend and challenge their developing practices.

Curator, David Broker said: ‘BLAZE has always been eagerly awaited and draws CCAS’s largest audiences. It’s an introduction to the ACT’s most active and talented practitioners while continually demonstrating the creative and professional depth of ACT artists in the early stages of their careers.’

BLAZE THIRTEEN featured five artists and further advanced CCAS’s reputation for championing emerging artists.

Canberra Times reviewer Peter Haynes wrote: “The artists in BLAZE THIRTEEN provide a taste of the edginess of much contemporary art. While the comfort of Matisse’s armchair may perhaps be missing, the interrogative stance of much that is in the exhibition offers challenging and dynamic ways of viewing our world. Congratulations to all of the artists and to CCAS for “keeping up” the standards.” Canberra Times 1.3.19 BLAZE artists have continued on to participate in prestigious exhibitions interstate and overseas including Primavera (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney), The Sydney Biennale, New (Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Hatched (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art) and The National Digital Portraiture Prize (National Portrait Gallery, Canberra).

Image SASKIA HAALEBOS Threshold, 2019

Acrylic on lasercut MDF, dimensions variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Image ALEX LUNDY Sequence, 2019

Charcoal and soft pastel on paper, 228cm x 540cm

“Being included in BLAZE THIRTEEN was such a thrill. To be associated with such an important institution and its legacy was such an honour in itself, but was also the catalyst for exhibiting in three other shows, including in Sydney. Thank you CCAS!� - Saskia Haalebos

Artistic Program CCAS

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Unfinished Business Peter Alwast, Nigel Lendon, Rebecca Mayo, LENDON / BEER, Curated by Alexander Boynes 31 May - 27 July

Unfinished Business brought together three accomplished ACT artists linked to the ANU ScAD who, curiously, have never exhibited at CCAS. The exhibition featured Nigel Lendon’s sophisticated minimalist forms, Peter Alwast’s vibrant mixed media collages and earthy, ephemeral works by Rebecca Mayo. Unfinished Business also included a work produced by Nigel Lendon and Emma Beer, under their pseudonym LENDON/BEER representing their ongoing collaborative partnership.

Representing seasoned artists on their ‘home turf’, Alexander Boynes hoped that showcasing these artists at this space would narrow the gap between major and small to medium arts organisations in Canberra.

Gina Fairley, ArtsHub’s National Visual Arts Editor wrote:

While the noise tends to be amplified around our majors, spaces like Canberra Contemporary Art Spaces (CCAS) are vital platforms for local artists to show their work within a broader national ecosystem. The current exhibition at CCAS is a great example – cross-generational, collaborative in part, edgy and erudite, it is an exhibition that steps up in its presentation, despite a building that is looking rather shabby. … While on first glance the work of exhibiting artists Peter Alwast, Nigel Lendon and Rebecca Mayo is quite disparate, Boynes has drawn them together from a formalist perspective – their use of the grid, of multiples, of distilled aesthetic for conceptual conversations.”

Review: Unfinished Business at Canberra Contemporary Art Space ArtsHub, 10.7.2019

Image REBECCA MAYO Bound by Gorse (Ulex europaeus), 2017

Gorse, dimensions variable, approx. 6cm x 23cm x 11cm each

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Image Rebecca Mayo Escape route: Melbourne to Canberra, 2018

Silk, cotton, natural dyes including Ulex europaeus (gorse flowers), Maclura pomifera (Osage orange heartwood), Acacia implexa

(Lightwood bark), Eucalyptus cinerea (Argyle apple leaves), Eucalyptus ovata (Swamp gum leaves), Cydonia oblonga (Quince leaves),

Quercus robur (acorns)

Dimensions variable (each scarf approximately 65cm x 65cm) Nigel Lendon

Even. And. But. Also., 1969-2019

Powdercoated steel, 152.5cm x 767cm x 4.5cm LENDON/BEER As Yet Untitled, 2018:15

Acrylic on MDF, 240cm x 26.4cm x 26.4cm each, installation variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Artistic Program CCAS

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Tainted Love Troy-Anthony Baylis, Jordana Bragg, Karena Keys, Angus McGrath, Nathan Nhan, Suzanne Treister, Anni Doyle Wawrzyńczak, Curated by David Broker 16 August - 12 October

Conceived in the confusing maelstrom of Australia’s postal plebiscite on same sex marriage Tainted Love responded to the catch cry “love is love” by focusing on how views of love might change when community identities are exposed to intrusive and intense public scrutiny. Using the title of an enduring LGBTQIA+ dance club anthem this exhibition revealed how love in the 21st century is filtered through history, art, technology, popular culture and social media. The poetics of love, surveillance, love as an abstract concept, the trauma of dislocation from Country loved, the horror genre’s weird love metaphors and love as kitsch provided a bleak image of newly granted human rights.

Award winning Canberra based sculptor and writer Rosalind Lemoh wrote:

… the exhibition takes six different artist perspectives on love and delves into ideas of loss and longing.

Developed as an idea during the 2017 vote for same-sex marriage, Broker’s selection of artists speaks

to voices from the LGBTIQA+ space but ultimately stands free from a resolute position … With such gestures, Tainted Love draws you into its darkened space of conflicted feelings: could love somehow

mark the death of us? Somewhere along the way, do we lose ourselves to it, for better or for worse?

Review: Stand the way you tease; ‘Tainted Love’ at CCAS Art Monthly, 27.8.2019

... thank you for having me @ccas_canberra A pleasure to work with the gallery, to meet and share my work with so many extraordinary people

Jordana Bragg Instagram post, 19.8.2019

Image (Clockwise from top left) JORDANA BRAGG

ANNI DOYLE WAWRZYŃCZAK ANGUS McGRATH Tainted Love Performances, 2019

Photos David Broker

“Wow! There are so many things I love about this essay. It took me on a journey. It is long but it left me wanting more. Well done. Thank you. I am so proud to be in this exhibition.�

- Karena Keys

Image NATHAN NHAN Tainted Love installation 2019,

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Image KARENA KEYS If I had a heart, 2019,

Acrylic paint, Mylar, organza, cotton thread, wire, dimensions variable TROY-ANTHONY BAYLIS Emotional landscape 17, 2008,

Oil on canvas, 170cm x 145cm Emotional landscape 19, 2009,

Oil and correction fluid on canvas, 170cm x 148cm

Image NAOMI ZOUWER Family 1, 2019,

Oil on canvas, 110cm x 90cm

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Artistic Program CCAS

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Objects of Empathy Naomi Zouwer 8 November - 21 December

The works in Objects of Empathy explored ideas of connections and disconnection to people, place and time.

Zouwer continued her focus on small, trivial, everyday objects that have become a part of daily life. Inspired by Marcel Proust’s 1913 À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past) the objects reflect her heritage, many having being inherited from her Finnish mother and Dutch father who immigrated to Australia in the 1950s. They are a mixture of functional and non-functional items; precious in terms of memories, they are keepsakes, souvenirs, sometimes complete and others just fragments. Zouwer’s painting and reinterpretation of objects in textiles, revitalises their presence, enhances their qualities, and raises their status so that they become worthy of sustained attention.

Objects of Empathy provided me with the opportunity to exhibit and collaborate with International artist

Gê Orthof, which was immensely enjoyable and as we explored our different styles we found we shared

a deeply professional but also playful approach to art-making. This connection enabled by CCAS has

sparked discussion on possible collaborations and co-exhibitions in the future.

Naomi Zouwer, 2020

Image NAOMI ZOUWER Objects of Empathy installation photograph, 2019,

Gouache and watercolour on paper, 57cm x 77cm each

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Image GĂŠ ORTHOF mata ! mata installation photograph, 2019,

Mixed media, dimensions variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

Artistic Program CCAS

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mata ! mata Gê Orthof

8 November - 21 December

Brazilian artist and Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Brasília, Gê Orthof, arrived in October to undertake a residency at CCAS that included an open studio in the MAINspace where he produced the exhibition in situ.

The word mata in Portuguese has a double meaning, referring both to ‘the forest’ and ‘to kill’. Orthof’s wordplay was used mata in reference to the devastating fires in the Amazon Basin and the consequent deaths of Indigenous forest people. The collection of content for his exhibition on Mount Ainslie also unwittingly heralded Australia’s worst ever bush fire season. Orthof’s troubling metaphors were extended throughout the gallery to include all oppressed or at-risk people, as he wove the plight of racial minorities and LGBTQIA+ people into the overall picture.

Following the success of CCAS’ first Brazilian exchange with Dr Christus Nóbrega in 2018, this exhibition strengthened ties between planned capital cities Brasília and Canberra and provided opportunities for collaboration with other countries of the region.

Opened by Brendan Smyth (ACT Commissioner for International Engagement), Romero Maia (Head of Culture, Education and Technology Section, Embassy of Brazil in Canberra) and David Broker (CCAS Director), mata! mata and Objects of Empathy were the last CCAS exhibitions to be held at Ainslie+Gorman Arts Centre.

From our perspective having these artists in CCAS is special, CCAS is such an avant garde art space, we feel really honoured to have these Brazilian artists here with their art work being displayed here in a venue that every single Canberran knows, that once you’re displayed there, it is good quality art, so for us it’s an honour to have our Brazilian art work displayed in CCAS.

Romero Maia, Head of Culture, Education and Technology, The Embassy of Brazil in Canberra, 2020

“... I have no repertory to thank in an appropriate way the kind welcome I received from the CCAS team and my exhibition colleague, Naomi Zouwer.

My time in Canberra, which resulted with the creation of "mata ! mata” … , gave me the opportunity to further my knowledge with ... an urgent agenda such as the political-environmental issues of our original people. In Australia I could trace some mirrored challenges for both our countries. .... What happened there, was not just another residence, but a real revolution in my artistic process.” - Gê Orthof Image GÊ ORTHOF mata ! mata installation photograph, 2019,

Mixed media, dimensions variable

Photo Brenton McGeachie

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In the Footsteps of Priscilla Christus Nóbrega 7 - 17 February

Following the route taken by his spiritual guides Mitzi, Felicia and Bernadette, In the Footsteps of Priscilla is an exhibition of new ideas and works in progress that document Christus Nóbrega’s pilgrimage across Australia after The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Brazilian artist and lecturer Professor Christus Nóbrega has been in Australia to present his solo exhibition Labirinto at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, and spent the hottest January since records began travelling from the heart of LGBTIQ+ Sydney to Central Australia.

This exhibition showcases potential futures that this project may take, and poses many new questions along the way.

Christus Nóbrega is supported by the Embassy of Brazil, Canberra.

Image CHRISTUS NÓBREGA On location in Coober Pedy, 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

The Philosophy of Time Travel Brian McNamara 21 February - 3 March

The Philosophy of Time Travel is an immersive exhibition of soundart installations by Brian McNamara. Through changing sound and movement this exhibition highlights the uniqueness of moments in time. The artworks include interactive and autonomous devices inviting interaction between the viewer and the artworks. Some pieces use unusual movements or senses to be played, others sense the surrounding environment and make sound in response to it. The sculptures use a range of materials including timber, 3D printed plastic, recycled electronics and found items. During the exhibition McNamara will design and build soundart works in a small workspace within the CCAS Manuka gallery using a 3D printer, programming platforms and hand soldering materials.

This exhibition is the outcome of 3 years work with sound, electronics and movement and is McNamara’s first solo exhibition.

Image BRIAN McNAMARA Giskard Fallen, 2019

Mixed media, dimensions variable

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Motorboat Benjamin Shingles 7 - 17 March

Shingles’ work considers the integrity of images. Through processes of expansion, reproduction and repetition the images are devoid of any previous incarnation.

The pictures don’t holdfast to definition, they can be reduced to fickle moments of text that transposes their image through their form. When these works are installed together they reverberate across the space, conflicting each other’s motifs: “Why say it once, when you can say it twice?” “Why paint it twice, when you can paint it five times?” “Why even make a painting, when you can say it in words?”.

The exhibition is a show of components; disparate parts working in opposing vectors that, as a whole, move in a single direction. The exhibition is of eight to ten new paintings installed the space with a ski boat freestanding in the centre of gallery. The central motif - the ski boat materialises full scale in the middle of the room, circled in a series of isolated processes, compounded by the otherwise out-of-context hull.

Image BENJAMIN SHINGLES Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

920.01.SHA Saskia Haalebos 21 - 31 March

920.01.SHA is a lifelong, non-figurative self-portrait using index cards and the Dewey Decimal Classification System, by ACT artist Shags. This work distills the artist’s life into a book title for each year, which allude to bigger stories and touch on the idea that no-one ever fully knows another person, we all just fill in the gaps.

1. Biography, genealogy, insignia: Philosophy and theory Made possible by the generous Canberra Contemporary Art Space Emerging Artists’ Residency Award from the 2017 ANU School of Art & Design Emerging Artist Support Scheme

Image SASKIA HAALESBOS Self portrait (1970 - ____), 2018 –

Inkjet print on index cards, dimensions variable Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Incidental Damage Joshua Sleeman-Taylor 4 - 14 April

Incidental Damage is a collection of recent intaglio prints by 2018 CCAS Resident, Joshua SleemanTaylor. The exhibition explores the tensions created when experimenting with unpredictable printmaking techniques, purposefully diminishing his own control of the outcome and surrendering agency to the process.

In the process, an aluminium plate is pinned to a wooden board and on its surface a design is drawn with permanent marker. The marker easily glides across the surface of the plate leaving thick lines of ink, which scratches off easily. Small imperfections in its coverage allow acid to bite the metal beneath, and selected lines are engraved with a dry-point tool, a physically demanding medium. When printed these lines agglutinate together, breaking and swelling unpredictably.

Sleeman-Taylor uses images sourced online and live poses as inspiration to create amorphous amalgamations of the human form. The figures do not represent any one individual, rather, they are the basis for works that generate an intense sense of empathy and vulnerability.

These figures are cumbersome, exposed and vulnerable.

Unwieldy forms that deny the privilege of comfort and evoke a reflexive sense of sympathy. Each figure is characterised by damage sustained when transferred to and from the metal plate.

Image JOSHUA SLEEMAN-TAYLOR f4 Temporary, 2019

Intaglio print on BFK Rives paper, 140cm x 120cm

Photo: Brenton McGeachie

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Arboretum / The Map Shop Tom Campbell 2 - 12 May

“where is the map shop?” “what is it?” “how does it fit in with the other three doors?” “maybe you’re saying that the map shop is a state of feeling, like failure or emotion” “maybe you’re saying that failure and emotion are places” Tom Campbell / Kute Bash presents an investigation into critical ideas of place through textiles, objects and documentation. Begun as a site-specific project in the Bendora Arboretum, Campbell is interested in understanding how places/nature is constructed and (in this exhibition) drawing connections between fraught ideas of ‘wilderness’ and other areas where we might experience a constructed sense of nature. The works included in Arboretum / The Map Shop are designed to encourage multiple readings of place and location.

Objects can become sites for inviting questions rather than asserting a universal answer. Come see several textile constructions, text-based works, and leave your feedback in the visitor’s book.

Image TOM CAMPBELL Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Reflections Aeode 16 - 26 May

Reflections is an exhibition by Aeode. These works are an intuitive translation of personal experience. Aeode explores feeling, perception, and individual dynamics within relationships. Through a delicate handling of form and colour the inner landscape of both artist and subject are materialised.

Image AEODE Lisette, 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Paradise almost killed me Millan Pintos-Lopez 30 May - 9 June

Paradise almost killed me, Millan Pintos-Lopez’s new exhibition of black and white paintings on ply. A master of titles and aficionado of Bauhaus Pintos-Lopez brings poetry, abstraction, design together in works of art that either defy definition or encompass all definitions. The ubiquitous hard edge of his previous works has started to dissolve in this exhibition which perhaps marks a new point of departure. There’s also some spiritual references, for example, in the three pieces at the gallery’s end (and pictured below) which represents father, son and holy ghost and work titled after Eva Peron, first lady and spiritual leader of Argentina 1946-51. Paradise almost killed me has a DIY, just made, kind of look about it and yet the works also encapsulates the classic Pintos-Lopez contradictory style, deceptively simple, modest materials for potential masterpieces and colourful monochromatic flair.

Image MILLAN PINTOS-LOPEZ Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Up Island Isobel Rayson & Nick Stranks 13 - 23 June

Isobel Rayson and Nick Stranks present an exhibition of new works reflecting on their shared experience as artists in residence on Vancouver Island, Canada. Isobel and Nick have continued to create works based on mutual interests in a sense of place, temporality and material investigation. Their works both contain strong evidence of the maker and form somewhat of a self-portrait.

The residency program is located at The Ou Gallery, Duncan on Vancouver Island. Much of the work created throughout the residency responded to the local environment and the artists daily walks along the Cowichan Trail that extends through the Valley from the rear of the gallery. The area is heavily forested with tall stands of trees covered in thick moss and lichen. Many of the works exhibited at the end of their residency was created from found materials including found wood from the trail. As these pieces were unable to be transported back to Australia, the artists have created new works expanding and reflecting on these ideas.

Nick Stranks has been supported through a Capital Arts Patrons Organisations award sponsored by Shaw and Partners.

Isobel Rayson is represented by M. Contemporary Gallery, Sydney and Boom Gallery, Geelong.

Image ISOBEL RAYSON Remnants, 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Portals Clare Jackson 27 June - 7 July

Portals is an exhibition of works on paper created from images that Clare Jackson has photographed, collected and drawn over the past few years. Jackson is interested in the relationship between photographs and printmaking, and how they can be interpreted through both traditional and contemporary print mediums such as etching, lithography, and laser engraving.

Image CLARE JACKSON Practice Cloud, 2019

Lithograph on paper, 16cm x 12.5cm

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Geomancy Becky Gibson 11 - 21 July

Geomancy responds to the poetics, strangeness and unexpected drama to be found on building sites and gardens through the medium of painting. The exhibition seeks to explore temporal spaces that emerge by accident, as landscapes undergo transition from a natural form, to a construction site, to a manicured feature of urban life. This body of work uncovers the ways in which we build our physical surroundings in pursuit of a neat final product as signals of our social aspirations.

Becky Gibson is interested in a broad spectrum of subject matter but is mainly drawn to the Australian landscape and the visible changes that occur within it.

Her work focuses on these landscapes through which she seeks to document the changes that occur within and beyond the human time scale. Her practice aims to reach a point of truth, one that prioritises experience over appearance, both technically and formally, as well as in conception.

Image BECKY GIBSON Timber, 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Sciency Pictures James Rowell 25 July - 4 August

In 1987 James Rowell graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the VCA, but got sick of being told that the piece of paper represented only a bachelor of apathy. He responded by beginning a series of works about science, which have only been brought to completion in the last couple of years.

Included in Sciency Paintings are a variety of works featuring electrical circuits, equipment used in empirical chemistry, biological displays and iron load stones that are used for investigating the properties of electricity. The strongest attribute of the pictures, aesthetically speaking, is the use of strong vibrant colours that have been achieved through the very careful and regulated use of tone, where tone is colour and colour is tone. Once again, Rowell has broken down the images into dots to give all the works something in common that is universal.

Image JAMES ROWELL Pyrex Beaker, 2018

Acrylic on canvas Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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512 Nocturnes Jenny Plumstead 8 - 18 August

This is a series of little images of the night; the sky, the mountain, and the space in between. Just after twilight, once known and discernible features in the landscape become one-field, under a veil of Indigo that finally turns to Prussian blue. In the moonlight these colours change again, acquiring depth and luminosity.

The materiality of the work is integral and evident; the paint moves across the surface of the support in much the same way that clouds form and merge as they move across the sky. This quality is often magnified to emphasise the notion of Nietzsche’s ‘least thing’.

The inherent nature of the materials is at-one-with the application. The gestural nature of the mark combined with the hand-made surface reflects the conceptual basis for the work which is drawn from the pantheist notion that – there is no separation, everything is connected.

Image JENNY PLUMSTEAD Nocturne 6, 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Measuring the Sky Graeme Wood 22 August - 1 September

The core of Measuring the Sky by Graeme Wood is caelum | camena, a 24 hour video projection of fragments collected from skies and literature, that marries landless vistas and boundless sentience.

It is accompanied by a set of 24 graphite pencil drawings, each 11 centimetres square; and each commenced on the page as a frame from the video (at 24 frames a second over 24 hours, that totals 2,073,600 separate atmospheres, as each frame transcends the illumination and lineage of the one it replaces); and once begun each is transported by manoeuvres of hand and eye, the habits of pencils, prisms of learning, the textures of the paper and the fabric of being lost in the making.

Image GRAEME WOOD Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Memories are Made of This Hilary Wardhaugh 5 - 15 September

Memories Are Made of This is an exploration of positivity and hope, even though the premise explores Dementia.

During the first stages of Dementia, it is difficult to tell just by looking at someone if they have dementia. If, when talking to a person living with dementia, you have no lived experience of dealing with a family member with the disease then it can be confusing for both people. I have created a series of portraits of couples living with Dementia; one has the disease and one does not. By not informing the viewer as to which person has the disease I aim to illustrate that though they may behave differently, they are still the same person.

Memories Are Made of This is a song title which aptly describes the love and community of singing together.

Music being powerfully potent to people living with Dementia.

All funds raised in sales of prints are being donated to Dementia research via Dementia Australia.

Sponsored by Ilford

Image HILARY WARDHAUGH Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Freedom Tania Vrancic 19 - 29 September

For some time now I have been pursuing freedom in my work. I have found that my best work is made when I am ‘in the zone’ having fully let go of any inhibitions, preconceived ideas and expectations, taking risks to push the boundaries of my practice further. Music is crucial in taking me to a place of freedom where I create out of intuition rather than logic. Intuitive brushstrokes, sgraffito and ceramic pencil mark-making relate back to the abstract landscape paintings that I have also been working on. My ceramic and painting practice inform each other as I explore each medium.

Freedom began with some sketches on old book pages which then inspired me to find other letters and documents that relate to the concept and idea of Freedom as well as themes of imprisonment and oppression. These writings have informed and challenged my personal understanding of freedom and how many of us take freedom for granted in our culture. In my work I have posed two questions “What does freedom mean to you?” and “When do you personally feel most free?”.

Image TANIA VRANCIC Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Wandering between the past and the future Suzie Bleach, Andy Townsend, Harry Townsend, Rose Townsend 3 - 13 October

Wandering between the past and the future brings together a family of four for their first collaborative exhibition. Their themes revolve around the Human Condition. The centrepoint of this exhibition is a diorama: a long panoramic tableau across which a procession of figures trudge. Each character possesses attributes symbolizing their personal identity and social role but the procession is a metaphor for society’s collective journey through life, one that is shaped by political, social and personal forces. The journey might be that of the refugee fleeing conflict and environmental catastrophe, a perennial human predicament, but can also be viewed with regard to our own passage through daily life as we shoulder our various burdens and negotiate its challenges. The artists have utilised a range of approaches including sculpture, collage, drawing and print media to create a visually potent and thoughtprovoking spectacle.

Image SUZIE BLEACH, ANDY TOWNSEND, HARRY TOWNSEND, ROSE TOWNSEND Diorama (detail), 2019

Photo Courtesy of the Artists

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Holding Pattern Mark Booth 17 - 27 October

Booth’s sculpture is concerned with camouflage and its relation to form transformation and illusions of materiality. Through the use of pattern, light, and scale, camouflage can change the perception of form. A natural phenomenon, camouflage can be adopted to disguise man-made objects and blend them into their immediate localities. It transforms the artificial into the organic and disintegrates structure by making it appear to shape-shift.

In my sculptures, colour schemes and markings obliquely reference nature, but the choice of synthetic paints and their method of application render them completely artificial. This process removes the camouflage patterns from their normal context, highlighting the juxtaposition of imitation and the organic, and accentuating the sculptures by disguising them, paradoxically, in a conspicuous manner.

These innovative and unconventional artworks have their origins based firmly in both the urban and rural environment. They have obvious and distinct correlations with specific natural systems, such as woodland habitat.

They also reference more civic locale, and it’s this connection between the urban/suburban that I hope will activate rigorous discussion and debate with the audience.

Image MARK BOOTH Holding Pattern, 2019

PVC pipe, vinyl wrap, polyurethane, 70 x 120 x 140cm

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Flesh D’Lite Ellen Sleeman-Taylor 31 October - 10 November

Flesh D’Lite is an exhibition by Ellen Sleeman-Taylor, recent graduate of the ANU SoAD and recipient of the EASS CCAS Exhibition Award.

In Flesh D’lite, Sleeman-Taylor is interested in how the nature/culture binary, linked by feminist philosophers and sociologists to the male/female binary, asserts itself in a digitised and hybridised world. Sherry B. Ortner found that the experience of a physical body and an idea of a non-physical mind is universal across all cultures.

Although thought and emotion are physical functions, we experience a disassociation between our mind and body.

Ellen is interested in establishing a linkage between our experience of a separate mind and body, how we see the internet and ourselves online and the notion that many western philosophers have had that higher thought and function is the domain of men, and women “take care of the effective functions” - Emile Durkheim.

In the exploration of these ideas through digital imagery, collage and sculptural forms, Ellen wishes to find alternative routes to understanding ourselves, body and soul. She explores these ideas with a series of “digital skins” of fleshy/fabric/digital prints. The work is dominated by a soft pink that languishes around the room, the colour of “default flesh”, as stipulated by Google’s algorithm.

Image ELLEN SLEEMAN-TAYLOR Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

[Insert Title Here] Belle Palmer 14 - 24 November

[INSERT TITLE HERE] is presenting the collection of data from the active participants that have become a part of Belle Palmer’s series, Symbiosis 1 & 2 (2018) and Use with Extreme Caution (2019). Using interactivity as a focal point, these art systems reflect the relationship between the artist, the art objects and observers. Palmer has focused on extending her honours research and will be displaying her latest drawing machine as well as the results from her previous installations. [INSERT TITLE HERE] encourages viewer participation, it is crucial to these systems as it is their action and/or presence that informs the process of making.

Image BELLE PALMER Symbiosis 2, 2018-19

Steel, bamboo, rope, plastimake, marker, calico, sand, paper, Dimensions variable Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Katy Mutton, Tim Pauszek, Stedman Watts Saudade: The Presence of Absence 28 November - 8 December

Saudade has no direct translation from Portuguese to English; the presence of absence is an entry point. For the purpose of this exhibition, the artists use Saudade as the foundation of three deeply personal narratives.

Saudade in this context is an intense and profound longing for something and/or someone missing from each of the artists’ lives. It is accompanied by an intense melancholy for what has been lost and cannot be restored. It can encompass reflective joy as well as great sadness but fundamentally evokes a sense of incompleteness.

Image TIM PAUSZEK Mom’s Spoons 1960 to 2005 and Every Year After That, 2019

Stone lithograph, 61cm x 30.5cm Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Artistic Program CCAS Manuka

Grace Blake Bio Spectre 12 - 22 December

Bio Spectre is an exhibition by Grace Blake that explores hypothetical bodies. It recruits the visual characteristics of anatomy and dissection, advertising and product presentation to render a science fiction like speculative anatomy. By removing the human as central to the exploration of the present and future experience of life on earth, Bio Spectre constructs a speculative reality and examines what is compelling about creating science fiction futures.

Image GRACE BLAKE Bio Spectre installation photograph, 2019 Photo Courtesy of the Artist

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Events and Public Programs

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Events and Public Programs Visitation 30 CIT Class Visit 28 February 57 Ainslie School YR4 Visit 19 March 38 Naomi Zouwer Drawing Workshop 9 April 163 Up Close at Gorman

Canberra International Music Festival 7 May 29 CIT Class Visit 22 August 20 ANU Class Visit 29 August 12 Writers Centre Visit 3 September 20 Tainted Love Artist Talk 12 October 460 AIDS Action Council Fair Day 2 November 140 Design Canberra Open Day 16 November 177 Chrystian Dozza Music Event 27 November 34 CCAS Gorman Last Day 14 December

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Statistics

Statistics Exhibition and Programming

CCAS

CCAS Manuka

Total visitors

3829

3976

Total exhibitions

5

22

Total artists

17

28

Total programs/events 12

Gender spread 8

8 1

Women Men Non-Binary

14 14

Women Men

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

2

Artist Origin

4 International 1 Interstate 14 Local

1 1 14

International Interstate Local

Most visited

1361 1361

311

Wandering between the past and the future

307

Memories are made of this

mata ! mata Objects of Empathy

1216 BLAZE THIRTEEN

Statistics

Social Media

Instagram 2411 Followers 1048 Posts

25-34 Primary Age Range 70% Women 30% Men

Facebook 4206 Followers 4226 Page Likes

25-34 Primary Age Range 66% Women 30% Men

Twitter 1035 Followers 744 Tweets

CCAS Website 8,710 Users

11,855 Sessions 32,063 Page views Social Pages 5510 Followers 14,688 Page Views 4,841 Visitors

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CCAS Board JUSTINE van MOURIK Chairperson In developing, managing and promoting the Parliament House Art Collection valued at over AUD$120 million, Justine comes to CCAS well prepared to tackle the challenges faced by the small to medium arts sector in the ACT. She is aware that the careers of many artists in the comprehensive Parliament House Art Collection began in spaces like CCAS and is dedicated to nurturing the practices of new generations of artists while encouraging established practitioners to explore new frontiers.

Justine has been the Director of the Parliament House Collection since 2013, having come from the National Library of Australia where she managed temporary and travelling exhibitions and registration for over 8 years. She has a wide-reaching knowledge of contemporary and regional art practice through her roles as Director, Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier (2000-2005) and Manager, Visual Arts at Country Arts SA (1997-2000). She has also worked for the Art Gallery of South Australia and the History Trust of South Australia.

Justine also has a long track record of successful fundraising for arts organisations through government and philanthropic grants as well as corporate partnerships. A graduate of Flinders University, her qualifications also include a Master of Arts in Public Sector Leadership from Griffith University and Diploma of Law and Collection Management from the Institute of Art and Law, United Kingdom.

IAN WHYTE Treasurer Ian is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Adviser with over 40 years experience in Financial Services. He trained with international accounting firms KPMG and Deloitte for 9 years before establishing his own boutique practice – Whyte & Di Placido which he operated until 2004. In 2005 and 2006 Ian was General Manager of Sydney based multi media company - Spinifex Interactive. Ian returned to Canberra in June 2007 and commenced a financial planning and SMSF advisory business Capital Advisory. This business was sold in 2018.

CCAS Board and Staff

CCAS Board and Staff

AMANDA BIGGS Secretary Amanda is a passionate supporter of contemporary art. Scarcely a night goes by when you won’t see Amanda Biggs at an arts event or looking to add to her extensive collection. She previously worked as a gallery assistant for the Contemporary Arts Society in Adelaide, before moving to Sydney and working as a freelance cartoonist. By day Amanda is a senior researcher at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, researching and advising Parliamentarians on health and social policy issues. She graduated from Flinders University with a double major (Honours) in Fine Arts and English, and later completed a Graduate Diploma in Librarianship from UNSW and a Master of Arts from Deakin University. She has written numerous papers on health policy for the Parliamentary Library, as well as reviews and articles for the CAS Broadsheet and Words and Visions art magazine.

TINA BAUM Board Member Tina Baum is from the Gulumirrgin (Larrakia), Wardaman and Karajarri peoples of the Northern Territory and Western Australia with over thirty years’ experience in museums and galleries in Australia. Tina previously worked at the Queensland Museum, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, National Museum of Australia and has been Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia since 2005. Tina curated the Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, 2017 and the Emerging Elders exhibitions in 2009. She is a current recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Leaders Program, 2020 and has participated in the NGA and Wesfarmers Arts, Indigenous Arts Leadership and Fellowship programs since its inception in 2010 as a mentor to the alumni and as a presenter and organiser.

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KARINA HARRIS Board Member Karina Harris is an award-winning Landscape Architect based on Ngunnawal country and a passionate supporter of the arts in Canberra.

A founding partner of Harris Hobbs Landscapes, Karina was president of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects ACT Chapter from 2012-2014. She has taught design at the University of Canberra and The Canberra Institute of Technology for over two decades. Over the last 30 years Karina and her partner Neil have amassed a significant collection of Australian and international art. Their collection was featured in Art Collector magazine in 2019 and was the subject of the 2007 exhibition ‘Good Thing’ at CCAS. Karina has been a CCAS board member since 2008 and sat on the DESIGN Canberra Festival committee in 2015 and 2016. As a philanthropist she has supported major commissions and prizes including the ANU School of Art and Design Postgraduate Materials Award since 2007.

PAUL MAGEE Board Member Paul first book of poems, Cube Root of Book (John Leonard Press: 2006) was shortlisted in the Innovation category of the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for literature. His second, Stone Postcard(John Leonard Press: 2014) was named in Australian Book Review as one of the books of the year for 2014. He is also the author of the surrealist ethnography From Here to Tierra del Fuego (University of Illinois Press: 2000). Paul studied in Melbourne, Moscow, San Salvador and Sydney.

He is Associate Professor in Poetry at the University of Canberra, and is currently working on Rapid Eye Movements in the U.S.A., a travel book focused on what New York and San Francisco look like with your eyes closed.

CCAS Board and Staff

CCAS Board and Staff

ADAM PEPPINCK Board Member Adam is a partner in Mills Oakley’s Property team in Canberra. He has more than 15 years’ experience acting on a range of structured property transactions, in which he has advised public and private sector clients in relation to the leasing, licensing, divestment, acquisition, and development of real property. In addition to advising in relation to property law matters, Adam also regularly advises clients in relation to environmental, planning, heritage, and native title aspects. Adam has been listed every year since 2014 in the Best Lawyers publication and is again featured in the 2020 edition for Real Property Law, Leasing Law, and Government Practice, including being recognised as the 2020 Canberra Real Property Lawyer of the Year. Adam is the Chair of the ACT Law Society’s Property Law Committee and is a member of the ACT Division of the Property Council of Australia’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee.

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CCAS Board and Staff

CCAS Staff DAVID BROKER Director David has previously worked as Administrator and co-editor of Broadsheet magazine at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, and Deputy Director of Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art from 1996-2006. Having completed a Bachelor’s Degree Visual Arts majoring in Photography and Film at the University of South Australia, David developed a parallel career as an arts journalist. His articles and reviews have been regularly published in periodicals such as Artlink, Art Monthly, Broadsheet, Eyeline and Photofile. He has also contributed to numerous books including Shoosh! A History of the Campfire Group, (IMA Brisbane 2005) and The Thrill of it All, Karin Hanssen, (MER Paper Kunsthalle, Antwerp 2010). For many years David also produced and presented arts radio shows on 4ZZZ in Brisbane and 5UV in Adelaide.

David has curated and managed varied exhibition projects including, Beauty 2000 at the IMA in 1998, Primavera 2002 at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the IMA/Ssamzie Space International Residency Exchange in Brisbane and Seoul in 2004, QPACifika, (with Professor Pat Hoffie) Griffith University 2005 and in 2008, Streetworks an exhibition of work by Shaun Gladwell and Craig Walsh toured by Asialink to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. More recently he contributed to the Centenary of Canberra (1913-2013) with Science Fiction: Monster and Kynic, Erica Seccombe and Benjamin Forster, two exhibitions that explore notions scientific reality and mutations within popular consciousness and media.

In 2017 he worked with the Photomedia Faculties at Queensland College of the Arts, Griffith University and The University of South Australia School of Art Architecture and Design on an exhibition called Parallel Latitudes that explored the impact of divergent political administrations on contemporary art in Queensland and South Australia since the 1970s. At the ANU School of Art and Design Gallery in 2018 David curated Tulisi an exhibition by Wellington based artist Christopher Ulutupu focusing on issues affecting New Zealanders of Samoan descent as well as heart-in-hand by Brenda Croft and Does she know the revolution is coming? by Amala Groom during NAIDOC week.

CCAS Board and Staff

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ALEXANDER BOYNES Curator, Program Manager Alexander Boynes completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) at the Australian National University in 2004. Recent exhibitions include Hi-Vis Futures (Canberra Museum + Gallery, 2019-2020), Slow Hope (Beaver Galleries, 2019), Rewriting the Score (Latrobe Regional Gallery, 2019) , Gaia Hypothesis (Belconnen Arts Centre, 2019), Sydney Contemporary (Carriageworks, 2018), and As Above, So Below (MAYSPACE, 2018.

He is represented in the collections of the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art (USA), Artbank Australia (VIC), the ACT Legislative Assembly (ACT), the University of Canberra (ACT), the Macquarie Group Collection (NSW) and numerous private collections throughout Australia and in the UK. Boynes is a Curator and Program Manager at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space. His most recent curatorial projects include BLAZE 14 (opening post COVID-19 closure, CCAS East Space), Unfinished Business (CCAS Gorman Arts Centre, 2019) and Straight Outta Canberra (MAYSPACE, Sydney, 2018).

In 2013 Boynes established PRAXIS a multidisciplinary art collective with choreographer/dancer Laura Boynes, and cellist/composer Tristen Parr to explore the link between visual art, performance, and sound. Their most recent work Dark Matter was presented at the State Theatre of Western Australia in 2016.

Boynes has also produced a series of major collaborative painting, moving image and sound works with Mandy Martin and Tristen Parr. These politically-charged works examine the ongoing and cumulative effects of industry on landscapes, fragile ecosystems and human conditions. Canberran audiences had the opportunity to experience these works for the first time in November 2019, when Boynes and Martin presented their exhibition Hi-Vis Futures at Canberra Musuem + Gallery.

Alexander Boynes is represented by Beaver Galleries in Canberra, and is an exhibiting artist with MAY SPACE, Sydney.

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DAN TOUA Gallery Manager Dan completed a Graduate Diploma of Art History (2015) and Master of Curatorship (2016) at The University of Melbourne, with an accompanying thesis exploring the curation of art and art objects from the Pacific Region (focusing on techniques utilised by the National Gallery of Australia and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa), She was a founding member of the Art History Students Society at The University of Melbourne and gained a great deal of experience volunteering at Melbourne based art spaces Blindside, Westspace, The Ian Potter Museum of Art and The Grainger Museum, as well as interning at Tristian Koenig. Dan was a regular contributor for the .JPG journal, and her writing was included in By all Mens curated by Chiara Scafidi at The George Paton Gallery in 2017. In the same year with Hanann Al Daqqa and Kat Kohler, Danielle co-curated We are a Sanctuary at Kings Artist Run including artists Lara Chamas, Rio Ponce, Shivanjani Lal and Tal Fitzpatrick. Dan brings over 10 years’ worth of managerial knowledge to CCAS from her previous administrative roles in general practice and specialist centers, biometrics consultancy and at the Australian National University.

ALEX ASCH Installation Alex Asch was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and was involved in University art programs in Los Angeles and New York before moving to Australia and studying art at the Australian National University in 1988.

He has provided technical assistance to a number of arts organisations around Canberra, and has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas. In 2008, Alex was awarded the Rosalie Gascoigne Award by CAPO in 2009. Alex was a

CCAS Board and Staff

CCAS Board and Staff

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finalist in Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea, and was invited to represent Australia in Sculpture by the Sea in Denmark the same year. In 2013 was invited to take part in Centenary celebrations and exhibited at Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra Glassworks, Canberra Contemporary Arts Space and ANU Canberra School of Art. He exhibited work at the Inaugural Sydney Art Fair in 2013 and was a finalist in the Blake Prize. Alex’s work is in corporate collections in Australia, USA, UK and Netherlands as well as Artbank, the ACT Legislative Assembly, the Wesley Art Foundation and Canberra Museum and Gallery and National Australian Gallery. Alex is represented by Beaver Galleries.

FAY DUFFEY Bookkeeper Fay was Gorman Arts Centre bookkeeper and receptionist for many years before the current CCAS staff even arrived on the scene. It’s a similar story with her involvement at CCAS and what she doesn’t know about the finances isn’t worth knowing.

GOVERNANCE STATEMENT Declaration of conflicts of interest CCAS has strict policies in respect to conflicts of interest that require Board members to declare potential conflicts at the beginning of each Board meeting. The Board’s decisions with regard to conflicts of interest are recorded in the minutes of the relevant meeting. Board members are unable to benefit in any way, pecuniary or otherwise, from CCAS programs until one year following their resignation. People employed by CCAS cannot participate in the artistic program, except in exceptional circumstances, which must be approved by the Board. There were no conflicts of interest declared at board meetings in 2019.

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Thank You

Thank You CCAS BOARD Justine van Mourik (Chair) Ian Whyte (Treasurer) Amanda Biggs (Secretary) Tina Baum Karina Harris Paul Magee Adam Peppinck CCAS STAFF David Broker (Director) Alexander Boynes (Curator/Program Manager) Dan Toua (Gallery Manager) Alex Asch (Installation) Fay Duffey (Bookkeeper) INTERNS Sophia Halloway (Art History and Curatorship ANU) Isaac Kairouz (School of Art and Design ANU) ARTISTS (CCAS) Dean Cross, Skye Jamieson, Alex Lundy, Saskia Haalebos, Joshua Sleeman-Taylor, Nigel Lendon, Rebecca Mayo, Peter Alwast, Emma Beer, Troy Anthony Baylis, Jordana Bragg, Karena Keys, Angus McGrath, Nathan Nhan, Suzanne Treister, Anni Doyle Wawrzyńczak, Gê Orthof, Naomi Zouwer, Chrystian Dozza ARTISTS (CCAS Manuka) Christus Nóbrega, Brian McNamara, Ben Shingles, Saskia Haalebos, Joshua Sleeman-Taylor, Tom Campbell, Suzie Bleach, Andy Townsend, Harry Townsend, Rose Townsend, Aoede, Millan Pintos-Lopez, James Rowell, Jen Plumstead, Graeme Wood, Hilary Waudhaugh, Nick Stranks, Isobel Rayson, Clare Jackson, Becky Gibson, Tania Vrancic, Mark Booth, Belle Palmer, Katy Mutton, Stedman Watts, Timothy Pauszek, Grace Blake

Thank You

ARTSACT, THE ACT GOVERNMENT Gordon Ramsay MLA Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Sam Tyler, Jenny Spear, Robert Piani, Jacqui Vardos, Libby Gordon THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS, THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Laura McLeaod, Frank Panucci SUPPORTERS The Embassy of Brazil in Canberra, The Government of Brazil, Romero Maia (Head of Culture, Education and Technology Section) DONORS Amanda Biggs, Vivienne Binns, Mandy Martin, Meredith Hinchcliffe, Justine van Mourik AINSLIE+GORMAN ARTS CENTRE Joseph Falsone and Mark van Veen NATIONAL CAPITAL AUTHORITY Justine Nagel and Ilse Wurst KINGSTON ARTS PRECINCT artsACT, GEOCON, Fender Katsalidis, Suburban Land Agency OPENING SPEAKERS Brendan Smyth, the ACT Commissioner for International Engagement (mata ! mata, Objects of Empathy) STRATEGIC PLANNING CONSULTANT Freda Hanley ACCOMODATION Anni Doyle Wawrzyńczak

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CONTEMPORARY ARTS ORGANISATIONS AUSTRALIA 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney Ace Open, Adelaide Artspace, Sydney Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney Blak Dot, Melbourne Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Contemporary Art Tasmania, Hobart Firstdraft, Sydney Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin Performance Space, Sydney Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth Westspace, Melbourne

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE 44 QUEEN ELIZABETH TERRACE PARKES, CANBERRA ACT 2600 TUESDAY - SATURDAY, 11am - 5pm

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www.ccas.com.au

CCAS IS SUPPORTED BY THE ACT GOVERNMENT, AND THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL, IT’S ARTS FUNDING AND ADVISORY BODY.