Sydney’s Newest Contemporary Art Fest Announces First Line-Up & It’s Amazing

With the three biggest visual art institutions in Sydney collaborating to launch a new contemporary Australian art festival, expectations for the inaugural program of The National: New Australian Art have been understandably high. The line-up of artists has now been announced and it doesn’t disappoint.

49 top notch Australian artists working on the bleeding edge of contemporary creativity will present their work at Carriageworks, The Art Gallery Of NSW and The Museum Of Contemporary Art from 30 March 2017. Curators from the three institutions have collaboratively selected emerging, mid-career and established Aussie artists to offer one of the most dynamic surveys of Australia’s current artistic talent ever mounted.

Each of the three institutions involved in The National will reflect a specific aspect of Australian culture. At the AGNSW, the exhibition will “engage with marginal narratives and contested histories, including how these are shaped by uneven power relationships and conflicted value systems.” Expect plenty of responses to the current political tensions that exist around the world (President Trump is likely to feature heavily), as well as pieces by Indigenous artists.

At Carriageworks, the curatorial approach has focused on “fluidity of identity – individual and collective.” Works in this part of The National will feature collaborations between multiple artists and works employing several different mediums, including live performance and choreography.

At the MCA, the program offers an exploration of time including works “pulling history through and beyond the present.” Many of the works featured here will be kinetic, using repeated gestures and processes that mark and distinguish the passage of time.

The National: New Australian Art is a new six-year initiative, which will present a major exhibition across the MCA, the AGNSW and Carriageworks in 2017, 2019 and 2021, on alternate years to the long-established Sydney Biennale. 

The National: New Australian Art 2017 Artists