Institute of Modern Art

For over 25 years, artist Tania Bruguera has created socially-engaged performances and installations that examine the nature and effect of political power structures. In this artist talk Bruguera discusses her research, as well as some of her many short-term and long-term projects. Tania Bruguera visited Australia as a guest of MUMA | Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne.

IMA Belltower artist Sancintya Mohini Simpson is joined in conversation with historian and curator Imelda Miller, bringing to fore the colonial practice of forced and indentured labour and tracing its impacts to the present day. Simpson and Miller use their own archival research practices and exhibition-making as a tool to bring their ancestral stories to light and act as a sites of acknowledgemen...

UK-based artist Marianna Simnett in conversation with Institute of Modern Art Director, Liz Nowell, discussing Simnett's current exhibition 'CREATURE'. Hear insights from Simnett on her practice and the development of the exhibition, from how the title 'CREATURE' came to be and how the artist uses her body as a tool in the making of her works.

Founding member of Raqs Media Collective, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, in conversation with independent curator and writer Tess Maunder. Sengupta and Maunder discuss how the collective operates as artist-curators, the group’s approach to managing biennales and artist-run spaces, and their role as critical voices in the global south.

Artist Sebastian Moody discusses his practice and newly-commissioned temporary public artwork, 'Seeing'. Moody’s work is the inaugural IMA Belltower Façade Projection, visible after dark on the façade of the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. Somewhere between a list and poem, 'Seeing' is comprised entirely of six letter words intended to create moments of contemplation on Brunswick Street...

Minneapolis-based curators Sara Cluggish (Director of FD13 residency for the arts)and Pavel Pyś (Curator of Visual Arts, the Walker Art Center) presented a curatorial masterclass informed by experience working with performance and interdisciplinary contemporary artistic practices. Drawing on the breadth of their professional experiences—from the context of the small-scale public institution and in...

Artist Mandy Quadrio and IMA Belltower curator Freja Carmichael in conversation, exploring Quadrio’s use of culturally significant materials and her personal connection to sea Country. Quadrio’s exhibition 'The Country Within' was the inaugural exhibition of the IMA Belltower, a year-long program dedicated to Queensland art exploring the meaning of place. In this solo exhibition palawa woman Quadr...

Dale Harding in conversation with IMA Directors Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh, discussing Harding’s survey exhibition, 'Current Iterations'. Current Iterations brings together new and recent works, focusing on shared languages permeating landscape, bodies, and objects. This conversation will address the works on display at the IMA, as well as wider concerns in Harding’s practice.

In conjunction with an exhibition of work by Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta at the IMA, guest curator Professor Susan Best presents a talk titled 'Ana Mendieta’s emotional ties'. Best’s talk will centre on the 'Silueta' series—considered Mendieta’s most important work—and consider the artist’s ideas about an emotional connection to the earth.

Taking place within Dale Harding’s (Bidjara, Garingbal, and Ghungalu peoples) exhibition 'Current Iterations' this special First Thursdays event brings together the community embedded within Harding’s practice and the exhibition itself. Harding joins an esteemed line-up of family, Countrymen, allies, and experts from a variety of backgrounds to discuss one of the key touchstones in this exhibition...

To celebrate the Brisbane launch of the new book 'An Act of Showing: rethinking artist-run initiatives through place', publication co-editors Maria Miranda and Anabelle Lacroix, were joined in conversation with members of artist-run initiatives (ARIs) in South East Queensland. For this special launch event the editors were joined by Aishla Manning (The Laundry Artspace), Rebecca Ross (The Walls),...

Artist Dale Harding (Bidjara, Garingbal and Ghungalu peoples) is joined in conversation with Steve Kemp (Ghungalu peoples), a traditional medicine specialist from Woorabinda in Central Queensland. Kemp continues the legacy that his father Tim Kemp created as a noted Ghungalu plants specialist, with his expertise in their traditional uses and in medicine. Harding and Kemp discuss the interconnected...

For the launch of VAULT Issue 25 at the IMA editor Alison Kubler is joined in conversation with guests Professor Susan Best, curator of the exhibition 'Ana Mendieta: Connecting to the Earth', on display at the IMA, and Naomi Evans, Curator, Griffith University Art Museum.

German curator and writer Axel Wieder visits Brisbane for the first time, speaking at the IMA. Wieder is currently the director of Bergen Kunsthall in Norway and was previously the director of Index— the Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm (2014-2018), and head of program at Arnolfini Centre of Contemporary Arts in Bristol (2012-2014). In this talk he discusses his time working on pas...

On the occasion of first retrospective of leading contemporary Chinese artist Xiao Lu, 'Impossible Dialogue' (4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney), Xiao Lu is joined by exhibition curators Claire Roberts and Xu Hong, discussing some of the artist’s recent performance works.

'Ocean Between Us' was an evening of meditative breath work led by artist Naomi Blacklock and her mother Charlie Blacklock 7 June, 2018. Take part in participatory meditation and ritualised body practice, blending the yoga practice of Charlie with Naomi’s sound practice.

Nicholson and Harding discuss making work on the surfaces of architecture, air and particles as a way to make marks, and absences and politics in stencilling processes.

British art historian, curator, writer and teacher, David Elliott, at the IMA as part of the 21st Biennale of Sydney’s Biennale Archive Stories. Elliott will share his experiences as a prolific director of museums and biennales, including the 17th Biennale of Sydney.

Can intellectual property law protect the distinct output of today’s curator? As the role of the curator evolves, copyright and moral rights in the exhibition-making process must be considered. In this lecture on curatorial authorship, freelance curator and lawyer Alana Kushnir explores the legal rights of curators

Learn more about Brisbane-based artist Ryan Presley’s ongoing project 'Blood Money' (2010–present), which deals with representation and exchange. In his exhibition at the IMA, 'Prosperity', Presley reimagines our figureheads on Australian banknotes as the heroes and warriors of Aboriginal history, including Pemulwuy, Dundalli, and Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Hear from Presley, in conversation with exhibit...

'Seeing in Blak and White; On a Scale of One to 1788 How Authentic Are You?' What influence does the collection of historical cultural material in both art and natural history museums have on contemporary Aboriginal art today? How are artists challenging the palette of what is 'acceptable' Aboriginal art? In this third In Colour talk at the IMA.

The series opens with a debate that will help us find an answer to the question: is contemporary art chromophobic? Two experts on aesthetics, Professors Susan Best and Andrew McNamara, will go head-to-head on whether colour still matters in contemporary art. And for a quick warm up to the evening’s official proceedings, join In Colour curator, Madeleine King, for a look at colour’s decline in cont...

Artists are always falling prey to something or other. Censorship, curators, bad lighting, jet lag, bigotry, cultural prejudice, institutions in particular, and The Institution At Large. This talk traces the role and political rationale of self-marginalisation within the moral economy of contemporary art. 08/11/2016

In the fifth lecture in our 'The Artist As…' series, co-presented with Curatorial Practice at Monash Art Design and Architecture, Brook Andrew reflects on his collaborations and interventions in museums both in Australia and internationally. Andrew examines the important role his own extensive archive plays within these works, and what led him to collect in the first place. 13/09/2016

In the fourth lecture in our year-long series 'The Artist As…' co-presented with Curatorial Practice at Monash Art Design and Architecture, Associate Professor Tara McDowell will focus on the ‘artist as initiator’. 24/08/2016