Salamanca Arts Centre annually commissions
a curator to research and develop an exhibition
on a specific curatorial concept
which becomes our Major Curated Show / Exhibition.Emerging, mid-career and established artists
from Tasmania, Australia and overseas
respond to the curator’s concept.
From 2019 Salamanca Arts Centre will present two major curated visual art exhibitions, one to coincide with Dark Mofo, and the other a SAC independent presentation. In each alternate year, one is programmed as part of Ten Days on the Island. Responding to the devolution of singular arts practice, from 2020 our Major Shows will involve diverse arts expressions, allowing different forms to be showcased together. We have observed the gradual expansion of this project over the past three years to become one that is not a singular, static, visual arts show, but one that engages its audiences, uses different means of expression and thereby involves more people in its development, presentation and touring. The Major Show is an opportunity for SAC to engage with diverse nationally and internationally recognised curators and artists to deliver a large-scale program of events that complement the main theme. Major Shows will be led by visual art that extends into other art forms. Tasmanian, national and international artists will be involved in each event. Each of the Major Shows will be developed at SAC, with presentation in SAC’s Long Gallery, with a month-long series of public programs, curator talks, guided visits and activities involving the whole space and its occupants. When space allows on tour, the Major Shows will likewise spread beyond traditional gallery spaces. It is essential that the Major Shows, when held at SAC, move beyond the Long Gallery, into other spaces around the Centre as temporary interventions. Touring venues regularly include, but are not limited to, regional Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.
The exhibitions debut in Salamanca Arts Centre’s Long Gallery and Sidespace Gallery then travel to Tasmanian and interstate regional galleries. Contemporary Art Tasmania partners with Salamanca Arts Centre to take the exhibition on tour.
These exhibitions typically attract funding from Arts Tasmania, Australia Council for the Arts, Gordon Darling Foundation and Contemporary Art Tasmania’s Exhibition Development Fund. They are accompanied by significant catalogues, available from our office on request.
The Major Curated Exhibitions are of national significance and the highest profile activity within the Salamanca Arts Centre annual Arts Program. The extensive interstate tours promote national and Tasmanian artists, often alongside international peers, to audiences across Australia. Salamanca Arts Centre generates more high quality touring exhibitions than other galleries in Tasmania, according to touring partner Contemporary Art Tasmania.
2021 Major Curated Show
SHIFTING WORLD
Saturday 13 – Saturday 27 March 2020
Presented by Salamanca Arts Centre and Devonport Regional Art Gallery.
SHIFTING WORLD is an exhibition of selected artworks from the Devonport Regional Art Gallery created by some of the most respected artists in lutruwita/Tasmania.
Past SAC Major Curated Exhibitions
2021 : SHIFTING WORLD
2020: Older Than Language curated by Nina Miall and Jiva Parthipan
2019: Eyes as Big as Plates by Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth
2018: The People’s Library curated by Justy Phillips and Margaret Woodward
of A Published Event
2017: Proof of Life (Studio Sessions) and Proof of Life (Exhibition) curated by Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong
2016: New Alchemists curated by Dr Alicia King
2015: Colonial Afterlives curated by Sarah Thomas
2014: Giving Voice: The Art of Dissent curated by Dr Yvonne Rees-Pagh
2013: Testing Ground curated by Julie Gough
2012: Made in China, Australia curated by Greg Leong
2011: dis-covery curated by Colin Langridge
2009: Chance Encounters curated by Mary Knights and Maria Kunda.
2008: Parallel curated by Dr Brigita Ozolins
2007: An Other Place curated by Seán Kelly
2006: Transport curated by Douglas McManus
2006: ‘Quote’ curated by Colin Langridge
2005: isolation solitude curated by Telford Rigg
2004: SKIN curated by Fiona Foley and Jennie Gorringe
2003: haven curated by Kevin Murray
2002: Seven Warehouses curated by Rebecca Greenwood
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Image Credits:
Key Image: Shifting World. Simon Cuthbert. Washington Hotel (2003).
Additional Images:
Older Than Language. Slippage. Drunken Swine (2019). Triptych, mixed-media, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist.
Colonial Afterlives. Christian Thompson Trinity III from the Polari series 2014, c-type print 100 x 75 cm.
New Alchemists. Art Orienté Objet (Marion Laval-Jeantet & Benoît Mangin), May the Horse Live in Me, 2011, Film and relics of original performance.
Made in China, Australia. Owen Leong. Budi (from the series Birthmark). Courtesy of the artist and Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Projects, Melbourne.
Testing Ground. Rebecca Dagnall, Paradise 9 (2009) (detail).