As part of Ten Days on the Island Salamanca Arts Centre is proud to present Proof of Life: Studio Sessions, which is curated by Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong as part of The Homesickness Project.
The Homesickness Project’s thesis is that the role of the world as a home for its citizens is under threat and that collectively, we are increasingly homesick.
Artists, experts, community groups and the general public will participate in a series of events that elaborate on and investigate possible answers to these questions: What does it mean to be civilised within an increasingly market-driven system of social values? What is required from our environment for us to thrive?
“SAC believes in the continuing importance of artists having a key role in provoking, leading and facilitating discussions about the human condition,” says Salamanca Arts Centre Acting CEO Joe Bugden. “We’re excited to see what will develop from this ambitious, multi-faceted collaboration.”
The ensuing discussions, lectures, performances, demonstrations and exhibitions will invite public contribution and form the basis of a major exhibition opening in the Long Gallery in September 2017. This is an opportunity to observe and participate in the creative development of collaborative, socially-engaged art works.
“There is a mission for the arts to address the heightened fears around our global future but there is a shortage of existing tools to do so,” says curator Kevin Leong. “Hobart’s tight-knit, highly-cooperative arts community, where disciplines are fluid, and where broad community contact is sustained, is the ideal environment to develop these tools.”
Featured artists include: Lisa Garland, Paul Gazzola, Laura Purcell, Elizabeth Woods, Kevin Leong, Abdul Hakim Hashemi Hamidi, Dalibor Martinis, Daphne Keramidas, James Newitt, Nick Leitch, Peta Cook, Leigh Hobba, and Hussen Ibraheem and Ameen Nayfeh.
The official launch of the project is this Saturday, 18 March in the Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre at 12 noon. This will be followed by a Curator’s Talk and an afternoon discussion forum entitled “Are We Really Alive?”.
