Australia’s first permanent regional multimedia arts pavilion, the Multi-Arts Pavilion mima – dubbed MAP mima – is set to open to the public with 10 new commissions by Australian artists including Hiromi Tango, whose work is pictured on the exterior of the pavilion. Each new commission explores the unique history, culture and landscape of the region, and celebrates Lake Macquarie as a cultural hub for contemporary art and performance. Designed as a flexible, high-tech multi-arts platform, the MAP mima will host a year-round dedicated program of cultural events including national and international contemporary art installations, digital art screenings, live performances and music. Situated an hour’s drive north from Sydney on the shore of Lake Macquarie in Speers Point Park, the architectural pavilion compliments the award-winning Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie and forms part of the Lake Arts Precinct.

The inaugural edition of the Northern Beaches Council’s Environmental Art and Design Prize has selected 228 finalist works which will be presented in an exhibition across three arts venues on the Northern Beaches. Selected from 826 entries, the finalists will be reviewed to determine winning works by the judging panel comprised of internationally renowned artist Euan Macleod; artist, designer and curator Liane Rossler; and CEO and Artistic Director of the Australian Design Centre, Lisa Cahill.

The Prize celebrates contemporary arts practices that are socially engaged, environmentally aware and seek to enrich and contribute to positive change through creative practice. The finalist works have been selected across the categories of Wearable Design, Functional Design, Digital, Works on Paper and Photography, Ceramics and Small Sculpture, Painting, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and a separate youth category for creatives aged 7 – 18 years old.

Images: Julie Bartholomew, Climate Scrolls, Porcelain with small crystal glass sections, 6 objects each 10cm diameter.

A major exhibition charting studio ceramic practice in Australia over the last 50 years will open at the Powerhouse Museum on 20 August 2021.

Bringing together works from 168 Australian artists, Clay Dynasty will celebrate Australian studio ceramics, as shaped by three generations of makers. The exhibition will present more than 450 works from the Powerhouse collection and will feature 70 new commissions and acquisitions from Australian artists.

Surveying over 50 years of practice, Clay Dynasty will feature works by pioneer potters who profoundly changed the course of Australian studio ceramics in the 1960s. Led by the English potter Bernard Leach’s interest in pre-industrial ceramic traditions of Europe and East Asia, they made uniquely Australian objects by using local materials and responding to the Australian environment.

Alongside the functional tradition, Clay Dynasty will explore the quest for artistic expression. Objects from the 1970s will illustrate the impact of American Funk art movement and popular culture in Australia, while works from the 1980s will reveal how Australian artists explored the vessel tradition through postmodern forms, colours and patterns.

Image: Marea Gazzard, ‘Delos: Naxos’ and ‘Delos: Paros’, stoneware with semi-matt glaze, Paddington, New South Wales, 1972

The Chairman of Bundanon Trust’s Board of Directors, Jennifer Bott AO, announced today the appointment of Rachel Kent as the new CEO of Bundanon Trust after a six-month international search and recruitment process. Rachel will commence on 6 September 2021. She will work with current CEO, Deborah Ely AM, on a full handover in the period leading up to this date. Deborah Ely announced her decision to step down from the role in December 2020.

Rachel Kent is an experienced arts leader, art historian, and head curator with extensive experience working with international museums and cultural institutions as well as extended family connections in the Shoalhaven region. She is currently Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia where she leads the curatorial team, delivering its artistic vision and programs. Rachel is an outstanding advocate for contemporary and First Nations art and for the MCA, nationally and internationally, as well as being highly effective at building philanthropic and government support for the arts.

Rachel Kent Photo credit: Anna Kucera

Canberra-based artist and educator Lucy Irvine has today been announced as the designer-in-residence for the 2021 DESIGN Canberra Festival. Irvine has been commissioned to create a new sculptural installation inspired by this year’s festival theme of transformation to be exhibited during the annual three-week event, presented across the nation’s capital from 8 until 28 November 2021, celebrating Canberra as a global city of design and a living design laboratory.

Now in its eighth year, DESIGN Canberra showcases the city’s thriving design community and in 2021 presents a diverse program of events, exhibitions, talks, tours, activations, markets, collaborations, artists’ studios, and open homes.

Irvine’s commissioned signature artwork, titled ‘The Stills‘, will be presented in a Craft ACT exhibition for the duration of the festival. Irvine will also create a large-scale, site-specific temporary installation at The Cutting next to Lake Burley Griffin, as well as taking part in a workshop, and presenting an artist’s talk about her exhibition.

Image: 2021 DESIGN Canberra signature artwork, The Stills, created by Lucy Irvine. Photo by Lean Timms

Three contemporary experimental art organisations, Liquid Architecture, West Space and Bus Projects are collaborating for a new creative project titled disorganising, that will be based at the recently launched contemporary arts precinct, Collingwood Yards.

Arising from the ongoing context of COVID-19 and a lack of government funding, disorganising was founded as a collaborative project to share knowledge and forge new ways forward for art organisations that would have otherwise been lost.

Disorganising brings together artists in the surrounding neighbourhood to explore new ways of organising and commission new works which will be presented to the public over three days from 29 – 31 July 2021 across the site of Collingwood Yards, in the form of workshops, exhibitions, performance, lectures, readings, music and more.