AN ACT OF SHOWING

MAY 17 — 31 2017

Testing Grounds 1-23 City Rd, Southbank VIC 3006

Opening event: Wednesday 17 May, 6pm–9pm

Roundtable Symposium Saturday 20 May, 3pm–6pm
Curated by Anabelle Lacroix | A research project directed by Maria Miranda

Set as a material conversation between Artist Run Initiatives (ARIs) and Aboriginal Art Centres in Australia and the Asia- Paci c, this project embodies and provokes conversations about place: How does place matter for artists? Why do ARIs exist in speci c places? What is the place of practice?

Writer Chris Kraus’s ‘radical localism’ points to the importance of the local places of art-making compared to global-centrism noting that ARIs create “an opportunity to remain in one’s own community and assert an alternative ethos.” This ethos is crucial to the survival of art because ARIs create a sustainable and rich culture built from the ground up.

This exhibition includes creative responses from AirSpace Projects, Articulate Project Space, BUS Projects, Blak Dot Gallery, BLINDSIDE, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, Boxcopy,C3 Contemporary Art Space, Cementa, FELTspace, Garage Gallery, One Place After Another, Open Centre for Contemporary Art (Taipei), Raygun Projects, Ruang MESS 56 (Yogyakarta), Sawtooth, Trocadero Art Space, The Laundry Art Space, The Walls, Waringarri Arts, Watch This Space, West Space and more...

Luke Wilcox, last night an ARI saved my life, 2017, image credit to Keelan O'Hehir