Bellowing Echoes takes the essence of a Melbourne story and uses it as a provocation and as a point of exchange with artists who value the personal, the political and the relational.
Curated by Marcel Cooper and Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, the exhibition features Jess Johnson, Anna Kristensen, Tessa Zettel and Karl Khoe, The Slow Art Collective, and Marcin Wojcik. The project forms part of the 2012 Next Wave Festival and Gertrude Contemporary’s Emerging Curators Program.
As impetus for the exhibition is the story of George Arden, who in 1838 longs for community. As the colony of Port Phillip emerges, Arden embarks on a quest to politicise, galvanise and reflect upon his new environment. Curators Marcel Cooper and Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris employ this avatar of the 1800s as a guide through immersive installation and process-orientated works. Bellowing Echoes re-imagines a history of utopias and failures, rather than telling a history of power. It unveils those rare, poetic and precise moments of elated and genuine connection to the community and landscape around us.
About the Gallery
Gertrude Contemporary is valued nationally and respected internationally as a dynamic centre for the production and presentation of contemporary art. With the artist placed firmly at the centre of our community, Gertrude fosters a culture of risk, collaboration and critical-thinking to generate innovative programs that engage audiences in creative exchange.
About the Festival
Through development programs and biennial Festival, Next Wave assists emerging artists to realise extraordinary new work that invites us to see the world and ourselves in unexpected ways. Next Wave programs support young artists to take creative risks, establish critically-engaged professional practices and launch their work into a wider artistic and public domain. Next Wave commissions and presents genre-busting projects both within and outside conventional artistic spaces.
Entitled ‘The Space Between Us Wants To Sing”, the 2012 Festival presents art that reinterprets our social, political and civic humanity, using a range of new and unexpected tools. This is art that draws upon the arsenal of the subconscious to reveal what it is to be more human, humans. This is art that makes arguments for difference without resorting to the structures that previously existed. This is art that exists outside and above tribalism and tradition, while tackling those topics head-on. See more from Artistic Director, Emily Sexton here.
About Us
Marcel Cooper and Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris’ curatorial collaboration began in 2008 whilst both studying a Masters of Art Administration at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney. With art making backgrounds in sculpture and performance Marcel and Bronwyn are now interested in large scale installation and experiential works often dealing with post-colonial themes and queer subversions of history. Through exhibition and events they are committed to furthering the dialogue in contemporary hybrid practice and exploring innovative curatorial strategies.
Select exhibition and events include: (2011) Fail Harder, Kings ARI, Melbourne, Panaramrama, Somewhere Gallery, Melbourne, (2010) Women In Piracy, Kudos Gallery, Sydney, (2009) Curator Assistants - Once Removed, Venice Biennale, Venice, Dark Hall, The Glorious Undead Festival,Kudos Gallery, Sydney, Diorama Drama, Somedays Gallery, Sydney, Flight of Fancy, Kudos Gallery, Sydney.
