Magic Object
Magic Object - Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2016
27 February – 15 May 2016
Curated by Lisa Slade
Art Gallery of South Australia
‘Much of the work presented in Magic Object looks like one thing but is really another, begging the question – are artists the last magicians?’ Lisa Slade, Curator, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
Drawing inspiration from the ‘Wunderkammer’ those rooms or cabinets of wonder dedicated to the display of magical objects, the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art champions the contemporary artist as conjuror.
With attendant meanings and manifestations, including contemporary artists’ interests in the talismanic, in cultural rituals and material riddles, this exhibition offers the ‘Wunderkammer’ as a tool with which to both view the world and critique it.
Held every two years since 1990, the Adelaide Biennial remains the country’s longest-standing survey of contemporary Australian Art. The 2016 iteration is the most ambitious yet, unfolding across an unprecedented number of venues in Adelaide, including the Art Gallery, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art at UniSA, JamFactory, Carrick Hill and the Santos Museum of Economic Botany in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
Ranging in age from 28 to 105 years, the 2016 Adelaide Biennial includes the following artists:
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Glenn Barkley, Chris Bond, Pepai Jangala Carroll, Tarryn Gill, Louise Haselton, Juz Kitson, Loongkoonan, Fiona McMonagle, Danie Mellor, Clare Milledge, Tom Moore, Nell, Ramesh Mario-Nithiyendran, Bluey Roberts, Kate Rohde, Gareth Sansom, Robyn Stacey, Garry Stewart and the Australian Dance Theatre, Jacqui Stockdale, Heather B. Swann, Hiromi Tango, Roy Wiggan, Tiger Yaltangki and Michael Zavros.
