Inside The Gallery

Drawn from a partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and loans from the National Gallery of Australia and private lenders across the country, Emerging from Darkness: Faith, Emotion and The Body in the Baroque brings together some of the most important European works in Australia for the first time.

Also exploring the few women artists of the period, NGV curator Laurie Benson discusses this rare opportunity to see these Baroque works, only at Hamilton Gallery, along with the significance of such a collection in Australia, and the incredible influence the Baroque era had on the arts worldwide. 

A transcript of the conversation in this episode is available HERE, made possible thanks to the contribution from the Australian Arts Channel.

"It began as a vague sense of unease, unconnected to anything in particular. Ordinary objects of the built environment began to take on a threatening demeanour, looming over the bright and baking streets."

Created by artists Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline, The Dance of the Remediators at The Lock Up in Newcastle is an archive of a possible future; a materialised dream sequence of people being called into action by coal’s humble living relatives. 

The artists discuss any cognitive dissonance of honouring the history of coal while also evoking a visual reminder that it is not always a thing to be feared. The large-scale work examines society’s relationship to energy, and recognises coal’s long photosynthetic toil and its living relatives of mosses and ferns.

A transcript of this conversation can be downloaded here, made possible with the support from the Australian Arts Channel.

2024 marks 150 years since the birth of Impressionism, the movement that revolutionised art.

During the 1860s, a group of artists, nicknamed “the Batignolles group”, regularly met at the Café Guerbois in Paris. Deviating from the academic style, these artists, which were all refused at the Salon de Paris, decided to create their own exhibition in the spring of 1874 at the studio of their photographer friend, Nadar, on the boulevard des Capucines. The inauguration took place on April 15, 1874.

Critically panned at the time, today Impressionism is one of the great phases of pictorial art, having now conquered the whole world. 

In this episode, writer, curator and broadcaster Julie Ewington speaks with Tim Stackpool about the birth of the movement, its relevance today, and about her leading a Renaissance Tour through the regions of France that influenced the Impressionists, and continues to inspire artists today.

A transcript of this edition is available here, thanks to support from the Australian Arts Channel.

The Art Gallery of Western Australia and SPACED present Rural Utopias at The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) from 25 November 2023.

Rural Utopias features new works by 10 artists from across Australia, developed over a series of residencies in rural and remote Western Australia, in dialogue with selected objects from AGWA’s $361 million State Art Collection.

In collaboration with their host communities, artists lived and worked within their residency locations responding to the overarching curatorial theme of “Rural Utopias” to deliver context-responsive and socially engaged art.

SPACED Rural Utopias Curator, Miranda Johnson, speaks with Inside The Gallery's Tim Stackpool about the extended journey of the exhibition, the manner in which the artists were affected by the residencies, and how SPACED works with galleries to deliver unique and contemplative exhibitions.

A transcript of this edition is available to download HERE. The transcriptions are made possible by support from the Australian Arts Channel.

We’re invited, by the Australian Museum to transport ourselves back 3,300 years, across the sands of the Sahara Desert to reach the heartbeat of ancient Egypt ruled by the most celebrated pharaoh in the country's storied history. This is the opportunity to experience one of the greatest collections of its kind, in an Australian-first exhibition, Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs.

This all-new multisensory museum experience provides visitors with a window into the life and accomplishments of Ramses II, more commonly known as Ramses the Great, who ruled Egypt for 67 years – the second longest reign for any pharaoh, living an astonishing 92 years. It’s exclusive to Sydney, and features 182 priceless artefacts including the sarcophagus of Ramses II - one of the most impressive royal coffins from ancient Egypt ever to be discovered – and there are other treasures too, and one-of-a-kind relics, some of which have actually never left Egypt before.

Speaking about the exhibition, this edition of the podcast features museum director and CEO Kim McKay AO, curator Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Dr Mostafa Waziry, and World Heritage Exhibitions VP Troy Collins. 

A transcript of this edition is available to download HERE. The transcriptions are made possible by support from the Australian Arts Channel.

Sangeeta Sandrasegar’s art practice is centred on hybridity theories, and explores her life in Australia as an artist of Malaysian, Indian and Australian heritage, and the relationship between migrant communities and homelands.

Her practice, including her highly regarded work with paper cutouts, has engaged with shadows as an ephemeral motif symbolising the movement of cultures and people. Recently too, Sangeeta’s work has involved the dying of large flowing fabric panels, with a particular focus on the nature and message of colours, particularly INDIGO

Good friend of this podcast Pedram Khosronejad (Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University) spoke to Sangeeta via Zoom, and asked her about the nature of her work, the strong international influences, and the manner by which curators, gallerists and artists work together. 

Information about Sangeeta's work acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art here:

https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/sangeeta-sandrasegar/

A transcript of this interview is available for download HERE. The transcriptions are made possible by support from the Australian Arts Channel.