Future/Forward is a two-day summit that will bring together arts practitioners, academics and industry professionals to engage in discussions about the current state of the visual arts in Australia and to imagine new possibilities for developing contemporary practice.
Support for this national dialogue is offered through travel bursaries in several states made available to art practitioners to attend the summit from around Australia. The bursaries will cover flights, accommodation, per diems and summit registration fees.
The full program and additional speakers will be announced over the coming weeks.
Early bird tickets are available on or before 10 October 2014.
Speakers
Artists, activists, academics, curators and critics from around Australia will be imagining and challenging the futures of the arts sector in Australia.
Vernon Ah Kee, artist
Zanny Begg, artist and lecturer, UNSW Art and Design
Julian Burnside AO QC, barrister, human rights and refugee advocate and author
Peter Bowden, ethicist University of Sydney
Ted Colless, Head of Critical and Theoretical Studies at the Victorian College of the Arts
Franchesca Cubillo, curator
Rhana Devenport, Director of Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand
Pippa Dickson, designer and creative consultant
Dr Alex Gawronski, artist and academic
Dr Julie Gough, artist, curator, writer and academic
Professor Ghassan Hage, art theorist and academic at the School of Social and Political Sciences University of Melbourne
Prof. Ross Harley, Dean of UNSW Art and Design
Lisa Havilah, Director of Carriageworks
Prof. Pat Hoffie, Griffith University
Lucas Ihlein, artist
Barry Keldoulis, Director of Sydney Contemporary and Melbourne Art Fair
Liz Ann Macgregor OBE, Director of Museum of Contemporary Art
Kelli McCluskey, co-founder and co-director of pvi collective
Dr Jacqueline Millner, Associate Dean, (Learning and Teaching) Sydney College of the Arts
Professor Nikos Papastergiadis, theorist and academic at School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne
Elvis Richardson, artist
Professor David Throsby AO, arts economist and academic, Department of Economics, Macquarie University
Nicholas Tsoutas, Zelda Stedman Lecturer in Visual Arts Practice at Sydney College of the Arts.
Topics
Future/Forward will address some of the key issues facing the visual arts and craft sectors in Australia through keynote presentations, panel discussions and conversation sessions that encourage participants to contribute to national dialogues. Summit topics include:
Do we live in a borderless world?
When is censorship justified?
Is the art world homogenising contemporary practice?
What is the current state of Australian art critique?
What are the environmental and social tipping points for contemporary arts practice?
How can the arts sector be its own best advocate?
Does gift culture become embedded in international exchange?
Are artists' practices being institutionalised?
The artist as citizen: can we shape notions of citizenship?