Kick start your art career at the National Art School.
Friday 28 February, Cell Block Theatre, BOOK NOW!
The National Art School’s iconic site is a part of the queer past and the queer future.
Weddings, cocktail and dinner parties, product launches and brand activations, conferences and seminars, — every event held in the venue is unforgettable.
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Upcoming Events
Current Month
february, 2020
Event Details
As part of the 2020 Sydney Festival, the National Art School proudly presents Who are these strangers and where are they going?, a 30-year survey of the work of
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Event Details
As part of the 2020 Sydney Festival, the National Art School proudly presents Who are these strangers and where are they going?, a 30-year survey of the work of Dr Fiona Foley, one of Australia’s most acclaimed, insightful and challenging contemporary artists. Running from January 8 to February 8 in the National Art School Gallery, the show premiered in August 2019 at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Victoria. The title comes from a new work, a soundscape based on the oldest known Aboriginal song documenting the first sighting of Captain Cook in 1770, by Foley’s ancestors the Badtjala people of K’gari (Fraser Island).
Image: Fiona Foley, HHH #1, 2004, image courtesy the artist
Time
January 9 (Thursday) 11:00 am - February 8 (Saturday) 5:00 pm
Location
NAS Gallery
Forbes Street
12feb7:00 pm10:00 pmHOME: Bushfire Relief Art Auction Fundraiser
Event Details
HOME: Bushfire Relief Art Auction Fundraiser Wednesday 12 February 7–10pm Entry by donation, registration essential Over fifty of Australia’s leading and emerging contemporary artists are working in solidarity to raise funds for the Australian
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Event Details
HOME: Bushfire Relief Art Auction Fundraiser
Wednesday 12 February
7–10pm
Entry by donation, registration essential
Over fifty of Australia’s leading and emerging contemporary artists are working in solidarity to raise funds for the Australian bushfire crisis for a one night only live and silent art auction event.
Raised funds will be donated to nominated charities, The Climate Council, Firesticks Alliance and WWF-Australia who have each been carefully selected for their current and future response to bushfires and Australia’s climate future.
Preview artworks for live and silent auction with bidding open online from Tuesday 4 February.
The auction exhibition will take place in the Main Gallery of the National Art School and offers attendees the opportunity to bid on the works up for silent auction. Live auction by registration.
In partnership with Aon, National Art School and Sydney Contemporary. Supported by Cake Wines, IAS Fine Art Logistics, Love Can, Paramount House Hotel and Young Henrys.
Register
Time
(Wednesday) 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
13feb6:30 pm8:30 pmFilm Screening: Looby
Event Details
Loud Hailer and Mama Dojo proudly present LOOBY Sydney premiere and Q&A with the filmmakers Free, RSVP HERE Looby is the story of what happens when an artist chooses to speak out. For Sydney painter
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Event Details
Loud Hailer and Mama Dojo proudly present
LOOBY
Sydney premiere and Q&A with the filmmakers
Free, RSVP HERE
Looby is the story of what happens when an artist chooses to speak out.
For Sydney painter and National Art School alum. Keith Looby, it cost him almost everything. The Archibald-winner’s work has been collected by major galleries at home and abroad, but Keith’s addiction to speaking his mind has left a string of failed relationships and masterworks neglected in storage.
In 2020, is it finally time for Looby’s art to speak up?
Film duration 80 minutes. Tickets are free; registration required.
Cash bar on the night. All proceeds benefit the NAS.
SEE TRAILER HERE
OFFICIAL SELECTION – MELBOURNE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
“This right here is my pick of the fest. Do not miss Looby. ”
Andrew Peirce, The Curb
“It’s a fascinating film, especially in an era of increasingly straitened and conservative artistic standards.”
Travis Johnson, Cinema Australia
Time
(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
14feb11:00 am14mar5:00 pmMisfit: Collage and queer practice
Event Details
Queer artists have long understood the power of collage as a tool for manipulating the singular and hegemonic narratives that so often surround and exclude them. Misfit examines the idea of
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Event Details
Queer artists have long understood the power of collage as a tool for manipulating the singular and hegemonic narratives that so often surround and exclude them. Misfit examines the idea of collage as a medium particularly susceptible to embodying queer experience. Presenting works by Australian and international artists engaged with performance, photography, textile, painting, paper and sound, Misfit looks at how the radically reassembled can veer us closer to unseen truths, productive ambiguities and powerful positions of resistance.
Artists: Tony Albert, Archie Barry, Gary Carsley, Brian Fuata, Deborah Kelly, Del Lumanta, Sarah Rodigari, Tejal Shah, Tyza Stewart, Paul Yore, Guanyu Xu
Image: Paul Yore Mother Tongue (detail) 2017, mixed media textile, beads, buttons, sequins, acrylic, enamel, watercolour and found objects, 348 x 212 cm. Photo: Devon Ackermann. Image courtesy and © the artist.
Time
February 14 (Friday) 11:00 am - March 14 (Saturday) 5:00 pm
Location
Rayner Hoff Project Space
15feb10:00 am3:00 pm'Make History': Collage Workshop
Event Details
Make History A one-day intensive collage workshop with artist Deborah Kelly Saturday 22 February, 10am–3pm Building 11 $120 + booking fee Suitable for all skill levels Take the evidence of our civilisation into your own hands,
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Event Details
Make History
A one-day intensive collage workshop with artist Deborah Kelly
Saturday 22 February, 10am–3pm
Building 11
$120 + booking fee
Suitable for all skill levels
Take the evidence of our civilisation into your own hands, and make it serve your desires. Old books are the legacy of obsolete culture: in this workshop you will learn to eviscerate them and build glorious new messages for the future from their remains.
In this one-day workshop, learn how to make collages that revisit, remix and re-imagine history with artist Deborah Kelly – currently exhibiting in Misfit: Collage and queer practice.
Participants must arrive on time, but are welcome to leave as they choose.
Materials provided
- Glue
- Mats
- Brushes
- Knives
- Some vintage imagery from Kelly’s personal archive
Materials required
- Heavy, acid-free paper (350GSM) in your preferred size
- Vintage reference books/art books/magazines with images to cut up*
About Deborah Kelly
Since 2011 Kelly has been investigating the expansion of the humble, lo-fi art of collage from private into public, from solo to social, from object to process, through open workshops around Australia, in Leipzig, London, Istanbul, Zagreb, Aarhus, Berlin and Bandung. Her new collage animation, The Gods of Tiny Things, partly produced through workshops in Bundanon, premiered at Pool Festival in Berlin and in December 2019 won Mexico City’s Dulac Avant Garde Award. Her epic collaborative collage portrait series No Human Being Is Illegal (in all our glory) toured Australia for four years and recently joined the collection of London’s Wellcome Trust, where it will be exhibited until 2029.
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Time
(Saturday) 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location
Building 11 Seminar Room
21feb6:30 pm10:00 pm'Queer Words That Changed My Life' Salon
Event Details
Queer Words That Changed My Life Salon Cell Block Theatre Friday 21 February Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start $30 General admission, $25
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Event Details
Queer Words That Changed My Life Salon
Cell Block Theatre
Friday 21 February
Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start
$30 General admission, $25 Concession/NAS Student + booking fee (SOLD OUT)
Spend an evening lounged in our indulgent queer salon at NAS, surrounded by a family of queer orators who will delight you with short readings from their most treasured pieces of queer literature and words that changed their life.
Hear from our courageous 78ers and a host of queer celebrities, identities, advocates, heroes, young voices and our newest talents. Sip champagne and enjoy an array of sweet and savoury delights as we turn pages and invoke the literary history of queer storytelling. Join us in celebrating words that matter.
Add to your salon experience with our Moonlite pop-up bar and Print with Pride workshop.
Artist line-up
Dennis Altman
William Yang
Tommy Murphy
Alana Valentine
Bill (William) Bowtell
Vicki Harding
Nana Miss Koori
Mama Alto
Print with Pride pop-up
Free, as part of the Salon
Screenprinting has been used as a tool of queer rebellion since the early days of LGBTQIA+ liberation. Words matter. Learn about this medium through a printing pop-up led by third-year printmaking students at the National Art School. Bring old clothing or paper to upcycle with a protest print or print on our supplied paper for some take-home art. By donation.
Time
(Friday) 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
22feb3:00 pm4:30 pmEmpty Selves: Mindfulness and Meditation
Event Details
Empty Selves: Mindfulness and Meditation Saturday 22 February 3–4.30pm Free, registration essential (SOLD OUT) Inspired by themes of fragmentation and transformation in Misfit: collage and queer practice, Buddist monk Bhante Akāliko will lead a discussion
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Event Details
Empty Selves: Mindfulness and Meditation
Saturday 22 February
3–4.30pm
Free, registration essential (SOLD OUT)
Inspired by themes of fragmentation and transformation in Misfit: collage and queer practice, Buddist monk Bhante Akāliko will lead a discussion about queer, trans and intersex identities in Buddhism.
Discover how specific Buddhist meditation techniques use methods similar to collage by dividing the body into parts and processes in order to investigate the nature of self. These meditations help shift our familiar perspective an create new understandings about our identity.
The talk will be followed by a guided meditation with Rainbodhi LGBTQIA+ Buddhist Community.
About Rainbodhi
Rainbodhi is a community group for LGBTQIA+ Buddhists and friends. It offers meditation and Dhamma discussion in a safe, supportive environment. Rainbodhi is non-sectarian and welcome everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or faith.
All Rainbodhi events are free, find out more through their website.
Time
(Saturday) 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location
Building 11 Seminar Room
Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject
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Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.
Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access. Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.
Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.
After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.
Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.
Buy tickets
Time
(Tuesday) 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
National Art SchoolForbes Street
28feb6:30 pm10:00 pm'What Matters?' Poetry Slam
Event Details
What Matters? Poetry Slam Friday 28 February Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start $20 General admission, $15 Concession/NAS Student Discover Australia’s most subversive and
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Event Details
What Matters? Poetry Slam
Friday 28 February
Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start
$20 General admission, $15 Concession/NAS Student
Discover Australia’s most subversive and boldly original queer poets at our raucous poetry competition. Our slammers tell us what matters as we heat up the historic Cell Block Theatre with words of protest, love, rage and power. With a special guest host and some guest performances throughout the Slam, we’ve got the night before Mardi Gras Parade completely covered.
Featuring host Kween G and special guest performer Betty Grumble.
Add on to your poetry slam experience with our Moonlite pop-up bar, Print with Pride workshop and a curator’s tour of Mistfit: Collage and queer practice and i hate my dad.
Print with Pride pop-up
Free, as part of the Slam
Screenprinting has been used as a tool of queer rebellion since the early days of LGBTQIA+ liberation. Words matter. Learn about this medium through a printing pop-up led by third-year printmaking students at the National Art School. Bring old clothing or paper to upcycle with a protest print or print on our supplied paper for some take-home art. By donation.
Buy tickets
Time
(Friday) 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
Cell Block Theatre
Forbes St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject
more
Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.
Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access. Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.
Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.
After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.
Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.
Buy tickets
Time
(Saturday) 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
National Art SchoolForbes Street
Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject
more
Event Details
The old Darlinghurst gaol is one of Australia’s oldest and best preserved examples of colonial sandstone architecture, which over the last two centuries has transformed from a place of abject misery to one of Australia’s premier arts institutes. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of some of the 76 people who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.
Join us for a lively historical tour, shedding light on the fascinating history of the site and exposing the dark, hidden corners which aren’t usually open for public access. Scroll down to choose a date and book tickets.
Led by an expert historical guide, the tour takes approximately one hour and includes the historic Cell Block Theatre, the Chapel, the old Governor’s residence, the morgue, the flogging wall, the tunnel which was used to process and delouse prisoners and the site of the former gallows.
After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to enjoy the site.
Tours depart from the Forbes Street Entrance.
Buy tickets
Time
(Saturday) 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location
National Art School
Forbes Street
National Art SchoolForbes Street
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