Queer Contemporary 15 February – 2 March

Please see below for the opening hours of the exhibitions: Queer as Folk Lore, Refracted Lives and Other(ed) Bodies. 

The National Art School’s iconic site is a part of the queer past and the queer future, from the infamous Wall to the huge success of the Museum of Love and Protest in 2018 and now the presentation of Queer Contemporary – The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Visual Arts Program. Queer Contemporary includes exhibitions, conversations, workshops, kids and family activities and the boutique Moonlite pop up bar named in honour of a former inmate – Bush Ranger Captain Moonlite and his lover James Nesbitt.

EXHIBITIONS:

Queer as Folk Lore: art works from the collections of Dr Dick Quan of Holdsworth House Medical Practice

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
EXHIBITION DATES: 15 February – 2 March 2019
OPENING NIGHT:  Friday 15 February from 6pm

Queer as Folk Lore explores an expanded idea of queerness beyond the parameters of sexuality and champions queerness as an alternative worldview. Featuring the work of queer and non-queer artists, the exhibition questions traditional hierarchies of value and re-imagines typical modes of collecting and display. All drawn from the private collection of Dr Dick Quan, the works in Queer as Folk Lore reveal a unique perspective of contemporary culture.

Artists: 

Adel Abdessemed, Abdul Abdullah, Tony Albert, AES+F, Del Kathryn Barton, Nick Cave, Jake and Dinos Chapman X Louis Vuitton, Juan Davila, Christine Dean, Elmgreen & Dragset, David Griggs, Uji Handoko Eko Saputro (aka Hahan), Deborah Kelly, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama X Louis Vuitton, Fiona Lowry, Tracey Moffatt, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Eko Nugroho, João Penalva, Sterling Ruby X Raf Simons, Phil Soliman, Dr. Christian Thompson AO, Kehinde Wiley.

Opening Hours:

Thursday 21 February: 11am-10pm
Friday 22 February: 111am-10pm
Saturday 23 February: 11am-5pm
Thursday 28 February: 11am-10pm
Friday 1 March: 11am-10pm
Saturday 2 March: 11am-5pm

Refracted Lives

LOCATION: Building 11 Seminar Room
EXHIBITION DATES: 15 February – 2 March 2019
OPENING NIGHT:  Friday 15 February from 6pm

Refracted Lives is the inaugural exhibition of the finalists of the InsideOut Art Prize – India’s first national competition for LGBTQ artists. Just as light is refracted, so the lives of LGBTQ people bend to the rules of society and the expectations of family and friends. Often, we respond to the forces of religion, family, and the law by bending or subjugating our own needs, desires, and goals. We may appear to be what we are not, or even become what we do not want to be. Curator Stevie Clayton OAM.

Artists:

Aamir Rabbani, Anon Mumbai, Anwesh Sahoo, Adil Kalim, Aditya Raj, Apurv Yadav, Arjun Singh, Baishali Chetia, Dimple Chaudhary, Ashish Verma, Eeshaan Kashyap, Avneesh Kumar, Nishant Khoiya, Geeta Sharma,  Hiyaichenba Pangambam,

Nishant Mishra, Prateek Draik, Khup S Hangsing, Saba Tarannum, Raj Veer, Saanjh, Pulkit Mogha, Renu Dhiman, Priya Dali, Valay Gada, Sumit Mehndiratta, Tarun Soni, Satadru Sovan Banduri, Sahil Singh, Suvajit Mandal, Sawan Kumar and Vrinda Singh

Opening Hours:

Thursday 21 February: 11am-10pm
Friday 22 February: 111am-10pm
Saturday 23 February: 11am-5pm
Thursday 28 February: 11am-10pm
Friday 1 March: 11am-10pm
Saturday 2 March: 11am-5pm

Other(ed) Bodies

LOCATION: Library Stairwell Gallery
EXHIBITION DATES: 11 –  28 February 2019
OPENING NIGHT:  Friday 15 February from 6pm

The focus of the exhibition is the Queer body. The work is a response to a relationship with the body. This could be a personal relationship and/or a broader relationship including how the body relates to others, and how the body positions the individual in relation to society.

Curators: Anoushka J. Solomon and Fergus Berney-Gibson
Artists: Shani Gosh, Kaitlin Allanah, James Edwards, Daniel Hull, Allie Weichert Robertson, Isaac Spigelman, Fergus Berney-Gibson and Anoushka J. Solomon.

Opening Hours:

Monday 11 February: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 12 February: 11am-5pm
Wednesday 13 February: 10am-4pm
Thursday 14 February: 10am-4pm
Friday 15 February: 10am-4pm
Monday 18 February: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 19 February: 10am-4pm
Wednesday 20 February: 10am-4pm
Thursday 21 February: 10am-4pm
Friday 22 February: 10am-4pm
Monday 25 February: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 26 February: 10am-4pm
Wednesday 27 February: 10am-4pm
Thursday 28 February: 10am-4pm

EVENTS

MOONLITE BAR

A pop up bar named in honour of an infamous  inmate of the former Darlinghurst Gaol (now the National Art School) Bushranger Captain Moonlite and his lover James Nesbitt

LOCATION: adjacent Building 11 – enter via door in the Wall on Darlinghurst Road
DATES AND PROGRAM: 

Thursday 21 February: 5-10pm
Friday 22 February: 5-10pm DJ Arron Manhattan 
Thursday 28 February: 5 -10pm
Friday 1 March: 5 -10pm DJ Del Lumanta

Moonlite Tour

LOCATION: Begins in the Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATE: Friday 1 March, 6pm
TICKETS: $15pp Available here

Join NAS Alumnus and artist Todd Fuller on an unforgettable tour that explores the relationship between the notorious prisoner Captain Moonlite and his lover James Nesbitt. On this tour of the National Art School, attendees will be given unparalleled access to the historic gaol and artefacts rarely seen by the public. Come to encounter a new found history beyond the stone walls that reveals an untold story of intimacy, imprisonment, love, and ultimately loss.

FACE PAINTING!

LOCATION: National Art School
DATE: Saturday 2 March, from 3pm
FREE! 

Prepare yourself for a fabulous and love-filled Mardi Gras parade at the National Art School! Let our artists doll you up with all kinds of glittery goodness to strut your stuff down Oxford Street. Get ready with your friends and family as you celebrate outon the town – we will have you freshly painted and flawless in no time!

TALKS

Queer as Folklore – Artist Talks 
Join artists from Queer as Folklore for an insight into their practices.

LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATE: Thursday 21 February, 6.30pm, FREE

Queer Collecting | Collecting Queer
Join us for a conversation with Guest Curator of Queer as Folk Lore Dr Dick Quan
LOCATION: Rayner Hoff Project Space
DATE: Thursday 28 February, 6.30pm, FREE

WORKSHOPS 

Costume jewellery workshop for young people and families

LOCATION: National Art School
DATE: Saturday 16 February 10am–12.30pm and 1.30–4pm
TICKETS: $40pp Available here

CONSTRUCTED COLLAGES (for High School students)

LOCATION: National Art School
DATE: Saturday 2 March 10am–3pm
TICKETS: $80pp Available here

As part of the 2019 Sydney Design Festival, learn how to repurpose images from discarded magazines and books to create new artworks and narratives. This collage workshop seeks to build your understanding of how and why images and artworks are made. By exploring shape, colour, repetition, text and line in artworks, learn how to construct, deconstruct and analyse the elements that make images interesting, unique and effective. This program is designed for students who are interested in learning how to think creatively about composition in artworks to produce a small series of images or books in the process.