Sydney WorldPride 2023
The National Art School presents Queer Contemporary, the visual arts program for Sydney WorldPride 2023 and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Join us for the exhibitions Braving Time: Contemporary Art in Queer Australia, Fulgora and Luke Thurgate: Adore You, a suite of public activities, key community partnerships, and site activations.
Director and CEO Steven Alderton says: “Building on the success of previous years participating in Mardi Gras, Queer Contemporary 2023 at NAS will be our most ambitious offering to date. The vibrant and varied program champions the diversity of our communities and celebrates LGBTQIA+ strength and resilience.
NAS’ Forbes Street entrance is a short, two-minute walk from Taylor Square on Oxford Street, and conveniently located near bus routes 311, 333, 352, 373, 389, 392N, 396, and 440. Limited paid street parking is available along Forbes Street as well as Darlinghurst Road and surrounds; we advise visitors to walk, cycle or take public transport where possible.
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibition Image Design Charlie Cummings
Braving Time: Contemporary Art in Queer Australia
Richard Perram OAM
3 February – 18 March 2023
NAS Galleries
Monday to Saturday
11am – 5pm
Free admission
Braving time is a queer exhibition that celebrates the work of artists who identify as part of the Australian LGBTIQA+ community. This significant exhibition has been curated by Richard Perram OAM for the National Art School in celebration of Sydney WorldPride in 2023. The artists represented in the exhibition celebrate the diverse voices of LGBTIQA+ people in contemporary Australia society, reflecting the breath of genders and sexualities within the community, including artists who identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, inter-sex, asexual and non-binary.
Exhibition Image Design Charlie Cummings
Fulgora
Curated by EO Gill
3 February – 5 March 2023
The Rayner Hoff Project Space
Monday to Saturday
11am – 5pm
Free admission
Fulgora presents a suite of commissioned video works by 5 Australian-based artists that are punctuated by a selection of films programmed in collaboration with LA-based collective Dirty Looks Inc. The exhibition speaks to luxuriant video practices that disrupt conventional acts of looking and force us to ask where our pleasure begins.
Image: Luke Thurgate, Let me down gently, 2022, charcoal on gallery wall, Photo: Peter Morgan
Luke Thurgate: Adore You
3 February – 18 March 2023
The Drawing Gallery
Monday to Saturday
11am – 5pm
Free admission
The artist will be on site making this work on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2-5pm.
The National Art School is proud to present Adore You, a major mural drawing by artist Luke Thurgate commissioned for The Drawing Gallery. This project is programmed in parallel with the Sydney WorldPride 2023 and The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Adore You takes inspiration from one of the world’s treasures, the major, 15th Century polyptych Ghent Altarpiece created by painters and brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyk. Thurgate’s work Adore You transforms the altarpiece format to create a contemporary, ephemeral artwork exploring notions of desire, hero-worship and queer subjectivity. Spanning three walls of The Drawing Gallery, the mural will be made onsite over a six-week period to coincide with Sydney WorldPride programs at the National Art School.
Installation view. Photo: Lea Simpson
Visions of QueerNAS
6 February – 5 March 2023
Opening Celebrations in conjunction with the Block Party 16 February 6–9pm
Library Stairwell Gallery
Monday to Friday
10am – 3pm
Free admission
Quinn Chen, Henry Xiang, Cadmium Mellow, Giacomo Crosilla, Christian Bonett, Dani King, Beanie Fleming, Darcy Eliza, Kate Riley
PROGRAM
Photo by: Renata Dominik
It’s Complicated: Valentine’s Day Workshop with EJ Son
14 February 2023
National Art School
156 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
6pm – 8pm
Tickets: $40 (Tickets limited)
This Hallmark Holiday, join multidisciplinary artist EJ Son and their two Cupid assistants to make your very own ~musical Valentine’s Day card~
Image: NAS NEO 2022. Photo: Lexi Laphor.
Block Party
16 February 2023
National Art School
156 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
6pm – 10pm
Some of Sydney’s finest queer artists to celebrate the launch of Queer Contemporary 2023.
Line up to be announced.
Image: UNSW Galleries/the artist.
Macon Reed: Eulogy for the Dyke Bar
17 February – 4 March 2023
NAS Cafe
Monday to Saturday
Installation open: 9am–5pm Monday – Friday
Bar open: 5–10pm Tuesday – Friday
Free admission
The National Art School, UNSW Galleries and Sydney WorldPride present Eulogy for the Dyke Bar, an installation by American artist Macon Reed with accompanying programs and events.
Image: Bunny Hop – Easter egg donations at St Vincents, 1994 (c) MazzImages
Qtopia – Ward 17 South
17 February – 18 March 2023
Building 11
Monday to Saturday
11am – 5pm
Free admission
Qtopia Sydney and NAS are proud to announce a partnership to realise a restaging of St Vincent’s Hospital’s Ward 17 South.
Image: 2022 Queer Contemporary Workshop
Queer Contemporary Life Drawing Workshop with Tango Conway
Wednesday 15 March 2023, 6pm – 9pm
National Art School
156 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
Tickets: $85 each session
Join us for an evening of Life Drawing inspired by the 2023 Queer Contemporary exhibitions at the National Art School. The workshop is part gallery tour and part studio life drawing class. NAS drawing lecturer Tango Conway demonstrates and guides you to draw the human figure in relation to works on display in the Queer Contemporary exhibitions:
Braving Time, Fulgora and Luke Thurgate: Adore You.
This workshop is designed for participants over the age of 18 and for all levels of experience. It is a LGBTQI+ friendly event.
Image: Supplied
Art Phoenix Opening and Fundraiser
3 March 2023
Cell Block Theatre
National Art School
156 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst
6pm – 8pm
In partnership with NAS, Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF) presents Art Phoenix. The exhibition is the culmination of a series of drawing workshops led by acclaimed artist Luke Thurgate for members of the BGF community living with HIV.
EDUCATION RESOURCE
BRAVING TIME: CONTEMPORARY ART IN QUEER AUSTRALIA: Education Kit
This resource has been written in line with the Years 7-10 Visual arts Syllabus and the Higher School Certificate Visual arts Syllabus, as a guide to exploring the exhibition or as a pre- or post-visit resource. Tertiary students and the general public may also find the resource useful.
Teachers will be able to use this resource in conjunction with the works in the exhibition to engage in a critical and historical study of the art world and to investigate artists, artworks, worlds, and audiences from a range of cultural, political, historical and social perspectives and use these to inform their own artmaking practices.
In examining the works showcased in the exhibition as part of a collection, the students will gain an understanding of the value of the audience as a body of critical consumers and will appreciate their own role, as well as those of the critic, as audience members. The students’ investigation of the range of expressive forms, themes, and genres which the works encompass, will also serve to inform their artmaking.
Bring a friend to Winter School and save!
We’re offering a 15% discount on the purchase of a second Winter School course—as part of our exclusive ‘bring a friend’ special.
How it works:
1. Sign up for any Winter School course
2. Invite a friend to join you on the learning journey
3. Get 15% off when you purchase a second course for yourself or your friend
Learn more at the link in bio.
Mar 31
Introducing Sean O`Connell and Pia van Gelder, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Ben Denham, Sean will explore traditional and extended practices that map connections and energetic exchange within abstracted landscapes, while Pia will discuss drawing of electronic circuits and their curious divinatory elements in 20th century radionics and their own work with electrodermal activity and audio synthesis.
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Sean O`Connell is an artist exploring the internal world of matter and the movement of electrical energy and force. He uses alternative photographic techniques, electronic circuitry, noise, energetic structures and experimental processes to visualise and sonify these spaces of interest. His work is concerned with the realms of both matter and electricity, exploring the ways they each transform, modulate, and inform one another`s nature through their interaction.
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Pia van Gelder is an electronic artist, researcher and historian at the School of Art and Design at the Australian National University. Their research investigates historical and contemporary conceptions of energy and how these shape our relationships with technologies, bodies and environments. Their scholarship has concentrated on the influence of esotericism on electronic instruments of the 20th century and their studio practice produces instruments for performance and installation contexts. Their current project *The Energies Artists Say* with co-editor Douglas Kahn, presents a methodology for understanding the polyvalence of energies in practices across the arts.
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Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
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Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.
Mar 28
We’re looking for a Facilities and Risk Manager - Application Deadline Sunday 13 April
The Facilities and Risk Manager effectively manages and organises services and resources for the facilities, workshop, security, WHS, and campus operations of National Art School in Darlinghurst. In addition, they provide strategic support and advice to senior management on all issues related to facilities and campus operations.
Apply at the link in bio.
Mar 27
Introducing Kirtika Kain and Kyra Mancktelow, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Chelsea Lehmann, Kirtika will be discussing the role of drawing in process, experimentation, and abstraction in material and socially-engaged practices, while Kyra will discuss the influence Dylan Mooney`s work has had on their practice, especially his most recent exhibition The Story of My People.
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Kirtika Kain is an artist practicing on Darug Country, New South Wales, Australia. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2016 and was awarded the Bird Holcomb Scholarship to complete her Master of Fine Art in 2018 at the National Art School, Sydney. She was a recipient of the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award in 2017, the Art Incubator Grant and Dyason Bequest, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a finalist in the Churchill Fellowship and numerous art prizes including Blacktown Art Prize (2017, 2019). Kirtika has been a finalist in the Create NSW Emerging Artist Fellowship at Artspace, a recipient of the Parramatta Artist Studio (2020, 2024) and an artist in residence at the British School at Rome (2019) and the Amant Siena Summer Residency (2022).
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Kyra Mancktelow’s multidisciplinary practice investigates legacies of colonialism, posing important questions such as how we remember and acknowledge Indigenous histories. A Quandamooka artist with links to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla, Kyra’s practice includes printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture – each applying a unique and distinct aesthetic. Kyra works with various materials to share her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences and strengthen her connection to Country. Her printmaking explores intergenerational trauma as a result of forced integration on colonial missions, and her use of local materials in her sculpture, including clay, emu features, and Talwalpin (cotton tree), strengthens her connection to Country.
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Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
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Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.
Mar 27
Introducing Anne Judell and Liz Coats, speakers at Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
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Moderated by Margaret Roberts, Anne will discuss her decades-long exploration of the patterns and forces of the natural world and pay homage to the artist who first inspired her, while Liz will talk about the recent work of long-time friend and colleague, Margaret Roberts, together with a short description of her experiments with colour painting.
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Anne Judell was the 2011 winner of the Dobell Drawing Prize awarded by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Respect for Anne`s work has grown over a career spanning more than four decades, as a solo exhibitor and through her presence in selected group exhibitions. Her entries have been included on many occasions as a finalist in the Wynne Prize, the Dobell Drawing Prize and the Blake Prize as well as in other prestigious competitions including the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award and Kedumba Drawing Award.
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Liz Coats has devoted her career to the exploration of colour in abstract painting as an embodied, material practice that brings organic and formal issues into relationship. Since the mid-1970s, colour has remained her central focus, in particular how it mediates her preoccupations with dimensional insight, transition and connectedness.
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Facture: Drawing Symposium 2025
Saturday 12 April 2025
Facture – The manner in which something is made
—
Learn more about the speakers and symposium at the link in bio.
Mar 26
