Macon Reed: Eulogy for the Dyke Bar
PROGRAM
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
Image: UNSW Galleries/the artist.
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.
The installation is a sculptural environment in the style of bygone lesbian bars, a functioning bar and a community space for performances, conversations, and socialising. It is created using ephemeral materials and features archival material of now-defunct lesbian nights, parties and bars in Sydney and America. It reclaims the term ‘dyke’ in its most expansive sense and recognises that gender and identities are complex and fluid. The ‘bar’ is open to anyone who has identified with the term or an experience of feminine-spectrum queerness in the past or present (or perhaps future) and/or feels an affiliation or ally-ship with dyke culture.
Macon Reed’s Eulogy for the Dyke Bar is presented by the National Art School with UNSW Galleries in association with Sydney WorldPride.
“Eulogy for the Dyke Bar was made to honour these places and draw attention to the fact that many are now gone. It also makes us think more about what kinds of alternative community spaces might be available and what makes them vibrant. It’s about thinking of our community beyond the dance floor and the progressive work we want to do beyond our intimate relationships. Creating spaces for collective coming together, organising politically, sharing experiences, jumping into histories, and meeting our elders seems like the necessary work that’s going to get us somewhere else, somewhere better.” Macon Reed, 2021
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PROGRAM
Eulogy for the Dyke Bar: Program Launch
5–10pm Friday 17 February 2023
Club Chrome Takeover
6–9pm Monday 20 February 2023
BlaQ Takeover
6–9pm Tuesday 21 February 2023
CAMP Women’s Night
6–8pm Wednesday 22 February 2023
Cruising at the Dyke Bar
5–10pm Thursday 23 February 2023
Queerly Divine Cosmos: Astrology & Tarot Readings
6–7.30pm Friday 24 February 2023
Dykes On Mics Karaoke
7.30–10pm Friday 24 February 2023
Panel: DIY Dykes & Queer Futures
6–8pm Wednesday 1 March 2023
Radiant: Poetry & Open Mic Night
6–8pm Thursday 2 March 2023
Dyke Decadence: Finissage Party
5–10pm Friday 3 March 2023
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Watch Isabel Farrington’s short documentary on the work’s presentation in New York City.
‘Queer Contemporary: Chaosophy’, as part of Mardi Gras 2025, is now open until Saturday 8 March.
Curated by Dr Liz Bradshaw, with work by artists Kika Kereru Baker, Daniel Browning, Sam Chan, Blake Griffiths, Frankie L.A, nikita lelu, r e a, Victoria Spence, Jake Starr, Ali Tahayori, Magic Young and Justine Youssef.
Three generations of queer artists make and break language across the intersections of art, activism, poetry and performance. Through their individual aesthetics and distinct voices, together the artists disrupt histories, languages, conventional silences and institutional spaces, using and queering language to propose alternate perspectives on and interpretations of identity and ways of being.
11am – 5pm Monday to Saturday
Building 25 Project Space
Free admission, all welcome
Feb 17
NAS Library is proud to launch their 2025 Library Stairwell Gallery programming with this years LSG show for Queer Contemporary, ‘Subtexts’, opening this Thursday 13 February.
‘Subtexts’ unites four artists whose work demonstrates the complexities of queer identity, each considering their own personal relationship with queerness. The show offers alternative narratives and styles that challenge notions of queer uniformity, opting to explore the undertones and implications of queerness as a dislocated front.
‘Subtexts’ asks of the ambiguous term; Are we united by virtue of our difference, or rather the unique positions it presents us?
Featuring works by
@professional__disoppointment
@sarah_r_serfati
@theolathouras
@ziggywoodartist
Feb 9
Three generations of queer artists make and break language across the intersections of art, activism, poetry and performance in ‘Queer Contemporary: Chaosophy’, as part of Mardi Gras 2025.
Through their individual aesthetics and distinct voices, together the artists disrupt histories, languages, conventional silences and institutional spaces, using and queering language to propose alternate perspectives on and interpretations of identity and ways of being.
Opening night Thursday 13 February, with special guests Swamp Daisies.
RSVP at link in the bio.
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Sam Chan, ‘Transfiguration’, 2024, Chillagoe White Pearl marble, mild steel, incense, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Jennifer Leahy (Silversalt)
Ali Tahayori, ’The four elements: fire, earth, water, air (detail)’, 2022, hand cut mirrors plaster on wood, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Daniel Kukec Photography
nikita lelu, ’I drip into a bath and drift’, 2024, glazed mid-fire paperclay, underglaze, terra sigillata, silver, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Jennifer Leahy (Silversalt Photography)
Magic Young, ‘Evulva’, 2024, nylon, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Jennifer Leahy (Silversalt)
Feb 6
We’re looking for an Exhibitions Project Officer!
The role has a focus on major Indigenous exhibition projects currently in development for the National Art School as well as touring programs. The role assists with the delivery and coordination of Gallery programs, talks, and other events in the gallery spaces.
You have a background in visual art, art history, curatorship and gallery experience. You have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, along with strong organisational and project management experience.
Note this is an Identified Role and is open to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants only, in accordance with Section 14(D) of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, 1977 NSW.
Application deadline extended to Sunday 9 February.
Apply at the link in bio.
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Ronan Pirozzi, `Serpentine`, 2023; `Trajectory`, 2023; `Desolate`, 2023; installation view, undo the day, NAS Gallery, Sydney, 2024, oil on welded steel, image courtesy and © the artist, photograph: Zan Wimberley
Feb 2
The National Art School has today announced respected Australian academic, writer and curator Dr Kristen Sharp as the next Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Kristen joins the National Art School with extensive experience in the fields of contemporary art and tertiary education having spent six years as Associate Dean Discipline, Art in the School of Art at RMIT University, and previously 9 years as Academic Lead Art History and Theory at RMIT. She will commence her new role at the National Art School on 24th February 2025.
Read the full media release at the link in bio.
Jan 30
