Cultural Fund supports 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS: an Artspace initiative
June 6, 2017
In September 2017, Artspace is set to launch an ambitious project, 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS, commissioning 52 of Australia and the Asia-Pacific’s most exciting artists to develop new work for online exhibition and publication. The Cultural Fund has provided $13,000 to support the program.
Every week for a year a different artist will create an action and share it with people around the world across dedicated social media platforms and a purpose-built website to broaden audience engagement and accessibility.
Ranging from the political and social, to concerns for the environment, artists will be asked to respond to an urgent issue affecting them and their communities. Artspace Executive Director Alexie Glass-Kantor says, “This is an important platform for artists and a long overdue project that synthesises a number of parallel conversations about the engagement between artists and technology.”
“One of the key objectives of 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS is to explore Australia’s relationship to the region, and bring the audience on a year-long journey. This project is a great example of how Australia can work differently in the region – you don’t have to just tour shows, you can work in remote communities across Australia and in an international way by thinking laterally,” said Glass-Kantor. “In a world of fake news and newsfeeds that speak daily of the tumult of the global context, 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS will be an alternate platform for weekly actions by artists that foreground the issues of our times from the local creator to the global audience.”
A publication documenting each action and including pertinent historical and archival material, critical texts, and other works by influential artists, will be produced in collaboration with publisher Thames and Hudson at the end of the 52 weeks.
The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund will open for Round Two 2017 applications in July. A total of $500,000 in grants is available for organisations running projects that provide broad benefits for the Australian cultural community.