News and Media

Name: Sigourney Jacks               

Job Title: Registrar

What year did you join the Artbank team: 2021

Describe your role and what you enjoy about working for Artbank: I have recently joined the Artbank team in Melbourne as Registrar. My role encapsulates the management, care and coordination of the movement of work in the Artbank collection.

I really enjoy working in the collection store and the diversity of each day. It is also great to work for an organisation that supports contemporary Australian artists and shares these through the art leasing program to people who may never come across these works in their leisure time.

                      

Select an Artwork:   David McDiarmid 'Disco Kwilt,' 1981

Short explanation of your artwork selection:

I couldn’t go past the only David McDiarmid in Artbank’s Collection, 'Disco Kwilt,' from 1981. McDiarmid’s work throughout his career brought attention to important social movements and activism including: gay liberation, feminist politics and the AIDS crisis. Incorporating the kitsch, dark humour and unconventional materials he created engaging works that are powerful and at times heart-breaking.

'Disco Kwilt,' was made while McDiarmid was living in New York. In this work he wanted to capture the feeling of being in underground nightclubs – the energy, the movement. By using holographic adhesive tape the work mimics the lights in the club and creates an interaction with the viewer. When standing or walking past this work with each step there is a synergy of movement created through your body captured in the mirror of the holographic tape, simulating almost a dance between you and the artwork.

Artbank Roadshow 2021 – Goes Digital

The Artbank Roadshow is a national initiative that provides opportunities for unrepresented artists to present their work to Artbank for potential acquisition. The Roadshow is designed to increase exposure for artists from regional Australia, who generally have less access to gallery and dealer networks. The Roadshow will enable artists not yet represented by a commercial gallery to introduce themselves to Artbank, pitch their work and engage in discussions with Artbank curators.

Due to Covid 19 the 2020 Artbank Roadshow was put on hold. Artbank is now in the process of rescheduling the remaining Roadshow stops in Canberra, Newcastle, Hobart, Perth, Cairns and Darwin.

Artbank will be taking the Canberra Roadshow online this month with applications opening today via the smartygrants link below. Our five finalists will meet with Artbank curators via video link on Friday 5 November.

If you are an unrepresented artist living and working in the Canberra, ACT region bordering regional communities click the link to apply.

We will provide updates on the new application dates for other regions on our website and social media channels over the next period.

Please contact Artbank directly if you have any further questions.

Schedule

• Canberra ACT – Artbank Video link Friday 5 November
• The Lock Up, Newcastle NSW - Dates TBC
• Heathcote Cultural Precinct, Perth WA - Dates TBC
• Contemporary Art Tasmania, Hobart TAS - Dates TBC
• KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns QLD - Dates TBC
• CDU Art Gallery, Darwin NT - Dates TBC

About

The Artbank Roadshow is a national initiative that seeks to provide opportunities for unrepresented artists as Artbank recognises that there are finite opportunities for artists to be represented by a commercial gallery or dealer, particularly in regional Australia.

Alana Hunt

en masse, 2016

The good ol days of travelling… when the family would all pack into the freshly cleaned Camry, surrounded by bags and belongings. 40 minutes down the road we’d already be opening the chip packets there to keep us kids satisfied, only to have them gather around our feet and pressed into the carpet. After a while we’d get sick of chatting, playing games – throwing chips at one another and would just look out the window, watching the empty, dry, grassy planes pass by.

 

On one of these occasions in the early 2000’s there was a locust plague in regional NSW, this time the landscape wasn’t empty, but swarming with life, a beautiful and destructive spectacle that enveloped us (inside our car) En Masse for hours. Alana Hunt’s work evokes memories like these; of being caught in unprecedented times, between seismic forces and of feeling isolated; but only for a time. Now, as I work from home during the current pandemic and look out my window, hand plunged in a packet of chips, Alana’s work reminds me that these things are seasonal and that sometime soon as life returns back to normal, I might again resume travelling.

Staff Pick - Jack Harman

Meet the Artbank team

Jack Harman - Programme Officer/ Artwork Technician

Jack Harman is an artist, independent curator and daydreamer based in Sydney. He joined the Artbank team in 2018 as an Artwork Technician, using his extensive knowledge as an artist and installer he is able to install just about any artwork on any wall. 

His own arts practice is primarily a means to negotiate his internal curiosities and wonderings within a broader sociological and ecological context. Each project is conceptually driven, determining the choice of method and materials of investigation, with a particular interest in the photographic as translator of experimental processes, as well as his formative childhood years – he has produced sculptural installations, photographic, video and research based works.

Recent solo exhibitions include Waiting for Cache… (2019) and I think in pictures, you teach in words (2019) and selected group and curatorial projects; Photomechanical (cur, 2020) and New Lifeworld (cur, 2018). 

Artbank is pleased to present

Artist Talk: The Work of Art 

Curated by Sabrina Baker and Anja Loughhead as part of the Artbank Emerging Curator program - The Work of Art brings together a selection of works from the Artbank collection that interrogate our relationship to art and traditional notions of labour. The exhibition holds a mirror to the perceived value of arts practice in contemporary Australian society and fiercely champions its sustained and celebrated place within it.

Join curators Sabrina Baker and Anja Loughhead, and artist Darcey Bella Arnold as they discuss the physical, conceptual, material and emotional exertion tied to creative production and the importance of placing value on the - work of art.  

Event Details

What: Exhibition Public Program.

Artist Talk: The Work of Art 

When: Saturday 22 May 2021

Time: 12pm – 3pm

Program

12-1pm Exhibition viewing

1-2pm Curatorial walk through and discussion featuring, exhibition curators Sabrina Baker, Anja Loughhead along with artist Dacey Bella Arnold

2-3pm Exhibition open

Where: Artbank Melbourne, 18-24 Down Street, Collingwood, VIC

Image: Flys Alone Painting at Artbank Melbourne.

Banner Image: The Work of Art, Artbank Melbourne, 2021, photo by Christian Capurro

More information

Contact Artbank

Phone: 1800 251 651