About Artspace
Ever changing, ever challenging, Artspace is where audiences encounter the artists and the ideas of our times.
Artspace is one of the leading institutions for the production and presentation of contemporary art in the Asia Pacific. Our expansive, multi-platform approach to programming includes new commissions, exhibitions, performances, studio residencies, publishing, public programs, learning and outreach initiatives, and advocacy. Artspace is where artists of all generations test new ideas and shape public conversation. Embracing risk, experimentation, collaboration and advocacy, Artspace’s mission is to enhance our culture and support community vibrancy through a deeper engagement with contemporary art.
History
We are a leading independent, not-for-profit contemporary art space, cultural partner and community resource located in Sydney on Gadigal land. We receive government support from the Federal Government through Creative Australia and from the New South Wales (NSW) State Government through Create NSW. Government funding is supplemented through the valued contributions of our dedicated community of partners and benefactors.
Artspace was established in 1983 as an artist-run gallery for emerging and early-career artists, conceived as an alternative to commercial galleries and major national collecting institutions. During the 1990s Artspace evolved into a funded contemporary art space with professional staff and a focus on supporting artists at all stages of their careers. Initially located at 11 Randle Street, Surry Hills, Artspace relocated in 1992 to a larger, more affordable, and permanent home in The Gunnery in Woolloomooloo.
Artspace provides a platform for artists to engage in critical dialogue within Australia and internationally, ensuring radical, open-ended and speculative forms of making and thinking are embedded in our program.
Local, regional, national and international partnerships are central to Artspace’s expanded artistic program which offers a diversified approach to connect audiences and communities with Australian artists and their international peers. We present a collaborative, civic and creative platform which reaches from Woolloomooloo to the Asia Pacific and beyond through the strong relationships and partnerships at the heart of our activities.
Artspace’s program enables ideas to germinate and grow, extending the definition of what art is and what it can become.
Annual reports
Community Guidelines
Ever changing, ever challenging, Artspace is where audiences encounter the artists and the ideas of our times.
This vision statement lies at the core of all of our activities. Respectful relationships are foundational to this commitment, along with the central imperative to nurture Artspace as a safe space for our team, and for the artists, arts professionals and audiences who are part of our program and broader community. To encourage cultural participation and open robust debate, we expect all those who come into our spaces, both physical and online, to behave respectfully to one another, and to respect all people, their rights, culture and heritage. These principles are reflected in our Code of Conduct.
Artspace is an open and inclusive space for free and diverse artistic expression. A culturally, psychologically, and physically safe space for us means a place where everybody can feel welcome and secure to participate and to listen courteously to others, especially when in disagreement. We strongly support free speech but resolutely stand against all forms of hate speech, prejudice and bigotry, bullying, intimidation or harassment.
Artspace has a history as an artist-led and community-building space. We endeavour to continue enhancing this legacy in the present and well into the future. Our role as a public institution compels us not only to contribute, but to demonstrate – through our program and leadership – how we can progress towards a more positive, tolerant and just society. We believe this happens through recognising our shared humanity and by fostering the values of trust, tolerance, kindness and respect. Fundamentally, we believe in the unique power of art to hold and express the complexity and diversity of human experience and opinion.
We use Artspace’s social media platforms to communicate about our artistic program and related onsite or offsite events. These platforms are also an online site for commissioning and presenting work by artists as part of our program. We have the same standards and expectations for behaviour on these platforms as we do in our physical spaces. Audiences should be aware that any personal views and opinions of individual staff, artists and collaborators, expressed online or elsewhere, are distinct from Artspace’s program, and do not necessarily represent the official position of the organisation.