Overview

We are pleased to announce the appointment of artist Mikala Dwyer and art advisor and curator Amanda Love to the Artspace Board of Directors.

Mikala Dwyer is one of two artist-appointments to the Board — with current artist Daniel Boyd — who together contribute invaluable professional insight as creative practitioners and act as important advocates for Artspace within local and international artist networks.

Mikala Dwyer is one of Australia’s preeminent contemporary artists, with an interdisciplinary practice spanning more than 30 years. Dwyer’s complex installations often draw our attention to the unseen — to invisible materials such as air and helium; the voids within and between forms; hidden histories; and also our own highly personal relationships with magic, memory, sexuality and ritual — while exploring the ‘consciousness’ inherent in materials, objects and spaces, their emotional tactility and sculptural possibilities.

She has exhibited in major local and international institutions including Artspace, Museum of Contemporary Art and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Heide Museum of Modern Art and Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Kunsthaus Graz, Austria; Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw; Projects Arts Centre, Dublin; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.

Her work has been included in the 17th Biennale of Sydney, THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age, curated by David Elliot; the 19th Biennale of Sydney, You Imagine What You Desire, curated by Juliana Engberg; and the 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Before and After Science, curated by Sarah Tutton and Charlotte Day. Her work is held in public collections throughout Australia and New Zealand, and she has been commissioned for public art projects throughout Sydney and Melbourne.

Amanda Love brings to Artspace an expertise in contemporary art and the international art market that has been built over twenty years of rigorous engagement as an art collector, valuer, advisor and independent curator. In this time, she has built up a substantial collection of Australian and international contemporary art while fostering contemporary art collecting in private, corporate and public realms worldwide. She regularly surveys art fairs, biennales, commercial galleries and institutions around the world, conveying international art and market developments through the provision of consolidated education resources, access and insight to collectors and institutions. A former arts lawyer with Allen Allen & Hemsley (now Allens), Sydney and Deacons, Hong Kong, she holds a Masters of Fine Arts and a Diploma of Fine Art from Christies, XXLOCATION.

Amanda was a member of the Board of Directors of the Biennale of Sydney, throughout the leadership of Artistic Directors Isabel Carlos, Charles Merewether, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and David Elliott and played a founding role in the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Contemporary Collection Benefactors and Photography Collection Benefactors and the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Director’s Working Circle. She has lectured in contemporary art in Australia and internationally, at Christies XX LOCATION (1996-2001), the National Gallery of Scotland (2008) and at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2009). She has also commissioned major large scale art projects in Australia and overseas including the public art for W Hotels in Hong Kong and Global Switch in Sydney and Paris. In 2010, Amanda showcased an exhibition of new work by Tracey Emin at her Sydney home, and currently curates the moving image collection for QT Hotels Australia-wide. 

Of their appointment, Artspace Executive Director, Alexie Glass-Kantor and Artspace Board Chair, James Emmett state, ‘We are so excited to welcome Mikala and Amanda to the Artspace Board of Directors. His thoughtfulness and depth of character — as well as his substantial professional achievements — exemplify the seriousness of intent in his practice and his capacity for leadership. This appointment provides Artspace with invaluable perspective during a critical period of international recognition of Indigenous-Australian art practices, and affirms our ongoing commitment to providing audiences direct encounters with the artists and the ideas of our times.’   

Mikyla Dwyer replaces outgoing Board member and artist Caroline Rothwell, who joined Artspace in 20XX and recently completed her tenure. We thank Caroline for her passionate advocacy, dedication and generous contribution to the organisation over the last four years.

He is an outstanding artist and we wish him the best in his future endeavours. Mikala and Amanda join fellow Board members Kathy Bail, Michael Baldwin, Daniel Boyd, Sally Breen, Julie Garis and James Emmett.

Captions for both images
Mikala Dwyer is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne; and Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington.