Artspace

52 ACTIONS EXHIBITION TOUR 2022–2025

52 ACTIONS presents the launch of its nationwide exhibition tour that will travel across Australia from 2022-2025.

The exhibition features works from 52 Australian artists and collectives across generations, geographies and cultural backgrounds. Working with all 52 participating artists and collectives from the original project, Artspace is partnering with over a dozen venues nationally to present a dynamic and site-responsive exhibition tour, co-curated by Artspace with each venue and supported by Museums & Galleries of NSW.

The 52 ACTIONS national tour showcases the breadth and diversity of leading artists from all states and territories, connecting them to audiences through the social and cultural importance of art as action.

Image: 52 ACTIONS, 2022. Installation view, Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney. Photo: Document Photography

More information on 52 ACTIONS

52 ACTIONS ONLINE 2020–2021

52 ACTIONS is Artspace’s latest online commissioning platform supporting artists living and working in Australia through the development and presentation of new works. It expands upon 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS, our year-long Instagram project that ran from 2018–19, inviting 52 artists and collectives across Asia to respond to important concerns in their local contexts.

In this moment when cultural experiences are taking place at a physical distance, 52 ACTIONS speculates on new methods for survival and revival, offering a space for artists and audiences to continue sharing and connecting with one another. This evolving project centres around the social and cultural importance of artistic practice and art as action in times of uncertainty and transformation.

This new iteration utilises the digital framework established by 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS to support Australian artists, collectives, performers, writers and creatives through the commissioning of new work. Each week for a year a different participant will present a new commission on the Artspace website and across our digital platforms – from live performance to photography and video, sound and text-based work to interventions, digital public programs and more.

52 ACTIONS will be staged here, through the 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS Instagram, as well as Artspace's Instagram.

Image: 52 ACTIONS Instagram Feed

Visit 52 ACTIONS on Instagram

52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS 2018–2019

52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS was an ambitious, year-long project running from January 2018 to January 2019 highlighting artistic practice across Asia. The project engaged 52 artists and collectives to stage actions in unique, physical locations throughout the region and share them with global audiences on Instagram and online.

An action can be anything and everything that artists use to communicate and build awareness around important concerns locally and globally. The artists have total freedom in what issues they choose to address and what they decide to create for their action.

Each week for a year a different artist drove the project, generating a continuously unfolding archive of creative responses to political and social issues central to each unique context. The participating artists represent a wide spectrum of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds across South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia and the Pacific – everywhere from Bangladesh to Korea, Cambodia to Turkey and the breadth of Australian communities.

Taking place online and off, 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS was the first project of its kind staged in the region. It was an open and experimental platform for the creation of new work around critical contemporary issues. More information on the project here.

www.52artists52actions.com

@52artists52actions

This project supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.

Jonathan World Peace Bush, Nici Cumpston and Karrabing Film Collective were presented in partnership with Sydney Festival, 2021.

52 ACTIONS was developed and curated by Artspace, Sydney. The exhibition is touring nationally with Artspace, Sydney, with support from Museums & Galleries of NSW. This project is proudly funded by the NSW Government through Create NSW. It has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Visions of Australia program and through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. It is also supported by the City of Sydney and by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.