Building new worlds

Platform Arts brings to Geelong the works of 11 esteemed national and international contemporary artists in their coming exhibition Worlding.

The visual arts show explores the broad concept of world-building, inviting its viewers to consider how they consciously – or unconsciously – build, design, and organise a personal world.

Taking on a less terrestrial definition of world, curator Amber Smith provides a fascinating take on the psychological and emotional practices that people cultivate to affirm their selfhood, agency, politics, and even personal myths.

Worlding also demonstrates the growing calibre of contemporary artists presenting in Geelong, including Madison Bycroft, Katthy Cavaliere, Alex Rizkalla, and Patrick Pound.

Under the curation of Platform Arts’ Dr Amber Smith, the collection of works reflects how people reimagine their immediate world and what they are signalling to themselves and

others, often ranging from acts of curating the past through memorabilia to crafting speculative future worlds. The art mediums span video and digital media as well as

installation and sculptural works.

“Growing up in Geelong, there wasn’t always the exposure to experimental art practice that you get in Melbourne, which is fine—there wasn’t as much of an appetite as there is now, but the Worlding artists work in exciting spaces and have transformed creative arts,” Dr Smith said.

“What they demonstrate is the power of art to reimagine the world that we live in; whether that’s to recreate or reinstate a lost time or place; to revive erased cultural practices; to recapture or rebuild a sense of home while living in a diaspora; to address and critique predominant narratives of the world; or to speculate on the future. These practices are transforming our understanding of the world we live in while at the same time tackling big issues.”

Worlding includes the work of national and international artists Brook Andrew, Madison Bycroft, Katthy Cavaliere, Daniel Crooks, Julie Davies, Stano Filko, Patrick Pound, Alex Rizkalla, Si Yi Shen, Kieren Seymour, Batia Suter, Tarryn Love, Lisa Couzens, and Dr Vicki Couzens.

Premiering is Waterlogue (2024), a four-channel video work by Madison Bycroft, which explores metric systems and how these standards of measurement govern our speech, our expressions and our representation in images.

Also featured is la casa (2002) by Katthy Caviliere (1972-2012), Courtesy of National Art Archive, Art Gallery of NSW and the Estate of Katthy Cavaliere.

The inclusion of Julie Davies’ Matter and Memory: From the Albert Street Archive 2019 brings to Worlding a photographic series that speaks to the subject of collections.

Worlding runs as a six-week program that begins with a curator floor talk at 3pm, followed by an opening event at 4pm on June 8.

There will be free public events in partnership with The Centre For Reworlding, including a screening of Refugium followed by a Q+A session on June 28; a cross-sector panel talk drawing on world-building expertise from an architect, author, game designer, and an exhibiting artist on June 15; and a film screening of Harry Hooton (1971) through Australian Film Workshop on June 21.

Platform Arts will also host open sessions of the game Dungeons & Dragons in Gallery One throughout the exhibition phase.

The exhibition and public programming runs from June 8 to July 19 at Platform Arts, located in the Old Courthouse building in the arts precinct of Geelong.

For more information and to register for events, head to platformarts.org.au