The Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) and Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF) have joined forces to form a brand new organisation called ACE Open.
It's a new space being officially launched soon that puts contemporary visual art and its artists in the spotlight. Here, CEO Liz Nowell answers some questions about it.
ACE Open is a brand new gallery in Adelaide. What can art lovers expect from you guys?
Art lovers can expect contemporary art exhibitions by local, national and international artists, as well as innovative public programmes like talks, events, workshops and even the odd dance class! (We recently held one with artist and budding pop culture icon, Amrita Hepi). We present contemporary art with a critical rigour, but we don’t want people to feel like they need to be qualified art academics to come through our doors. Art is for everyone, and we want everyone to come and visit us. Artists themselves can expect to be supported by a range of opportunities and initiatives that we’re currently developing, from presentations to professional development, as well as our studio programme (we have five artist studios on site).
You're launching a "new vision" very soon. What exactly does the new vision entail?
It’s still a bit early for us to share, but ultimately the vision will capture what we are working towards, and why, at a fundamental level. It’s not necessarily something that will be articulated publicly, but it will permeate everything we do – from the type of art we choose to present, to the way we support artists, how we communicate with the world, and what your experience is of visiting us.
Sera Waters - Colonial Beacons
What's next?
Coming up next is an exhibition of new work that we’ve commissioned by celebrated local artist Sera Waters, called Domestic Arts. The exhibition will be running alongside SALA (South Australian Living Artists) Festival, and is a great opportunity for audiences to discover contemporary textile work in a gallery setting. Sera’s intricate embroideries, sculptures and installations may be reminiscent of traditional home-crafts, and applied to things like bedsheets and towels; but they’re anything but dowdy or innocuous. Sera explores some dark and important histories around colonialism and ‘women’s work’ in these pieces, and the detail in her work is incredible – and well worth a visit. We’re also committed to supporting artists throughout their careers and on as many platforms as possible, so we have partnered with Sydney’s Artspace to show the work of South Australian artist Julia Robinson in one of their gallery spaces. Julia’s work is absolutely deserving of a national audience, so we’re thrilled to have helped this happen!
How do you want people to feel when they've left?
We want people to feel at home in our gallery – so hopefully when they leave, they’ll feel like coming right back again! We also hope that people are in some way transformed through their experience of the work we present, whether it’s on a social, political, aesthetic or some other level.
Sera Waters - There, There
Where did the vision of ACE Open begin?
ACE Open has come about from the late 2016 merge between the Australian Experimental Art Foundation and the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia. AEAF and CACSA were trailblazing organisations with almost 120 years of combined history; so while we have a legacy to respect and uphold, we also have an opportunity to blaze a new trail for contemporary art in South Australia, as we look towards the future.
There were a few closures in the arts world of Adelaide last year. What does the opening of ACE mean to you guys?
ACE is a critical component of the arts landscape in South Australia, and nationally. It’s so important that there are contemporary art spaces that sit somewhere between artist-run-initiatives – of which there are many excellent ones in Adelaide! – and huge state institutions; as well as in the space between leaving art school and forging a career as an artist or visiting a hot gallery interstate or internationally and having something equally good to visit at home. The arts are a very interconnected ecology, and we all need to work together to ensure that artists are supported and audiences are served. The broader Adelaide arts community have been very warm and supportive as we slowly launch our organisation – and for us, it’s a brilliant opportunity to reflect on and potentially reset ideas about what a contemporary art organisation can do and be in Adelaide, in 2017.
Sera Waters - Sternum
You've said that ACE is an acronym open to interpretation, and could mean one of a few things. Why is this?
The world is constantly changing, art is constantly changing, and the needs of artists and audiences are constantly changing. We always want to be responsive to what’s going on around us, and leave space for personal interpretation – so while the acronym could mean Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, A Centre for Everyone or Art Culture Experience, we’ve decided to leave it ‘unfixed’. It can mean whatever you want, or nothing at all – which we think is pretty… Ace!
