The seventies marked a radical change in art practice in Australia. Social and political meaning in art; the stance of the mundane as an anti-aesthetic; art as a social process; the process of art making as the art work; the grid; and above all the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein (“Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity’”) were all concerns that helped shape this decade of art making. This exhibition traced the relationship of 1970’s art strategies (installation, performance and conceptualism) to contemporary art. The works selected were deliberately expansive and intended to characterise the main ‘alternative’ developments in art in the period spanning the early to mid 1970’s.
Guest curated by Jennifer Phipps
Coordinated by Jenepher Duncan
Exhibiting Artists: Micky Allan, Hilary Archer, Howard Arkley, John Armstrong, George Baldessin, Jonas Balsaitis, Vivienne Binns, Peter Booth, John Brack, Ian Burn, Tim Burns, Jenny Christmann, Bill Clements, Tony Coleing, Marlee Creaser, Aleks Danko, Isabel Davies, John Davis, Domenico de Clario, Margaret Dodd, Helen Eager, Earthworks Collective 1971-79 (Mark Arbuz, Michael Callaghan, Jan Fieldsen, Colin Little, Chips Mackinolty, Jan Mackay, Marie McMahon, Toni Robertson, Ray Young), Rosalie Gascoigne, Elizabeth Gower, William A. Gregory, Joan Dickson Grounds, Marr Roy Grounds, Dale Hickey, Ian Howard, Robert Hunter, Bob Jenyns, Tim Johnson, Peter Kennedy, Richard Larter, Bruce Latimer, Nigel Lendon, Kerrie Lester, Tony McGillick, Marie McMahon, Robert MacPherson, Bea Maddock, Ian Milliss, Kevin Mortensen, Clive Murray-White, John Nixon, Jill Orr, Robert Owen, Ti Parks, Bob Parr, Mike Parr, Paul Partos, Paul Pholeros, Mel Ramsden, Toni Robertson, Robert Rooney, Gareth Sansom, Sam Schoenbaum, Ken Searle, Lynn Silverman, Guy Stuart, Imants Tillers, Peter Tyndall, Tony Tuckson, Ken Unsworth, Ruth Waller, Jenny Watson, John Wolseley
Publication
Off the Wall / In the Air: A Seventies Collection
In the Press
13-14 July, The Australian, Casting a fresh eye on the 70s
17 July, The Age, Fascinating Show of work in the artistic vanguard
August, Art Monthly Australia, Off the Wall, In the Air: Memories of the Dream
Other Material
Programme of Events
