Building on its successful night-time public programs, ACCA introduced regular late night hours on Wednesdays and a number of new free and ticketed talks and events. The lecture series isms featuring Artistic Director, Juliana Engberg and other guest lecturers continued to focus on art history. Art think/art shrink was a popular new initiative featuring a philosopher and a psychoanalyst. In 2013 ACCA’s international guest lecturer series included James Lingwood (curator and director of London’s Artangel); Aleksandra Wasilkowska (interdisciplinary Polish architect) and Tacita Dean (artist). The ACCA Artbar continued on the last Friday of each exhibition season, attracting a young crowd keen to combine art viewing with the latest musical talent. A new addition to ACCA’s programs was the highly successful ACCA Mega Quiz which was a sold out event.
Patricia Piccinini: Skywhale
2 December 2013
Patricia Piccinini’s flight of fancy, SKYWHALE, set sail from the forecourt of ACCA during the week commencing 2 December.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS, EDUCATION AND EVENTS
In Conversation – NEW13
20 March 2013
Curator Charlotte Day in conversation with artists Benjamin Forster, Alex Martinis Roe, Jess MacNeil and Sanné Mestrom.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition NEW13.
In Conversation – NEW13
27 March 2013
Curator Charlotte Day in conversation with artists Scott Mitchell, Joshua Petherick and Linda Tegg.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition NEW13.
Event – Mega Quiz Night
15 May 2013
For one night only ACCA transformed its biggest gallery into an arena-spectacular of brains and pop-culture prowess.
In Conversation – Hannah Mathews in conversation with Mikala Dwyer
27 May 2013
Held in conjunction with the exhibitions Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er and Daria Martin: One of the Things that Makes me Doubt.
Artist Talk – Mikala Dwyer
29 May 2013
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er.
Talk– Dream a little dream
5 June 2013
A discussion with Jungian analyst, Annette Lowe, consultant psychiatrist, Dr Nathan Serry, and psychological scientist Dr Russell Conduit. Chaired by writer and critic Martyn Pedler.
Held in conjunction with the exhibitions Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er and Daria Martin: One of the Things that Makes me Doubt.
In Conversation – Art Think, Art Shrink
19 June 2013
Philosopher Mairead Phillips and psychiatrist Jonathan Phillips in conversation about the exhibitions Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er and Daria Martin: One of the Things that Makes me Doubt.
Workshop – Sculptural Drawing
26 June 2013
Observational drawing workshop inside Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er.
Lecture Series – A Short History of the ISMs
1 July: Juliana Engberg on Realism
8 July: Juliana Engberg on Impressionism
17 July: Juliana Engberg on Surrealism
24 July: Anthony White on Abstract Expressionism
31 July: Callum Morton on Minimalism
21 August: Edward Colless on Postmodernism
28 August: Callum Morton on Installation-ism
4 September: Edward Colless on Catastrophism
30 September: Juliana Engberg on Now-ism
Special Event – ACCA Art Bar
26 July 2013
Late night art, drinks and new music with improvised vocal and electronic sounds of Galapagoose and music by Two Bright Lakes.
Held in conjunction with the exhibitions Mikala Dwyer: Goldene Bend’er and Daria Martin: One of the Things that Makes me Doubt.
In Conversation – Charlotte Day and Monika Sosnowska
13 August 2013
Walk through Monika Sosnowska’s ambitious spatial and architectural installation with curator, Charlotte Day and artist, Monika Sosnowska.
Talk – Shadow Architecture
14 August 2013
Polish architect, editor and thinker Aleksandra Wasikowska discussed the ways in which art, architecture, street vendors and market-stall holders are shaping cities all over the world.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Monika Sosnowska: Regional Modernities.
Workshop – Sculptural Drawing
25 September 2013
An unguided workshop to refine or experiment with drawing techniques held amongst Monika Sosnowska’s psychologically charged architectural installations.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Monika Sosnowska: Regional Modernities.
Lecture – Tacita Dean on Film
10 October 2013
A public lecture given by artist Tacita Dean to coincide with the exhibition FILM.
Workshop – Collage and Life Drawing
20 November 2013
An unguided workshop for experimenting with techniques of the handmade was held in conjunction with the exhibitions In the Cut and Tacita Dean: Film.
Special Event – Speed Painters at the ACCA Art Bar
22 November 2013
A night of slo-mo disco from brothers Tig and Nick Huggins in collaboration with Jon Tjhia (ii) and horn player Oscar O’Bryan.
In Conversation – Patricia Piccinini, artist
2 December 2013
Artist, Patricia Piccinini, in conversation with impresario, Robyn Archer AO, at a special breakfast event hosted by ACCA in partnership with Leonard Joel.
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
ACCA’s education programs was devised to align with school curricular at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. They focused on specific areas of philosophy and haptic learning at the primary levels, interdisciplinary and cross-curricular interpretations at the secondary levels, and discussion-based learning at the tertiary levels.
In 2013 ACCA’s Education Services delivered six integrated streams in its Pathways to Art:
1. TALK
ACCA’s schools program focused on haptic and kinaesthetic learning, through moving, touching and doing.
2. MAKE
These workshops were designed to complement ACCA’s annual exhibition program and to foster deeper engagement with exhibition content through haptic learning approaches. Children consolidated their understandings of the concepts in the exhibition and philosophical discussion by creating their own artwork.
3. THINK
The ‘Philosophy of Art for Children’ program used the community of inquiry approach to introduce children to conceptual art, showing that the idea can be more important than aesthetic and artistic skill, and inspiring them to think creatively.
4. ACCA Digital Delivery
ACCA e-communications substantially increased becoming a major feature of public programs and access with interviews, conversation recordings, behind the scenes vision, blogs and many other programs down-loadable from the ACCA website. Sound files and video files were produced for each exhibition and posted on the ACCA website where they were well used by students and general public.
5. INFOCUBE
Infocube functioned as a communications kiosk and research facility for students and teachers, providing access to archived digital information about artist and exhibitions at ACCA. Relevant support material, in the form of video, image, text and sound files was uploaded prior to each exhibition.
6. ACCA Art Partners
ACCA worked in partnership with philanthropic organisations to provide targeted learning programs linked with the Pathways to Art program:
The Go Program supported the participation of students who attend lower socio-economic schools. The program improved access for students who may otherwise not have the opportunity to gain a significant cultural experience through the provision of free bus transport to and from ACCA.
Arts immersion: Starting Points provided regionally based Year 9-12 students from Government schools with an immersive arts experience across the forms of visual arts, theatre and dance. Sessions were hosted in collaboration with Malthouse Theatre and Chunky Move.
The ARTCONNECT9 program in collaboration with the Victorian Arts Centre continued to provide Year 9 level students and teachers from Victorian regional government schools with ‘pathways to Art’ learning experience.
Teachers’ Professional Development:
Getting to Grips with Contemporary Art
18 March 2013
Designed to engage and inspire VCE Art and Studio Art teachers with contemporary art practice, this was an intensive, full day program that featured presentations from Juliana Engberg, Charlotte Day, VCE Art exams co-chief assessors, Andrew Landrigan & Kathy Hendy-Ekers, and NEW13 artist, Jess MacNeil.
Make it, then teach it!
9 October 2013
A day for primary and secondary teachers to work with four artists (Ry Haskings, Alex Pittendrigh, Hanna Chetwin, Georgina Glanville) in a fun, skills-based workshop using contemporary materials and techniques to create simple art activities for the classroom. The workshop was followed by an exclusive preview of Tacita Dean’s FILM.