Kaldor Public Art Projects announces 36th project with global partners, commissioning Australian artists to create new work
For Project 36: do it (australia), Kaldor Public Art Projects will commission Australian creative practitioners to create new work for the organisation’s first public art project to be presented digitally.
Kaldor Public Art Projects has commissioned Australian creative practitioners across a range of disciplines to take part in Project 36: do it (australia). Commissioned practitioners include: Rafael Bonachela, Lauren Brincat, Megan Cope, Brian Fuata, Dale Harding, Saskia Havekes, Amrita Hepi, Jonathan Jones, Janet Laurence, Ian Milliss, Glenn Murcutt, Tracey Moffatt, nova Milne, Khaled Sabsabi and Latai Taumoepeau.
The commissions will take the form of typed or handwritten instructions, occasionally paired with drawings or videos. From 13 May, do it (australia) will release each week a new set of artist instructions, with the full series released over a period of 3 weeks. The instructions will be unveiled on the Kaldor Public Art Projects website and Instagram. Kaldor Public Art Projects will gather audience responses to the artists’ instructions, collating and sharing Australians’ creative interpretations of the new work.
do it (australia) is co-curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and John Kaldor, supported by Emily Sullivan (Curator) and Monique Leslie Watkins.
The commissions will form part of a global network of exchange, as artists’ instructions are shared with partners’ vast international audiences under the title do it (around the world). The Google Arts & Culture platform will present a selection of the 50 commissions from the collaborating global partners.
Since it was initiated by curator and Serpentine Galleries’ Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist with artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier in 1993, do it has been presented all over the world, making it the widest-reaching and longest-running ‘exhibition in progress’ ever shown. Since its inception, it has grown from 12 to over 400 sets of artists’ instructions and has been shown in more than 150 art spaces in over 15 countries. Artists who have taken part in historic do its include Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, Louise Bourgeois, Adrian Piper, Tracey Emin and Richard Wentworth.
do it is based on a series of instructions written by artists – an eclectic mix of ideas that range from the active to the absurd and the philosophical. do it encourages activities away from the screen, inviting audiences to respond to the artist’s call, follow their lead, enter their world and realise an artwork on their behalf.
The new global art project builds on three decades of this famous artist-led open source project, perfectly designed to share with communities during this period of lockdown across the world.This 2020 incarnation of do it is designed to respond to the spatial isolation necessitated by COVID-19 by commissioning new do it instructions for presentation online. It will encourage audiences to interpret the artists’ instructions in their own way, at their own pace. Anyone, anywhere. Audiences will be invited to share their do its with their networks.
Kaldor Public Art Projects Director John Kaldor AO said: “Hans Ulrich Obrist and I have known each other for many years and we are delighted to be working with him again on this global project. It is our hope that this 36th Project helps bring creativity to Australians at home and showcases Australian artists internationally.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Kaldor Public Art Projects share a commitment to developing groundbreaking public art that engages local and international communities. As the Major Project Partner for do it (Australia), Bloomberg Philanthropies is committed to supporting cultural institutions and empowering artists across the physical and digital worlds. Kaldor Public Art Projects is grateful to Bloomberg Philanthropies for their support of this project, the tenth commission generously supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, following on from Making Art Public and Asad Raza in 2019, Anri Sala in 2017 and Jonathan Jones in 2016.Kaldor Public Art Projects are proud that do it (australia) will be supported by founding patrons The Balnaves Foundation and Naomi Milgrom Foundation.
The NSW Government continues to provide invaluable support through Create NSW.
For 51 years Kaldor Public Art Projects has created groundbreaking projects with international artists in public spaces, changing the landscape of contemporary art in Australia with projects that resonate around the world.
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Project 36: do it (australia)
doit.kaldorartprojects.org.au