Fieldwork

Fieldwork surveys the most important developments in Australian art from 1968 to the present. Fieldwork takes as its point of departure the influential exhibition The Field, held to celebrate the reopening of the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. An important aspect of The Field was its capacity to assert the relationship between the museum and contemporary artists.

Fieldwork draws on the National Gallery of Victoria’s extraordinary collection of contemporary Australian art. The exhibition and its accompanying publication critically assess the interconnection of art and significant moments of social and cultural development over the past three decades. Fieldwork represents the emergence of Indigenous artists into mainstream cultural discourses; the generation of art practices through feminism and political activism; the ongoing relevance to Australia of post-colonialism; and sexualities and cultural difference.

Fieldwork is generously supported by Joan + Peter Clemenger.