Contemporary artists continue to make art that challenges how we define art and that encourages us to reflect on our own role in meaning-making. Many of these works de-emphasize the technical skill of the artist, placing the audience’s focus on the underlying philosophical and political structures that create “art”. Such works can provide unique opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking and debate about art, its meaning and its value in contemporary society.

Throughout history artists have sought to challenge our concept of what art can be. When Marcel Duchamp introduced the concept of ‘readymade’A form of sculpture pioneered by Marcel Duchamp in 1913, when he exhibited found objects as artworks he invited conversation about the role of the artist, the institution and the viewer in meaning-making. Duchamp’s sculptural series of found objects asserted that it’s the artist who defines what an artwork is; that the act of choosing an object, removing it from its functional context and placing it in a gallery turns it into art. Later conceptual art Art in which ideas or concepts are more important than the art object. Conceptual Art emerged in the 1960s in the United States. Conceptual artists often focus on ideas about art itself and challenge traditions by using non-conventional art materials., including artists like Joseph Kosuth, Yoko Ono and Sol LeWitt, challenged accepted notions of the form and function of art. Similarly, artists associated with Pop Art such as Andy Warhol challenged traditional ideas about art through subject matter and techniques taken from popular culture including advertising, movies and comic books.

Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, 2019
Maurizio Cattelan is a highly popular (and controversial) artist working in sculpture, installation, curation and publishing. His works are often humorous, challenging audiences to debate about art and its value in contemporary society. His work Comedian, 2019 became a viral phenomenon after it premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach. Several ‘versions’ of the work – a banana duct taped to a wall – were bought for $120,000–$150,000 USD and generated significant public interest and intense debate. Interestingly, the artwork here both an object, and an idea.

When a gallery purchases the artwork, they buy a certificate of authenticity, rights to present the piece as an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, and instructions on how to correctly install and display it. The NGV has loaned this work, meaning that the Gallery hasn’t bought the work but is borrowing it from another. Through this piece Cattelan poses questions about value, and‘turns the art form against itself…(toying) with the fraught nature of spectatorship for contemporary art…’.
By using readily available materials and a simple method of display, Cattelan has created a work that arguably could be made by anyone—making it a perfect site to debate how we recognise works of art and value them. Further, the audience discussion, debate and response could also be said to be a part of the artwork itself, turning naysayers into participants in a broader commentary on both the art world and contemporary society itself.

Smac McCreanor, Hydraulic girl press, 2020–
Hydraulic press girl, 2020–, is a body of work created as digital content by Brisbane-born contemporary dancer, choreographer and artist Smac McCreanor. This series takes the form of “reaction videos”, a subgenre of digital content popular on social media platforms. In side-by-side frames, McCreanor’s body recreates and reacts to videos from YouTube’s Hydraulic Press Channel, a platform dedicated to showing various objects being crushed by a hydraulic press.

The 2023 Triennial is the first time that the work has been removed from its original context of social media and appear in a gallery. While massively popular online (with the series garnering over 700 million views on the artists’ social media accounts), the presentation of these films (originally made for mass consumption) in the Gallery setting encourages a reframing of these works.

The works may be viewed as humorous or grotesque. Audiences may be drawn to the way McCreanor uses her body to imitate the impact on the object, and simultaneously repelled by the violence of the imagery. Her work’s origin as online content invites deeper questioning and discussion about the content we create and consume and what this tells us about our culture today. Students may find this work particularly interesting as it shows some of the artistic possibilities of social media while rejecting stark boundaries about what makes something “art”. McCreanor describes online platforms as a space ‘where her authenticity, personal style and creativity is best representedSophie Prince, ‘Stop scrolling and look at the art’ NGV Triennial 2023, 79.

Experience

• List the key components of the work. These might be visual, or might incorporate movement, sound, light, or other.
• Comment on how the work has been displayed – where is it placed and what other works are nearby? How do viewers engage with the work? Is the work permanent or ephemeral?

Inquire

In pairs, generate 10 questions about the work, which might help you to understand it better. These questions might be related to what you have seen in the work. Use the following starters to help you:

• Why…?
• What are the reasons…?
• What if…?
• What is the purpose of…?
• How would it be different if…?
• Suppose that…?
• What if we knew…?
• What would change if…?

Interpret

Discuss the following ideas about art and its function with reference to the artwork(s) being discussed:

• Value – Is there such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ art? Who decides? What factors do you think might determine an artwork’s monetary value?
• The viewer – what is the role of the viewer in this work? What do you think the artists wants the viewer to think or feel when they view the work? Might they need a specific set of skills or knowledge to understand the work? Might a different person bring a different meaning to the work?
• Context and meaning – Does the work belong in a gallery? Why or why not? Where else might you find this object or work? How does its display in the Gallery affect our interpretation of its meaning?
• What is art? How do you think the artist would define ‘art’? How do you define ‘art’? Does this work challenge your idea? In what way?

Connect

• Reflect on your first response to the work – has your response changed after discussing the work in more depth?
• Did you make any personal associations or connections with the work, and do you think this might have changed how you felt about it?
• Has the work contributed to, or challenged your understanding of what art can be? What remaining questions or challenges do you have?
• Marcel Duchamp believed that a work of art is completed by the viewer.Discuss this idea in relation to one of the works.
• In what way could the artwork be considered a reflection of our times?

Contemporary art is made by artists working now, and as such their work often reflects and responds to challenges and ideas that are being faced in our current times. This makes them uniquely qualified to examine themes and political events students are familiar with. For example, works in the Triennial include themes such as identity, globalisation and our connection to the places we inhabit. They challenge us to re-evaluate social and political structures and to address environmental concerns. This might include topics such as the impacts of phenomena like urbanisation on daily life and identity.

Throughout the twentieth century, artists have explored how people come to define and articulate their sense of self. Contemporary art examines these ideas with the understanding that your experience of the world is shaped by multifaceted cultural concepts of race, class, gender and sexuality. An exploration of identity often includes a consideration of cultural influences and heritage and for many artists, this means an examination of cultural hybridity and the impacts of globalisation and colonisation.

The megacities project
For the first time in human history, more than half of the world’s population now live in urban areas. The shift of populations from rural to urban settings began centuries ago but has escalated sharply in recent decades. Increasingly, the human experience is very much the experience of living in urban environments, and this has become a point of interest for many contemporary artists.

For the Triennial, ten acclaimed street photographers were invited to capture the urban environment of ten globalmegacities Megacities can be defined as cities with a population exceeding 10 million people. The number of megacities has increased from only two in the 1950s to over thirty, with Asia home to half of these.

The photographic works are displayed in an immersive format, with sound and music from each megacity creating a multi-sensory experience and encouraging the viewer to feel transported into the world of each megacity. Each artist has recorded images that tell the story of life in the city they know and live in. The work looks to dispel the perception of a Dystopian Often used to describe art and literature, the term relates to works which speculate on a fictional future through a pessimistic lens, often related to current concerns including environmental, humanitarian, political and social. metropolis and instead reveal the complexity and nuance of these cities – which are fast becoming the dominant habitat for humanity.

Yinka Shonibare, Hybrid sculpture (Sphinx), 2021
British-born, Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare’s practice includes sculpture, textiles, film and installation. His work examines issues around race, identity and colonialism. Hybrid sculpture (Sphinx), 2021 comprises a fibreglass model of the British Museum’s Roman Sphinx, decorated with batik design and a Bamana people’s hyena mask to create a striking hybrid form.

The work reflects on the constructed nature of identity and points to the objectification of African culture in Western societies. Shonibare playfully disrupts our idea of what is ‘traditionally African’ by using fabric featuring Indonesian batik designs which are manufactured in the Netherlands and Britain, and exported to West Africa, where they are a popular commodity. His appropriation of the Roman sphinx also represents an interesting inversion of Western artists’ appropriation of African iconography. ‘Picasso was interested in appropriating from another culture, and I also appropriate from European ethnic art’. Further, the colourful decoration of the Sphinx is a reference to the colourful decoration of Greek and Roman statues – which has in recent history been forgotten, ‘…their transformed bleaching now accepted as the embodiment of Western beauty ideals.’

Experience
Activity: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives
Look at the artwork for a full minute then:

• List five nouns related to what you see in the work
• Look again and list five adjectives related to what you see in the work
• Look a third time and list five verbs you see related to what you see in the work
• Share a new observation. ‘First I noticed… but now I’m noticing…’

Inquire

Activity: ‘Think, puzzle, explore’

• What do you think this artwork might be about? Or what contemporary issue do you think it connects with?
• What questions or puzzles do you have about the artwork or the subject?
• How might you explore the puzzles about the artwork? For example, to explore puzzles about Hybrid sculpture (Sphinx) students might investigate the Roman Sphinx, Batik design or masks made by Bamana people, or they may look into Pablo Picasso’s work and his appropriation of African cultures. To explore Megacities students might investigate what a megacity is and how many of them there are in the world. Or they might look at one of the cities depicted and find out more information about it.

Interpret

• Investigate and discuss the artist’s other work. How does this piece relate to other works made by the artist?
• Now that you have more information about the artist, what further understanding do you have of the artwork and its meaning?
• Look again at the artwork – how does this reflect something of the artist’s experience, identity or interests?
• How do the medium or material used by the artist support the impact and meaning of the work?

Connect
Activity – Step in, Step Out, Step Back

1. Step In: What do you think this person might feel, believe, know, or experience?
2. Step Out: What would you like or need to learn to understand this person’s perspective better?
3. Step Back: What do you notice about your own perspective? What did you need to do to understand someone else’s perspective?

The natural world has long been the source of inspiration for artists and in recent times the climate crisis – rising sea levels, global warming, the collapse of ecosystems – has led many artists to create works which seek to expose the causes and impacts and to invite reflection and compel us to take action.

John Gerrard Flare (Oceania), 2022

Flare (Oceania), 2022 addresses the stark realities of our evolving relationship with the environment and can be seen as a metaphor for humans’ relentless consumption of natural resources. Gerrard has used a custom-programmed game engine and photographs by Tongan artist and eco-activist Uili Louisi to recreate a virtual and generative version of a seascape, which moves through day to night according to the time in Tonga, a Polynesian island nation that lies to the south of Samoa.

Tonga is at the frontline of ever-increasing natural disasters due to climate change, and this will eventually result in the relocation of the Tongan population as the ocean rises. The central image in Flare (Oceania) resembles a flag kept alight by burning fossil fuels and which stands starkly in the middle of slowly lapping water.

Franziska Furter, Liquid Skies/Gwrwynt and Haku, 2021–2023

Franziska Furter’s project in the Triennial is made of two separate works: Liquid skies/Gyrwynt (meaning ‘hurricane’ in Welsh), a multicoloured carpet, which depicts a composite of infrared satellite images of hurricanes, and Haku, an installation of thousands of hand-threaded glass beads emulating ethereal swathes of fog. The project continues the artist’s interest in making invisible phenomena, particularly weather, visible.

Installed inside a single room, the two pieces invite audiences to sit or lie on the soft and textured rug, experiencing first-hand the vibrancy of the colours and the soft contours of the rug’s surface. Looking up at the floating installation above, participants might feel a sense of immersion in the clouds of ‘fog’.

Haku, meaning ‘white’ in Japanese and ‘to braid’ in Hawaiian, is in part inspired by J.M.W Turner’s atmospheric painting Falls of Schaffhausen, c. 1845, which is on display in the same gallery space along with other historical paintings depicting weather scenes and seascapes. The experience of lying on and touching the rug and being immersed in the floating installation encourages participants to reflect on the contradictions of the beauty and destruction of nature, and to consider our place within the landscape.

Experience

Make a list of words/phrases that capture your experience of the work under the following subheadings:

• See
• Hear
• Feel/touch
• Taste/smell

You may have to use your imagination to fill in the ‘touch’ and ‘smell’ sections! Share your list with a partner, then move to a different place. Repeat the activity and see if you can add more ideas to your list.

Inquire

Ask your partner to share their observations (from above) with you. The take on the role of interviewer and ask your partner:

• What do you think this work might be about?
• How does this relate to something you know about or have experienced?
• What opposite concepts or ideas can you find in the artwork?
• What do you notice about the other artworks in the room (if there are any) or how is it similar to another artwork you have seen?

Interpret

Read or research a little about the artwork (if you are in the Gallery, this may include reading a label, or if you are in the classroom conducting some research into the artist and their work).

• How does your research or discussion help your understanding of the artwork?
• Was your first understanding close to the intention of the artist? How was it similar or different?
• Look again at the artwork and discuss how the artists choice of medium and their use of art elements and principles to support their intention.
• How do you think the artist might want us to think or act after seeing their artwork? Make a list of possible actions that you or your class could take to address the issue the artist is discussing.

Connect

Activity: Beauty and Truth

• Is there beauty in this artwork? Explain why you think this.
• Is there truth in this artwork? Explain why you think this.

Activity: The three “whys”

• Why might the issue have addressed by the artist matter to you?
• Why might it matter to people around you (family, friends, others in the community, your city or nation)?
• Why might it matter to the world?

Works in public spaces can blur the barrier between the viewer and the artwork, challenging the notion of the gallery as being the only site for display and appreciation of art. Playing with the long history of venerating notable figures in public art in western art history, some artists today use public spaces to draw attention to and celebrate people, cultures and concerns which have been historically marginalised or had their value or importance diminished. In this way public works can be seen as a site for challenging power structures.

Thomas J. Price, All in, 2021 and Reaching out, 2020
British artist Thomas J. Price creates works that seek to challenge notions of race, power and representation The way in which an individual or group is portrayed or given recognition in society. and which interrogate the role that galleries and other public institutions have in shaping and reinforcing power structures. His works confront the lack of of representation of people of colour in public statuary and invite us to consider the role of public statuary and who it celebrates and elevates. This is particularly interesting when placed into recent discourse, both internationally and in Australia, around public statues of historical figures associated with colonialism.

In the words of the artist:

“Bronze is a beautiful material that has a long and illustrious history. It makes me think of ancient Greek statues, the Benin heads at the British Museum and triumphant monuments to various military figures…The constructed figures I make look nothing like the individuals usually depicted in bronze, which is normally reserved for …aggrandising an individual or a movement.”

The large bronze sculptures stand in a prominent and visible public space (the NGV’s Federation Court). They have a striking presence, inviting viewers to notice them immediately as they enter the gallery space. A closer inspection reveals that these figures are a man and woman of African descent, they are dressed casually, and the artist has carefully captured their nuanced and human expressions. Both sculptures are placed directly on the floor rather than on plinths, a choice which ‘…undermine(s) the notion of authority and high status usually ascribed to sculptures‘.

The medium and placement of the work recalls historical statuary and in this way the works to subvert preconceived ideas about who is often celebrated in works of this scale. In addition, viewers may be invited to reconsider their own socially learnt attitudes and perceptions and to think about the role of institutions in perpetuating beliefs.

Kim Wandin Luk Bugurrk Gunga , 2023
Kim Wandin is a Wurundjeri elder of the Woiwurrung language group who lives and works ‘on Country’ in Healesville. She continues the cultural practice of weaving which was passed to her by her grandmother, great-grandmother and her ancestors. For the NGV Triennial, Wandin has collaborated with Sculpture Co Pty Ltd to create a monumental bronze eel trap Luk bagurrk gunga (which means ‘eel women catch’ in the Woiwurrung) which is displayed in the moat at the front of NGV International. The placement of the eel trap in the moat and its large scale contribute to its interpretation as a monument to the remarkable history of Wurundjeri women, their matrilineal tradition of weaving and their relationship with the short-finned eel, known as Iuk. In the words of the artist:

‘My weaving honours my Ancestors, my grandmothers and the Aboriginal women looking after family. ‘Luk bagurrk gunga’ also honours the eel and their journey through waterways and across land. Just like the eels, we are still here and this bronze monument is showing continuity for my Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Community.’

Julian Charrière’s And beneath it all flows liquid fire, 2019

Julian Charrière uses sculptural objects and images – both moving and still – to explore the connections between human activity ecology, and time. His work is often inspired by fieldwork in politically and geographically sensitive locations such as volcanoes, ice fields, oil palm plantations, as well as undersea and radioactive sites.

And beneath it all flows liquid fire, 2019 is installed behind the NGV’s iconic ‘waterwall’ and includes moving image and sound. The work contrasts the elements of water and fire – through the motif of the fountain – which appears ablaze, as well as the literal waterwall. Both water and fire have contradictory symbolic meaning – fire and water representing life and its beginnings but also destruction.

The positioning of the work behind the waterwall, along with the immersive soundtrack, present a confronting spectacle as visitors enter the Gallery – it is suggestive of ecology, climate change and humanity’s consumption of fossil fuels. The title of the work references magma that flows beneath the earth – primordial and timeless.

Experience

• Take some time to observe the site where the artwork is placed. How would you describe the space and its physical characteristics? Is it a famous or iconic location? A commonly used public area? What is the function of the space (i.e. how is it used by people?)
• Now describe the physical features of the artwork and how it occupies the space in the Gallery. Consider the scale of the artwork, its form materials used, other characteristics (these might include elements such as sound and light).
• Comment on how people are interacting with the artwork – are they sitting and watching, standing beside the work, looking up or down at the work?

Inquire

• Think about the original function of the space where the artwork is placed. How does the artwork affect people’s experience of the space?
• What is surprising or challenging about the artwork? How is it similar or different to what you would normally find in this space?
• How would it be different if the artwork was displayed in a different location for example in a more traditional gallery setting?

Interpret

• How does the location contribute to the meaning or our interpretation of the work?
• Consider the materials or medium of the artwork, has the artist used traditional or non-traditional materials? How does their choice of materials add to the meaning of the work?
• How does the scale of the artwork affect our response and engagement with the work?
• What opposite concepts can you find in the work and how do these contribute to its meaning?

Connect

• What is your personal response to the work – has it changed or expanded your thinking about an issue or idea?
• How do you think the artist wants the audience to respond to the work? This might be a new perspective, or it might be a call to action.
• Reflect on your own artmaking – who is the audience for your work? How might you use scale, materials and placement or display of your artwork to contribute to its meaning or people’s experience of it?

From Dada An intellectual and art movement, starting in Switzerland c. 1916, that rejected and ridiculed the values, ideas and culture of society that it held responsible for the destruction and brutality of World War I. Dada artists pioneered new and original ideas, including the use of found objects, readymades, and performance art. performances in the early twentieth century to the present day, many works of contemporary art ask us to get involved. The audience’s participation and interaction with the work contributes to the meaning of the work, and sometimes the appearance of the work and provokes us to think about an expanded definition of art. To varying extents, in participatory works the artist gives up control of the final result and instead is seen as a collaborator or co-producer of the experience and outcome of the work.

In this way, participatory art can be a productive starting point to help students understand and experiment with collaboration in creative practice and explore different mediums and forms of expression. An invitation to be part of a participatory work empowers the audience. It also provides rich opportunity for encouraging students who may be resistant to exploring non-traditional art forms to think differently about the artmaking process, including critically engaging with ideas such as ‘I could do that’ or ‘contemporary art is easy’.

Yoko Ono, My mommy is beautiful, 2023
My mommy is beautiful is emblematic of Yoko Ono’s pioneering conceptual and performance artworks that invite audience participation and collective action. For this project, visitors are invited to write their own reflections about their mothers onto pieces of paper, which are then attached to canvases presented in the gallery space. Eventually, the written notes and photographs spill over the walls, resulting in floor-to-ceiling messages of love, dedication and reflection. Ono urges us to celebrate maternal love – both experienced and perhaps wished for or imagined. But critically, her actual involvement in the work is minimal. The work functions as a celebration of voices and perspectives while blurring the boundaries of who creates it, offering a moment of contemplation and remembrance.

Experience

• On your own or in pairs, list everything you see in the space that is connected to the artwork. This might include the gallery space, places for people to sit, or materials for people to use.
• How are people encouraged to participate in the work? What are they expected to do in the space?

Inquire
Circle of viewpoints
Make a list of people who might view and experience this work. This might include a child, a parent, a teacher, a doctor etc. Then, complete the following sentences

• I am looking at the work from the perspective of…
• I think…
• I feel…
• I wonder…
• What questions would you like to ask the artist to help you to understand the work?

Interpret

• In what way(s) is the audience involved in making the art or bringing meaning to the work?
• What message(s) or meanings can you find in the work? How does the audience’s participation create or change the meaning of the work?

Connect

• How might different people interpret or respond to the work? This might be influenced by their own experience, perspectives or knowledge.
• Write down your personal response to the artwork. What does it mean for you? How does it encourage you to see or do things differently?

Contemporary art practice is often characterised by innovation. Many artists use unconventional and surprising materials which may be chosen for their physical properties and aesthetic qualities, but also often because of their symbolic or functional associations. Artists have used everyday materials in sculptural works since the first ‘readymade’A form of sculpture pioneered by Marcel Duchamp in 1913, when he exhibited found objects as artworks sculptures, elevating their status from functional objects to works of art. In more recent years, artists and designers have used materials as diverse as coffee, avocado, cow dung and gunpowder to interrogate the historical, political and cultural significance of the materials we use.

Additionally, the line between art, science and design has become increasingly blurred with designers incorporating cutting edge materials research into their practice and making objects of design which are as much about ideas and about shifting our attitudes to the things we make and use as they are about functionality.

Fernando Laposse Conflict Avocados project, 2023

Fernando Laposse has combined design and material research for his project Conflict avocados, 2023, which interrogates the recent history of the avocado plant and the ramifications of its rapid increase in popularity. Native to Mexico, avocados have traditionally been grown sustainably in the region, however, global demand for the fruit has altered the rate at which the plant is farmed, resulting in ecological destruction, violence and civil unrest. The project includes a cabinet made from avocado leather, an embroidered tapestry and a lounge made from textiles dyed by avocado and sunflowers. The work reflects both technological innovation and historic artmaking, combining new techniques for using material from the avocado plant with craft traditions. The work shares the potential for design to address not only aesthetics but also ethics, encouraging viewers to consider the social, economic and environmental ramifications of global consumption.

Basse Stittgen, Blood record, 2023
Basse Stittgen is a designer and artist whose work interrogates issues of global food waste and the environmental and ethical implications of the meat industry. In many of his works he develops bioplastics made from waste material such as eggs and cows’ blood. He forms these bioplastics into objects of art and design that make visible the often-obscured realities of the food industry.

For the work Blood record2023, Stittgen has pressed a record from discarded cow blood, a by-product of the meat industry which plays the sound of a cow’s heart beating. The work serves as a tangible reminder of the process involved in producing the food we eat and the realities of industrial abattoir production– a process which in contemporary society has become distant or removed from our everyday life. The artist explains:

‘There are countless notions and associations connected to blood…yet the very real narrative of cow blood as a by-product and waste stream remains untold. The slaughterhouse industry is one of the most resource intensive in the world, yet it remains almost invisible – this disconnection makes it difficult to create a common ground to talk about the ethics of production and consumption. The work offers a platform for confrontation and reflection regarding our relation towards animals.’

Jaydan Moore, Propgate, 2023
Jaydan Moore uses found objects as a vehicle to explore notions of memory, nostalgia and symbolism. Propgate, 2023 is constructed from more than 150 silver-plated serving platters, bought from eBay and second-hand shops, which are then soldered together to create a large and monumental abstract form. The serving platters, which were popular throughout the twentieth century — an embedded part of European dining culture — represented a family’s wealth and social standing.

The work presents as a striking mass which spreads out across the gallery wall, an organic shape almost like a metal quilt formed by the silver serving platters. A closer inspection reveals the patina and evidence of use or price tags from second hand shops; with some of the trays flattened and shaped to the point where they curl and resemble sheets of delicate lace or paper. Moore’s work has a sense of nostalgia, representing the memory and meaning held in objects or remnants of a bygone era. Propgate invites us to consider the changing role of these objects in our lives. As Moore reflects, ‘I am trying to show the life cycle of an object’s meaning in society’. Jayden Moore in Amanda Dunsmore, ‘Silver lustre’, NGV Triennial 2023, 63 The work might also invite discussion about the material waste which exists and which we continue to create and which populate second hand shops and online marketplaces – where Moore sources his materials.

Experience

• What materials do you see in this artwork and where are they commonly used or found?
• List the physical characteristics and qualities of the material you see in this work.
• Colours, shapes, lines – What colours do you see? What shapes do you see? What lines do you see?

Inquire

• What is the historical or cultural context for the material? – you may need to do some research into the material to find out how it is made or sourced, how it has been used and viewed historically, whether there are any challenges or negative effects (environmental or other) on its use.
• Is the material or object available to everyone? Who has access to the material and who does not?
• What methods has the artist used to make art from the material? What tools would be required? How has its original form and function been maintained or changed?

Interpret

• Consider the list of colours, shapes and lines from the above ‘experience’ stage. Write down or discuss with a partner what visual effects or associations the colours, shapes and lines observed have for you.
• After learning a little about the artist, what meaning or significance do you think this material might hold for the artist?
• Consider the artist’s treatment of the material and the way it is used or displayed in the artwork – how does this contribute to its meaning?
• What is the title of the work? What meanings do you associate with the title? How does this contribute to your understanding of the artwork?

Connect

• Where have you seen or used this material or object in your daily life? Does this artwork change the way you respond to the material or object? In what ways?
• In the classroom, give students a range of everyday objects that might be familiar to them or have some significance in their lives – for example a china teacup, a soft toy, a doily, coffee, sugar. Students work in small groups, assigned one object. Use the ‘Inquiry’ questions above to discuss the chosen objects. Consider and share with the group your personal response or association with the objects. Write down or sketch some ideas for an artwork which uses this object or material.
• Find out about some other artists who have used unconventional materials in their work. Identify two artworks where the same or similar materials are used. Are there any similarities between the messages and meanings of the materials used?

Some contemporary artists use emerging technologies to respond to our changing world, often to speculate about future possibilities. Artificial Intelligence (AI), animation and increasingly realistic computer game software not only offer artists new means for expression, but they also present questions about the relationship between humans and technology and the role of technology in our life. Such questions include the role of AI in the creative process itself, as well as ethical considerations around the type of technology we are developing and the implications this has for the future.

Agnieszka Pilat, Heterobata, 2023
Polish-born, USA-based artist Agnieszka Pilat considers the power of technology in contemporary society in her project Heterobota, 2023. This project utilises robots created by Boston Dynamics which are currently being used in industries and applications including construction, manufacturing, research and government (public safety). Pilat has programmed three robots – named Basia, Omuzana and Bunny to play, paint pictures and explore their environment, showing behaviours that echo human creativity.

The robots are housed in a purpose-built apartment in the Gallery which includes a living space, a raised platform with a window, a studio for the robots to paint and a place for them to sleep. There are also toys for the robots to play with and one of the robots is fitted with a camera so that viewers can see on the screen how they are viewed by the robot.

The placement of the robots in this way encourages audiences to encounter and interact with the robots as we would animals in the zoo. Pilat is interested in the way we relate to robots and AI and the way in which they are increasingly becoming part of our lives. The work invites discussion about the role of AI in or lives and the implications of our increasing reliance on it.

SMACK, Speculum, 2019
Dutch Collective SMACK use computer animation to build figurative video works which explore issues including digital identity, surveillance culture and mass behaviour. The installation Speculum, 2019 takes its inspiration from Hieronymus Bosch’s iconic painting, The garden of earthly delights c. 1495-1505. Like Bosch’s painting, Speculum 2019 is presented as a triptych with three distinct scenes – The Garden of Eden, Paradise and Hell. Both the painting and the digital work present a cautionary tale of the consequences which may result from yielding to ‘temptation’.

Presented in neon bright colours and with a gaming aesthetic, Speculum presents contemporary ‘temptations’ which students will be familiar with – consumerism, our obsession with social media and with information accessed through the internet. According to the artists, the second panel ‘Paradise’ presents the twenty-first century being inhabited by a ‘deeply flawed ‘projection of our digital selves. A garden of super-egos’. Finally, the third panel, Hell presents the resulting torture, punishment and pain which SMACK describe as ‘a projection of our fears’, which could become our reality.

The work presents opportunities for students to reflect on contemporary culture and speculate about the consequences of consumerism, populist politics and mindless consumerism.
Please note this work contains sexual and violent imagery which may not be suitable for younger students.

Experience
What can you see? Work with a partner to develop a detailed description of the work. This might include comments in response to the following questions:

• What is it made from and/or or how was it made?
• What recognisable imagery or objects do you see or notice?
• How are we observing the work (are we able to walk around or interact with it?) Is it immersive? Or are we removed and looking at it from a distance?

Inquire

• What do you wonder about or notice?
• What opposite concepts can you find in the work?
• What things are familiar or unfamiliar about the work?
• What questions do you have that might help you to understand the work?

Interpret
Due to the different technologies at play in these works, we recommend offering distinct interpretation questions, as we’ve done here

AGNIESZKA PILAT

• Consider how the robots are placed in the space, do they seem like machines or animals? Or both? Are we encouraged to connect or interact with them? Explain your response.
• What do you think the artist is suggesting about the potential of technology now and in the future?
• Do you think Pilat is excited or fearful about the creative potential of robots (or both)? What makes you think this?

SMACK

• Look at an image of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The garden of earthly delights what similarities and differences can you find?
• Why do you think the artists have chosen to use computer animation to make this work?
• Choose one image or character in the animation. How does this image relate to an idea or issue in our current society? What do you think the artists might be suggesting about this issue?
• What do you think the artists are trying to say about contemporary society and/or the future?

Connect

• What new ideas do these works suggest about our current society or future possibilities?
• Conduct some research on current discourse around AI and generative artworks.
• You may wish to start by watching this short film produced by MOMA about AI generated art or by reading the article published in The Guardian ‘When AI can make art – what does it mean for creativity?’
• Will AI and generative technologies mean the end of human creativity? Discuss with reference to your research and the works explored.
• Have these works changed or extended your thinking about art, technology and the future? If so, how? What questions to you have? How could you explore these in your art making?

Some contemporary artists’ practices involve the revival of traditional crafts and ways of making, and a return to materials and techniques that have often been passed down over generations. In Western art history, there has been a clear distinction between ‘craft’ and ‘fine art’, with craft often being considered a lesser form of art. This is in part related to the domestic function of craft objects and their association with ‘women’s work’, which historically has had a lower status.

Movements in the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century such as the Arts and Crafts movement, the Bauhaus movement, feminist discourse and art practice, and the work of contemporary fibre artists like Sheila Hicks and Francoise Grossen, along with cultural exchange and globalisation have meant that the line between art and craft has become increasingly blurred. Further to this, social media platforms have provided opportunities for craft makers to gain exposure, increasing the visibility of craft and aiding its elevation into the world of fine art.

For some artists the changed status of craft practices, creates an interesting context for challenging gendered stereotypes which have historically ascribed greater value to art made using ‘masculine’ materials (sculpture, industrial materials) over ‘feminine’ materials like fibre work and weaving. For many artists the elevation of traditional ways of making into the sphere of the art world also offers an opportunity to give voice and visibility to cultural practices which are integral to their identity and have historically been ignored or downplayed by the dominant culture.

Yee I-Lann, Tikar/Meja (mat/table), 2020, and Tikar Reben (mat ribbon), 2020
Yee I-Lann lives and works in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Her work explores concepts like power, colonialism and neo-colonialism in South-East Asia. For this project Yee has collaborated with communities from the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo, to create two works made from tikar – woven mats. The project comprises a collection of sixty tikar with woven images of tables called Tikar/Meja (mat/table) 2020, a 62-metre long tikar called Tikar Reben (mat ribbon), 2020 and accompanying video work of the same name.

I-Lann, who was known principally for her photographic practice, was inspired to learn about the making of the tikar after finding a photograph of herself as a child in the 1970s, sitting on her grandmother’s tikar. She discovered that the plant used to weave the rugs was becoming extinct, along with the knowledge of how to process and weave with it. Across the three artworks on display in the Triennial, I-Lann collaborated with the historically sea-dwelling Bajau and Sama Dilaut people, based on the land and off the coast of Omadal Island in Sabah. Tikar are mostly woven by women both historically and contemporarily, creating a form of communal feminist practice.

The production and display of Tikar/Meja and Tikar Reben in the gallery space and the scale of both projects has both tangible and symbolic meaning for the artist and the Bajau Sama Dilaut people, who – due to their traditional way of life on the sea – are considered stateless by the Malaysian government. ‘Through working with Yee, the community has increased weaving activities and decreased fishing, reducing pressure on the Coral Triangle’.

In Tikar Reben, 2020, the tikar and accompanying video speak of connection. In the video, people from the land and sea work together, carrying the length of mat across the water from a jetty attached to Omadal island to a cluster of stilt huts (the homes of the weavers). Here the tikar and the act of carrying it across the water symbolises linking of the now land-based people with those that still live onn the water – whose relationship has been strained by trade and colonial incursion.

In Tikar/Meja woven mats occupy the walls of the entire gallery space. The woven mats, which are non-hierarchical, and made by a community of women, stand in direct and stark contrast to the tables they depict, which for the artist represent administrative power and control from colonial, patriarchal, federal and state powers.

Lin Fanglu, She’s four seasons, 2023
She’s four seasons, 2023 by Lin Fanglu is part of a body of work in which the artist and designer has explored traditional crafts through a contemporary lens, highlighting the often-overlooked work of female artisans. The work is drawn from her research and experience of learning the ancient tie-dyeing techniques of the Bai people in Zhou Cheng village, Yunnan province. This large-scale sculptural work draws attention to the physically painstaking work involved in the production of this traditional form of tie-dyeing. The hand-knotting, twisting and tying the cotton fabric, which is not seen in the final product, is made visible here as a celebration of the work of women in an art form that dates back millennia.

Wanapati Yunupiŋu, Gurtha (Road closed for ceremony), 2021
Wanapati Yunupiŋu’s work represents both a continuation of cultural traditions and an innovative approach to found materials – highlighting the fluidity and incredible ingenuity of his Yolngu culture. Yunupiŋu skilfully carves his sacred Gumatj clan patterns and stories onto found metal objects, such as discarded road signs in an act of reclamation and renewal.

The work Gurtha (Road closed for ceremony) recounts a significant ceremony at Ŋalarrwuy in Gumatj Country, where the leaders of Yirritja moeity clans first used fire. The diamond design has since been associated with these events and for Yolŋu people will forever embody its vibrant red flames, white smoke and ash, black charcoal and yellow dust, as well as the black skin, yellow fat, white bone and red blood of the Gumatj people.

Beneath the sacred markings, the original words on the discarded road sign read ‘Road Closed Due to Ceremony’, a road sign unique to the region. By engraving the sacred designs or minytji onto the road sign – an object associated with colonisation – Yunupingu imbues it with deep cultural meaning and reclaims the object in a statement that speaks of his deep spiritual connection with his Community and homeland. Further, his use of found materials to make artwork about Country stretches the firmly held convention of his people that ‘if you are going to paint the land, you must use the land.’ In this way, the work of Yunupiŋu and his contemporaries have reinvigorated their cultural practice, which is and has always been fluid, evolving and contemporary.

Experience

• In partners, look at the artwork for 30 seconds taking in as many details as you can. Now look away and describe what you saw or noticed about the artwork . Look again, what do you see now that you didn’t notice before?
• What do you notice about the materials? Are they organic or synthetic? Are they typical art materials?

Inquire

• Write down three questions you would like to ask the artist about the making of the work.
• Speculate on the process of making this artwork – how long do you think it would take? Would it have been made by a single artist or by a group of artists? How would the process feel – methodical, labour intensive, frustrating, calming? What do you see that makes you think this?

Interpret

• Find out about the artist’s background and community– how did they learn the practice of making the art in the way it has been made? Why do you think they have chosen the method?
• How is the context and function of the artwork similar or different to the traditional context?
• Why do you think the artist has chosen this method or practice for their artmaking? How does the method communicate to the meaning of the work?

Connect
Think about something you can make or do that has been taught to you by a family member or friend. This might include cooking, drawing, knitting, weaving.

Write down:

1. What is it that you make or do?
2. Who taught it to you and how did you learn it?
3. How do you feel when you are doing this activity?
4. How would you teach it to someone else?
5. Why is it important to continue this practice? For you? For people in the future?