What to Expect at The National, Sydney's New Blockbuster Citywide Exhibition

The massive off-year answer to the Biennale is coming.
Imogen Baker
December 02, 2016

This April, we were titillated with news of an upcoming collaboration, a long spanning art exhibition hitting Sydney in the coming years. The National: New Australian Art is a home-grown exhibition rolling out in 2017, 2019 and 2021 (all off-Biennale of Sydney years) and will feature a coordinated exhibition across the city's major institutions: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's some of the best news the contemporary Aussie art scene has had in years — and they've just announced the lineup for 2017.

Artists across the three venues have been curated thematically and, obviously and wonderfully, they're all Australian. The AGNSW is focusing on art developed from field research or archival footage, grounded in history and featuring many Indigenous artists. Carriageworks is taking a more introspective view, curating their exhibition around self and relationships, with a focus on collaborative work. And the MCA is zooming in further still for its contribution, exploring iterative issues through time and their motifs. They've released an artist list but at this stage it's not clear where each artist will be exhibiting, only that the lineup is packed with potential.

Exhibiting artists for 2017 include: Khadim Ali, Zanny Begg, Richard Bell, Gordon Bennett, Chris Bond and Wes Thorne, Matthew Bradley, Gary Carsley, Erin Coates, Megan Cop,e Karla Dickens, Atlanta Eke, Emily Floyd ,Heath Franco, Marco Fusinato, Gunybi Ganambarr, Alex Gawronski, Ghenoa Gela, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Julie Gough Alan Griffiths, Dale Harding, Taloi Havini, Gordon Hookey, Ronnie van Hout, Helen Johnson, Jess Johnson, Richard Lewer, Peter Maloney, Nicholas Mangan, Karen Mills, Archie Moore, Claudia Nicholson, Tom Nicholson, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Nell, Rose Nolan, Raquel Ormella, Alex Martinis Roe, Stieg Persson, Elizabeth Pulie, Khaled Sabsabi, Yhonnie Scarce, Keg de Souza, Simon Ward, Justene Williams, Jemima Wyman and Tiger Yaltangki.

The National: New Australian Art will hit the Art Gallery of New South Wales from March 30 – July 16 2017, Carriageworks from March 30 – June 25 2017, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from March 30 – June 18 2017. Entry is free to all exhibitions. 

Published on December 02, 2016 by Imogen Baker
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