The Biography of Things
11 December 2015 – 21 February 2016

An exhibition that explores the labyrinthine stories that live behind things will run at ACCA through the summer months.

The Biography of Things is an international exhibition curated by Juliana Engberg, Annika Kristensen and Hannah Mathews, bringing together artists who use objects, archives and collections to reveal narratives of loss, intrigue, histories and people.

Working as if detectives, the artists in this exhibition bring a lively approach to object encounters, using both objective and subjective approaches to reveal much about what time has concealed or forgotten.
 
Highlights included:
New York-based, French artist Camille Henrot’s Gross Fatigue (2013), hailed as ‘groundbreaking’ when it was awarded the Silver Lion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, draws on the collections of the world’s largest scientific museum, the Smithsonian Institute, to tell the story of the creation of the world.
Narelle Jubelin’s Case no: T961301 (1998), a monumental installation where the worlds of diplomacy and trade meet in a reflection on colonial histories. Jubelin, Sydney-born and Madrid-based, has a research-based practice that directs our attention towards tiny fragments of large histories with great exactness.  
Renowned Lebanese-born artist Walid Raad’s Preface to the Fifth edition, a series initiated by the Louvre, Paris, in 2014 for their new Islamic Art spaces. Since the late 1980s, Raad has been focused on creating works that archive the Lebanese wars in fictional form through his Atlas Group project.

Other artists include Brook Andrew (Aus), Ilit Azoulay (Israel)  Aurélien Froment (French born, Ireland based), Camille Henrot (U.S) Nicholas Mangan (Aus), Rosalind Nashashibi & Lucy Skaer (U.K), Kirsten Pieroth (Germany) and Paul Sietsema (U.S).

The Biography of Things will be accompanied by a catalogue of new texts and a series of podcasts featuring interviews with artists, curators, commentators and Melbourne personalities discussing hidden histories and stories, real or imagined.

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 111 Sturt Street, Southbank.
Gallery hours:  Tuesday-Friday 10am–5pm.  Weekends 11am-6pm.  Mondays by appointment.  Tel: 03 9697 9999.  Admission: Free.  www.accaonline.org.au
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ACCA is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.
 
MEDIA INFORMATION:  
Katrina Hall
Publicity/Communications
0421153046 [email protected]