Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation
Culture+Ideas
Fugitive Structures 2016

Mikhael Subotzky
WYE

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney
18 March - 21 May 2016

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) is dedicated to providing an innovative forum for contemporary art and presenting work by internationally renowned visual practitioners primarily from Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. The Nelson Meers Foundation is privileged to be supporting SCAF's Culture and Ideas program.

2016 begins with an ambitious moving image project titled WYE by the South African artist and Magnum photographer Mikhael Subotzky. WYE comprises an intersecting three channel, immersive video presentation juxtaposing visions of 19th Century colonial history, an ambivalent and perhaps traumatic present day, with an imagined dystopic future. Collapsing these three narratives and three time zones into one mesmerising filmic experience, the audience is taken on a journey through South Africa, Australia and the heart of the British Empire – England.

Working with German cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein (Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre and Woyzeck), Subotzky shot WYE on location in South Africa, after two years of developing the artwork's expansive, time-shifting narrative. A specially constructed, spatially engaging audio component complements the arresting visuals of WYE, immersing visitors in a site of temporal and geo-cultural collapse.

For further information regarding the above exhibition, click here.

Following WYE, SCAF presents the fourth iteration of Fugitive Structures, SCAF's annual architectural pavilion series. An innovative bamboo "green steel" structure designed by cutting-edge architect Vo Trong Nghia Architects. A grid-like bamboo construction incorporates a dense forest of natural materials. This exhibition is first showing at the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane until 15 May 2016.

Why did we fund this project?  The Nelson Meers Foundation is delighted to be a long term supporter of the Culture+Ideas series at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, which encourages a deeper exploration of the many contemporary social issues that are intertwined with artistic practice.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Green Ladder

State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
1 March – 15 May 2016

Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney
24 June – 10 December 2016

For further information regarding the above exhibition, click here

To view earlier SCAF Culture+Ideas Projects or Exhibitions, click here