Nava: In Conversation

Keynote recorded live at Australian Cultural Policy: The Next Decade, presented by Monash University’s Masters of Cultural & Creative Industries and NAVA at the State Library of Victoria on 8 April 2019. “We need a national cultural policy that’s grounded in First Nations sovereignty and the NAVA Code of Practice... Cuts to the arts affect the Australian identity.” Gabi Gabi / Kabi Kabi and Wiradjuri artist and academic Dr Bianca Beetson gave the artists’ keynote and response to Shadow Minister for the Arts the Hon Tony Burke at Australian Cultural Policy: The Next Decade, presented by Monash University’s Masters of Cultural & Creative Industries and NAVA at the State Library of Victoria on 8 April 2019. Dr Beetson studied a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) at the Queensland University of Technology 1993-95, completed Honours in 1998 and was awarded a Doctorate of Visual Arts in 2018. She is a visual artist who works in a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography

NAVA's Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Girramay/Kuku Yalanji artist, Tony Albert and Noonuccal Nuugi playwright and theatrical director, Wesley Enoch discussing the role of artistic courage amidst our nation's current state of political confusion.

Artist Adrian Villar Rojas sits down with Coby Edgar to discuss the research methodologies informing his exploration of Australia as a potential site for future works. The conversation covers Adrian's practice, narratives of colonial violence and the tenuous relationship between audience, artist and curator played out in cultural institutions.

NAVA's Penelope Benton in conversation with Chinese-Australian artist Amy Suo Wu and artist, curator and founder of Feminist South, Kelly Doley. Feminist South is a curatorial project and research platform spanning across 2017-2019 that aims to generate discussion on contemporary feminist practice located in and around Asia, Australia and the Pacific regions. In collaboration with I: project space, Feminist South is currently presenting 'Thunderclap', a part-shop, part-sewing workshop and part-exhibition by Amy Suo Wu at the Artspace Sydney Ideas Platform until 10 March 2019.

‘As artists we have to keep questioning and being really honest about what’s going on’ Karla Dickens, 2019. Artist Karla Dickens sits down with Penelope Benton to discuss her most recent work in the new Artspace exhibition; ‘Just not Australian’. The conversation covers Karla’s practice and approach to making work, her Copyright Agency fellowship, and the responsibility of artists to make clear and honest work.

Ku Arts​ is the South Australian support organisation for Aboriginal artists and art centres, and recently hosted a professional development symposium and workshop in Port Augusta. Penelope sat down for a conversation with Alison (Milyika) Carroll, an artist and the chair of Ernabella Arts​ (APY Lands), David Miller an artist and chair of Ku Arts and Ninuku Arts​ (APY Lands), Lavene Ngatokoroua, the director of Ku Arts Port Augusta region, on the board of Ku Arts, recipient of the 2018 NAIDOC Lifetime achievement award in Port Augusta and Marie Falcinella, the CEO of Ku Arts.

‘Both the ‘Community and Cultural Development’ (CACD) and the ‘Emerging and Experimental Arts’(EEA) sector are the vanguards of the exploration of new genres of artistic practice and artistic practice and I think it’s a really exciting part of the Australian arts ecology as we move into the future’ -Jeremy Smith In the midst of travelling around remote and regional Australia, Jeremy Smith sits down the Esther Anatolitis at the NAVA office to talk about his role at the Australia Council for the Arts, and the future of community, emerging and experimental arts in Australia. The conversation covers Jeremy's career trajectory, recent projects and future plans. Jeremy provides provocations for artists and organisations working in Australia, and asks 'what difference can I make in the here and now?'

'Any conversation becomes easier when there is a starting point of universal and collective understanding' Joe Toohey Joe Toohey is the Executive Director of Regional Arts Victoria and he sat down with Esther Anatolitis in Melbourne to discuss Artlands 2018. Artlands is the national biennial event for regional arts in Australia, and was held this year in Bendigo. For information about the program, and future events, head to their website​.

For this episode, Penelope Benton chats with Meagan Shand, CEO of Arts Access Australia about this year's 'Meeting Place' forum held in Alice Springs. Arts Access Australia is the national peak body for arts and disability in Australia. They work to increase national and international opportunities and access to the arts for people with disability as artists, arts-workers, participants and audiences. 'Meeting Place' is AAA's annual forum, and brings together artists and arts workers in Australia to talk about best practice in disability and access in the arts. This year's event co-hosted with NT's Incite Arts. Details about Meeting Place including the live stream of the sessions can be found on their website: https://www.meetingplaceforum.org/

Curator and writer, Jeff Khan joins Penelope Benton in conversation about Performance Contemporary as part of Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and Liveworks 2018, Performance Space's annual festival.

Esther speaks with Tess Maunder ahead of the launch of her new publication, Absolute Humidity. Absolute Humidity is a volume that aims to re-position conversations about the climate, weather and the environment by placing artist’s voices at the centre of the discussion. The publication focuses on contemporary artists from the Asia-Pacific region, including twenty-eight new conversations and other contributions that form a new constellation of inquiries. Through this project, contributors discuss how ideas surrounding weather, the environment and the climate be conceptualised by artists producing fresh ideas surrounding artistic agency. Tess Maunder is a writer, curator. editor and researcher based in Brisbane.

In Cairns for the annual Indigenous Art Fair, Esther speaks with Artistic Director Janina Harding about this year's program. Curator and artist Bianca Beetson discusses her recent exhibition at NERAM gallery, and her son Aidan Finn about his study of contemporary Australian Indigenous art at Griffith University. Finally, Esther speaks to artist Laliana Tusa and her mother about their work featured at the fair. For more information about the CIAF program, head to the website: https://ciaf.com.au/

Soda_Jerk​ sits down with Esther Anatolitis in the NAVA office to talk about their most recent and controversial work, 'Terror Nullius, a political revenge fable in three acts'. The artists discuss their approach to making work as a seizing and hacking of culture as an act of political resistance and solidarity. Formed in Sydney in 2002, Soda_Jerk is a two-person art collective who work at the intersection of documentary and speculative fiction.

In the window of the Australia Council building in Sydney, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Gosia Wlodarczak, during her drawing residency. They discuss Gosia's approach to drawing as looking and focus, what that means, and how she built her art practice in Poland and Australia over the years.

Artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah in conversation with Esther Anatolitis about his most recent work in 'Enough خلاص Khalas' exhibition at UNSW Galleries, and the development of his practice as a professional artist in Australia.

For this episode, artist Chris Fox is in conversation with Esther Anatolitis and Penelope Benton around public art, and his most recent public artwork at Wynyard Station, 'Interloop'. The conversation discusses the value and role of art in the public space, and the challenges inherent in public art policy and delivery - through competing stakeholders and agendas. This episode unpacks the challenges facing contemporary artists working in public space, and makes suggestions for change. Check out Chris Fox's work via his website: http://chrisfox.com.au/

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist Sarah Goffman. Sarah describes her work as an obsession and compulsion, and her role as 'trash converter' as she reframes plastics and everyday consumer products and packaging into beautiful objects through the critical lens of waste and excess consumption. For more information about Sarah's work, and upcoming shows, head to her website: http://www.sarahgoffman.com/

Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Elvis Richardson, the curator of 2018 Adelaide Biennial. They discuss the exhibition, artists and the arts in South Australia.

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist and activist, Elvis Richardson. Founder of the Countess Report, Elvis has been exposing gender inequity in the arts since the blog launched in 2008, and subsequent 'counts' of gender imbalance in gallery and museum representation, media and opportunities. Elvis lives and works in Melbourne, and has an upcoming show at Kyneton Contemporary Art Triennial, and a new website for The Countess Report.

'the five fundamental elements of the universe is sitting in reciprocal relationship, so no one is stronger than the other, that one either kill or killed by others, and that's the how the whole universe keep changing and keeping that good balance with everything' Mami Kataoka. For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Mami Kataoka, the Artistic Director of Superposition, the 21st Biennale of Sydney. Esther and Mami discuss superposition and thermo-dynamic equilibrium, a concept drawn from quantum physics, and how it is applied to contemporary art systems and artists and the direction of this years Biennale. 21st Biennale of Sydney runs 16 March - 11 June 2018 in various locations around Sydney. More information via www.biennaleofsydney.art