Un-made, George Paton Gallery Melbourne

[Un]made brings together six artists from the University of Sydney’s Sydney College of the Arts' Kirkbride campus, to mark the unmaking of their community and the uncertain place of the arts within Sydney’s cultural landscape. Prompted by the restructuring of Sydney College of the Arts, Bethan Cotterill, Suzy Faiz, Kath Fries, Szymon Dorabialski, James Thomson and Eila Vinwynn, explore the tension between making and unmaking through modes of materiality and temporality, drawing together physical, linguistic and theoretical elements.

[Un]made gallery view with work by Kath Fries, Elia Vinwynn and Szymon Dorabialski,
photo by Upasana Papadopoulos
[Un]made gallery view with work by Kath Fries, Elia Vinwynn and Szymon Dorabialski

Curated by University of Sydney Master of Art Curating students Upasana Papadopoulos and Tama Woodbury, the exhibition is supported by the University of Sydney Department of Art History, Verge Gallery (Sydney) and the George Paton Gallery - University of Melbourne Student Union.

[Un]made: 18 - 27 October 2017
George Paton Gallery
Level 2, Union House, 
University of Melbourne

[Un]made gallery view with work by Kath Fries and Szymon Dorabialski

  “The title of [un]made emerged from contemplation of the underlying quality which permeates the work of these six Sydney College of the Arts artists. Though counter-intuitive to refer to the product of creative practice as unmade, so effusive has the effect of the closure of SCA been that this quality is evident in each work of this exhibition. To be [un]made is to exemplify one of the multitude of connotations implied by this deceptively simple term.
   From an unmade bed, without smoothed and finished edges to an organic form, of minimal human intervention, ‘unmade’ draws varied images to mind. The common thread which draws them together is transition. [un]made implies a process which has been undertaken and it not yet complete, a parallel to the closure of the SCA. Pervading this exhibition are moments of longing, anxiety, isolation, humour and acceptance. No two artists take the same position on this monumental shift within their community and so, [un]made marks this moment in a process that continues to transpire, a juncture at which the many meanings of SCA to individual artists are
revealed to us.
   Kath Fries’ awe for that which we so often overlook provides the grounding force of [un]made. Humming beneath the physical structure of her Morph is the regard for community inherent to the collective production of beeswax. Her precipitous Reservations throbs with nervous energy, yet a sense of reprieve, even liberation, is concurrent as the resulting fallout of an unstable position becomes evident. The extensive and perpetual efforts of the colony to build, to frame, to order and reinforce their environs is shed in Divest, affirming those continual traces of community which remain present after the dust has settled upon a period of turbulence.
   … In synthesising manifold artistic responses to a monumental shift, [un]made has become an exhibition engrossed by a sense of place. As the Kirkbride campus transitions to closure, the primary campus of the University of Sydney undergoes its own social and spatial transformation in anticipation of the move. Yet the reception of [un]made by the historic George Paton Gallery has, for a moment, provided a place, a platform and a celebration for these six SCA artists.” 
- extracts from the [Un]made exhibition catalogue essay by Upasana Papadopoulos and Tama Woodbury

[Un]made exhibition invitation