On Art

Saudi/Palestinian artist Dana Awartani joins Samstag Curator Anna Zagala to discuss her art practice, living between cultures, and the importance of her unique art education in both contemporary art and traditional crafts, in shaping her art practice and career.  Dana shares the background to the two moving image installation works currently on display at Samstag Museum of Art I Went Away and Forgot You. A While Ago I Remembered. I Remembered I'd Forgotten You. I Was Dreaming and Listen to my Words, her passion for geometry and what being Arab means to her. ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting. It is produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded on 4 April 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artist Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara/Djabwurrung) joins Anna Zagala, Associate Curator at Samstag Museum of Art, to discuss her moving image work, Nycyninasty (2021) currently screening at Samstag as part of the 4th Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony curated by Hetti Perkins for the NGA.  Hayley shares what prompted her to pivot from photography to moving image, how the pressure of the pandemic lockdowns created a shift in her work, and what fuels her art practice. ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded on 30 October 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2022 Samstag Museum of Art and ACMI commissioned a new moving image work by award winning Bundjulung/Ngapuhi artist Amrita Hepi. Ahead of Samstag's presentation of Scripture for a smoke screen: Episode 1 – dolphin house (SASA Gallery, 7 July – 11 August 2023), Associate Curator Anna Zagala sits down with the artist to discuss the genesis of the project and her interest in NASAs 1960s 'dolphin house' experiment that attempted to teach dolphins human language in the hope that it would help them learn how to communicate with extraterrestrial life, what training in choreography and a background in the theatre taught her, and why music videos are a source of inspiration. ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded on 25 May 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Archie Moore (Kammilaroi/Bigambul) is an artist and Samstag Scholar. While a student in Prague, Archie travelled extensively around Europe, including a visit to the Venice Biennale. He returns to Venice 23 years later representing Australia as the 2024 Venice Biennale artist. In a wide-ranging conversation with Associate Curator Anna Zagala Archie shares his preparations for Venice, plans for his forthcoming Samstag commission, his experience while on scholarship, and offers an insight into his practice through an in-depth discussion of a number of his key artworks, from the Dwelling series to the public art commission for Sydney airport. ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded over Zoom on 18 May 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tarntanya-based Dancer and choreographer Daniel Jaber and Kuala Lumpar-based art critic Lee Weng Choy join Samstag Associate Curator to discuss Jaber's dance trilogy Rite, Rot and Dirt performed at Samstag Museum of Art in 2022 and explore the nature of engagement from afar. “When Samstag approached me about writing on Daniel Jaber's trilogy of performances, we decided upon a pair of conversations and a podcast with Daniel. I asked friends and colleagues Aminah Ibrahim and Denise Lai to join me in a discussion of Daniel's work—or, more accurately, photo-documentation from the museum. For our first exchange, on Rite, our conversation was framed by the fact that we three were seeing it from a distance—we live in Kuala Lumpur—and not only would we be looking at the performance solely through images and well after it had taken place, but cultural and geographical differences might also factor into our responses as well. For our second conversation, focusing on Rot and Dirt, while we three still worked with only photo-documentation for our visual materials, we were joined by Anna Zagala from Samstag".— Lee Weng Choy ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced in Tarntanya/Adelaide on 20th January 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julie Blyfield, a South Australian/Tarntanya based artist and UniSA alumnus, sits down with art historian, writer and curator Julie Ewington to discuss her exhibition flowers of the sea.Julie shares how her grandmother was a formative influence, the importance of engaging with scientific collections, and the unique quality of bi-metal (copper and sterling silver) that uniquely lent itself to this new body of work.ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced in Tarntanya/Adelaide on 13 July 2022.

Trans-media artist, writer and performer Virginia Barratt is joined by Em König, a multidisciplinary artist, to discuss their collaboration Exosmosis, premiering at Samstag on Thursday 16 June.Under the moniker [sadworm], Virginia and Em will present a new performance-based work centered around Virginia as a performer and Em's responsive live soundscape. Joanna Kitto, former Associate Curator at Samstag Museum of Art, joins them.ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced in Tarntanya/Adelaide on 11 March 2022.

UniSA visiting research fellow, writer, curator, activist and proud Bandjalung man Djon Mundine OAM sits down with Samstag's Associate Curator Anna Zagala to discuss his venerable career.Along the way Djon shares his curatorial process, the importance of maintaining a wide perspective and open approach, how the Aboriginal Memorial came about, and what the dingo has to tells us about settler culture.ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced in Tarntanya/Adelaide on 11 March 2022.

Samstag Director Erica Green sits down with two Tarntanya/Adelaide-based makers, ceramicist Helen Fuller and designer Khai Liew.Helen Fuller's exhibition of objects or ‘pots' as she refers to them, is currently on at Samstag Museum of Art presented in collaboration with Khai Liew who conceived of the imaginative installation. They discuss Helen's love of the night sky in the Flinders Ranges, her recent foray into working with clay, how a visit to Helen's home and studio was a source of inspiration for Khai, and the steps that led them both to the present moment. ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced in Tarntanya/Adelaide on 8 March 2022.

Elyas was awarded the Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship in 2019 which enabled him to undertake a Master of Fine Arts at Chelsea College of Arts, London . He discusses the process of applying, selecting an institution, the factors influencing his decision and how he navigated the disruption of a global pandemic. On Art is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced by Tilly Balding in Tartanya/Adelaide on 10 December.

In the latest episode of ON ART, Samstag Curator Gillian Brown speaks with artist Pilar Mata Dupont and writer Jessica Bunch about working together to write for Pilar's 2018 moving image work The Ague, on exhibition at Samstag from 22 October until 10 December, 2021. Speaking on Zoom from the UK, Netherlands and Australia, they touch on processes of collaboration, adaptation, and the power of storytelling.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide, November 2021.

In the latest episode of ON ART, Marseille-based, Adelaide-born artist Madison Bycroft on their new moving-image commission B̶I̶O̶P̶I̶C̶ or Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée (2021) with Samstag curator Gillian Brown. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the making and presentation of a feature-length film, the politics of storytelling and the philosophical notion of opacity.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide, September 2021.

In the latest episode of ON ART, Naarm/Melbourne based artist Alex Martinis Roe on the works that comprise her exhibition, To Become Two (2014—2017) with Samstag curator Joanna Kitto. They discuss feminist political practices and relationships within the collectives doing that work, as well as Alex's experience as a Samstag scholar and the ways the scholarship has impacted her practice in the years since.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, edited and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide, August 2021

Hear from artists of the 2021 Adelaide//International. James Tylor speaks with poet Dominic Guerrera about the mistakes, mistranslations and loss of knowledge resulting from European colonist processes in documenting Kaurna culture. Jesse Jones discusses 'Tremble, Tremble'—a dramatic presentation proclaiming a new social order from a female perspective—with exhibition curator Gillian Brown.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumThe ON ART Podcast is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide, May 2021.

In the last episode of ON ART for 2020, we’re looking at the practice of South Australian artist Kirsten Coelho. Listen in on a conversation she had with fellow ceramicist Honor Freeman, hear poetry and prose from the 2020 SALA Monograph dedicated to her practice, read by the publication’s author Wendy Walker, and hear music by Derek Pascoe with Together Apart, written in response to Ithaca.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia’s leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumThe ON ART Podcast is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, and recorded by Denam Moore in Kaurna Adelaide, December 2020.

Brisbane born and Melbourne based painter Anne Wallace joins Curatorial Assistant Anna Zagala in conversation. The former Samstag scholar (1994) and subject of a major survey exhibition discusses her practice, how she thinks through her ideas, when she knows a painting is finished, and how painting has changed for her across three decades of making.Anne Wallace: Strange Ways is a QUT Art Museum touring exhibition, accompanied by a major publication featuring new essays by Gillian Brown, Curator at Samstag, Francis Plagne and Vanessa Van Ooyen.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.This podcast was recorded over Zoom on 26 November 2020 and produced by Denam Moore.

Artist and filmmaker Amos Gebhardt speaks with Naarm Melbourne based writer Adolfo Aranjuez. They delve into Amos's expansive new moving image installation currently showing at Samstag, Small acts of resistance. Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia’s leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseumThe ON ART Podcast is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting, and recorded by Denam Moore in Kaurna Adelaide, November 2020.

In 1996, South Australian artist Angela Valamanesh travelled to Glasgow, Scotland on a Samstag scholarship. Angela joins Curatorial Assistant Anna Zagala to discuss her year abroad, what it taught her, and how it set the course for future work.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.This podcast was recorded by Denam Moore at Solstice Podcasting, Kaurna Adelaide in September 2020.

Join artist Kirsten Coelho and Joanna Kitto, Samstag Associate Curator, as they discuss working with porcelain, the significance of the ‘ruin’, and Homer’s Odyssey—the Ancient Greek text that inspired her most recent body of work, Ithaca. This podcast was recorded by Denam Moore at Solstice Podcasting, Kaurna Adelaide in July 2020.

Kaula Lumpur-based art critic Lee Weng Choy joins Samstag curator Joanna Kitto for a conversation around art and life in the present moment. They discuss missing the experience of viewing art in person, what we’re consuming, and how the present moment is making us commit to empathy. In the next episode, Weng will answer listener’s questions about art and arts writing. Send your question for Weng to Joanna at joanna.kitto@unisa.edu.au.This podcast was recorded in part on Zoom and in part by Denam Moore at Solstice Podcasting, Kaurna Adelaide in June 2020.

Pittsburgh-based Samstag Scholar Georgia Saxelby joins Curatorial Assistant Anna Zagala to discuss her experience of applying to study at Carnegie Mellon in the USA, strategies for selecting a school, what it takes to get in and why she can’t wait to get back.This podcast was recorded by Denam Moore at Solstice Podcasting, Kaurna Adelaide in June 2020.

Melbourne based artist Zoë Croggon speaks with Samstag curator Gillian Brown about her body of collage works in Samstag’s ‘Effect in three movements’. They discuss Zoë’s interest in movement and architecture, and the heightened relevance in thinking about how we occupy domestic space at a time when we’ve all been forced to do so.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded remotely by Denam Moore of Solstice Podcasting in May 2020.

In 'Hold Me', audiences listen in on a frustrated phone conversation between Adelaide-based artist Brad Darkson and a Centrelink worker trying to unravel the ramifications of a robo-debt, interspersed by the relentless sound of the hold music. While we're all working from home due to COVID-19, Samstag curator Gillian Brown discusses this eerily prescient work with Darkson, over the phone.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded remotely by Denam Moore of the Message Pod in April 2020.

Did you know that architect John Wardle designed the Samstag Museum of Art, working closely with Director Erica Green? Today on the ON ART Podcast, they discuss this process, as well as Somewhere Other — the intriguing timber structure developed by John Wardle Architects in collaboration with artist Natasha Johns-Messenger that was Australia's contribution to the 2018 International Architecture Biennale in Venice.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.This podcast was recorded by Denam Moore at the Samstag Museum of Art, Kaurna Adelaide, February/March 2020.

Belgian artist David Claerbout sits down with Rachel Hurst to discuss his monumental moving-image work Olympia (the real-time disintegration into ruins of the Berlin Olympic stadium over the course of a thousand years).Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded by Denam Moore at the Samstag Museum of Art, Kaurna Adelaide in February 2020.

In our first episode for 2020, Melbourne-based artist Helen Grogan speaks with Samstag curator Gillian Brown about her work in Effect in three movements.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded by Denam Moore at the Samstag Museum of Art, Kaurna Adelaide in February 2020.

Melbourne-based artist James Nguyen joins Anna Zagala in the studio to discuss his experience as a Samstag Scholar at UnionDocs, New York on a one year fellowship in 2015, and how the lab environment subsequently shaped his practice and methodology.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded by Denam Moore at the Message Pod, Kaurna Adelaide in November 2019.

In this episode, Samstag curator Gillian Brown speaks with artist Fiona Tan about her filmic work Ascent, a work that traces imagery of Mount Fuji, Japan over the course of 150 years. Gillian was Adelaide in front of a live audience, Fiona was at home in Amsterdam.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Produced by Denam Moore at the Message Pod, Kaurna Adelaide in December 2019.

South Australian artist Louise Haselton makes sculptural works using materials gleaned from the world around her, fascinated by the push/pull between function and aesthetic. In this episode, Ken Bolton and Monte Masi respond to Haselton’s practice through poetry and performance. Later, Samstag curator Gillian Brown chats with Louise amongst her exhibition, like cures like.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Produced by Denam Moore at the Message Pod, Kaurna Adelaide in August 2019.

Poetry, stories and letters from the Unbound Collective – artists, activists and academics Ali Gumillya Baker (Mirning), Faye Rosas Blanch (Mbararam/Yidinyji), Natalie Harkin (Narungga) and Simone Ulalka Tur (Yankunytjatjara). They are joined by Kaurna Elder and scholar, Uncle Lewis Yarluburka O’Brien with an introduction by Samstag curator Joanna Kitto.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded by Denam Moore at the Message Pod, Kaurna Adelaide in May 2019.

Aotearoa New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana sits down with Samstag curator Gillian Brown to discuss her moving image work in Pursuit of Venus [infected], a re-imagining of the French scenic wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique depicting Captain Cook's arrival on the Pacific Islands.Bold, creative and responsive to contemporary visual art, Samstag Museum of Art is one of Australia's leading university art museums. For more, see unisa.edu.au/samstagmuseum.Recorded by Denam Moore at the Message Pod, Kaurna Adelaide in February 2019.