Body Place opening & Sub worlds: First Nations world building panel

It is our great pleasure to invite you to Body Place, by award-winning Wiradjuri-Scottish artist April Phillips. Experience the immersive installation for the first time, followed by a thought-provoking panel.

April Phillips is a Wiradjuri-Scottish woman of the Galari peoples, based on the Yuin Nation. April is aligned with representations of Indigenous futurism and intergenerational healing to celebrate the potential of computer art for a new world.

In real time, the companion sky spirit takes the audience for a celestial virtual walk on Country – from the depths of subterranean soils, to a ground-level play space, ascending to meet the clouds.

Leveraging boundary-pushing technologies, Body Place combines real-time person tracking and motion capture. This allows audiences to roam an expansive illuminated 14-metre screen, in Utp’s purpose-built space.

Opening: Saturday 2 March, 2-5pm

Location: RS1, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown

Exhibition Dates: 2-30 March

Visit our website for a full list of public programs.

Event Schedule:

2.30pm Welcome + performance, Jannawi Dance Clan

3.30-5pm Panel discussion: Sub worlds: First Nations world building

Catering by Native Foodways.

Sub worlds: First Nations world building panel

Join leading artists and thinkers to discuss Indigenous Futurisms. ‘Subworlds’ refers to pockets of imagined realms in art and fiction, that form parts of a wider world. Spend this afternoon with us to unpack ‘Body Place’s resonance with the speculative now. Discover the artists’ interconnected practices and the possibilities of digital art in many forms, such as games, video and music etc. 

Uncover what it means to create a world from the beginning, that foregrounds First Nations thinking, principles and perspectives. 

Panelists: April Phillips, Kate ten Buuren and Hannah Donnelly

More about the speakers:

April Phillips is a Wiradjuri-Scottish woman of the Galari peoples, based on the Yuin Nation. She is aligned with representations of Indigenous futurism and intergenerational healing. Her art practice is cemented in digital arts; illustration, printmaking, AR research and experimentation with ceramics and glass. April leans into character design as a narrative tool to explore empathy, fun and form. Her use of vivid colour and unlikely digital processes celebrates the potential of computer art for a new world.

Kate ten Buuren is a Taungurung artist and curator interested in contemporary visual art, film and stories. She is a founding member of First Nations arts collective this mob, and grounds her practice in self-determination, self-representation and collectivism. Her writing can be found in print and online, including in Un Magazine, MCA, ACMI, this mob’s Black Wattle and more. Kate is Senior Curator, First Nations at MAP Co and has held curatorial positions at ACMI and Koorie Heritage Trust.

Hannah Donnelly is an award-winning Wiradjuri curator, artist, and producer. In 2022 Hannah established the Paul Ramsay Foundation’s First Nations core art collection and permanent exhibition at Yirranma Place, she was a curatorium member for the 23rd Biennale of Sydney and she edited Blacklight: Ten Years of First Nations Storytelling (Sweatshop), a literary anthology of First Nations storytelling from Western Sydney. Her practice and curatorial research spans Indigenous Futures, south-eastern Aboriginal art and intergenerational/intercultural collaborations. 

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