Living Art Village, a two-day showcase of art and environmental materials from Dookie in North-Central Victoria, will take place at Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in Southbank over a weekend in October.

The celebratory event brings together the community of Dookie, situated on the Traditional Lands of the Yorta Yorta People, and the University of Melbourne, which hosts a campus in the town, in a program of discussion, knowledge exchange and skills development.

EXHIBITION

Artists: Penny Algar, Elizabeth Evans, Janie Christophersen, Helen Kelly and Andrew Sands

An exhibition of sculpture, sonic art and works on paper invites audiences to consider the value of making space for common ground in our lives – common ground between the human and non-human, between rural and urban, between institutions and communities, and between the arts and sciences.

The University of Melbourne’s Dookie campus has served as a working farm and home of innovative agricultural research and teaching. Over the past two decades, Dookie has played host to a number of important site-specific art interventions, including Dookie Earthed, an immersive creative and environmental event held in Dookie in 2014.

WORKSHOPS + DISCUSSIONS

A two-day program of discussions and workshops will be held in the exhibition space on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 October. Drawing on the expertise of participants it includes discussions on seed banks, native foods and grasses, place-specific geology and First Nations perspectives on caring for Country.

Program / Friday 20 October

10am Mindfulness with Penny Algar and Suzie Fraser

10.30am Native Grasses with Andrew Sands and Murrnong Paper Mache with Janie Christophersen

12pm Growing Food in Your Place with Karen Sutherland from Edible Eden

2pm Why We Need Seed Banks with Elizabeth Evans

3pm Mixed Media Abstract Drawing with Helen Kelly

Program / Saturday 21 October

10am Mindfulness with Penny Algar and Suzie Fraser

10.30am Yorta Yorta Weaving with Stephanie Taylor and Murrnong Paper Mache with Janie Christophersen

2pm Living Art book launch and discussion with Yorta Yorta Man Neville Atkinson, in conversation with Gaye Sutherland

3pm Green Stone Discussion with Gaye Sutherland

Organised by members of the Dookie Arts Group in collaboration with the Centre of Visual Art (CoVA) at the University of Melbourne. The organisers of Living Art Village recognise the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we live and work and pay respects to Elders past, present and yet to come. We particularly recognise the Yorta Yorta People on whose lands the Dookie Campus is located and the Wurundjeri People of the Eastern Kulin Nation on whose lands the exhibition is taking place Living Art Village recognises the support of Melbourne Climate Futures, The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, and the Centre of Visual Art.