Test the limits of the ‘arena’.

Arenas are the physical spaces where we come together to witness—and participate in—public life. Figuratively speaking, they embody a multitude of ‘fields’: zones of interest inviting active or competitive engagement. Every arena holds a sense of possibility or uncertain outcome, yet its activities are shaped by specific conditions. Strategically positioned barriers separate spectators from participants. Vantage points delineate roles. Hard structures screen ‘backstage’ areas from public view. Implicit codes, temporal cues and choreographies guide individual interactions and group dynamics. Whether looking on or joining in, we take comfort in knowing the rules. 

Spanning moving image, sound, sculptural intervention and performance, The same crowd never gathers twice tests the limits of the arena. The artists consider the social and structural architectures that define these spaces, and by extension, the elastic relationship between performance and reality, audience and participant, public and private. Like theatres, sports stadiums and ‘the media’, the art gallery is an arena subject to its own specific conditions. Unfolding over five months, the exhibition invites visitors to consider their own roles, expectations and ways of being inside this space.

Exhibition Artists

Cate Consandine, Angela Goh, Riana Head-Toussaint, Laresa Kosloff, Yona Lee, Taryn Simon, and students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

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