Friday 28 February — Friday 30 May 2025
Direct, Directed, Directly takes communication — speaking directly, speaking indirectly, looking for meaning, double meanings and breakdowns — as a point of departure, diving into the gap between what we say and what is heard.
Spanning both levels of Samstag Museum, this group exhibition brings together Australian and international artists working across performance, moving image, installation and sound. Drawing upon the limits of language and the gulf between perspectives, the works range from the frank, to the playful, to the philosophical. How do we articulate what we need to say, and who’s listening? Are we making sense? What’s the point in trying?
Communication is a two-way process that can succeed, sometimes, but can also fail spectacularly. Direct, Directed, Directly is an exhibition that suggests, amid the inherent frustration, futility and misunderstandings, there is catharsis to be found in the humour and absurdity of our attempts to connect.
Featuring work by Richard Bell (Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang), Madison Bycroft, Kuba Dorabialski, Danielle Freakleym, Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Monte Masi and Chunxiao Qu.
Images:
1. Chunxiao Qu, An artist doesn’t need a label (Biannual Façade Commission), 2024, Borchardt Library, La Trobe University, Bundoora. La Trobe Art Institute, La Trobe University. Photograph by AJ Taylor. Image courtesy the artist.
2. Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Tables from Tables and Windows, 2016. Still from video, two channel video, 9 min 14 sec. Courtesy of the Artist, François Ghebaly (Los Angeles / New York) and WHITE SPACE (Beijing).
3. Kuba Dorabialski, Broken English is My Mother Tongue. Still from video, single channel video, 9 min. Still courtesy the artist.
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