Life Drawing 15^th Anniversary Group Exhibition

List of exhibiting artists: Ally Bennett, Amy Woodroffe, Angela East, Angelique Matthews, Angus Kennedy, Angus Tonkin, Anita Michalski, Anthony Thanaxay, Ben Stuyfbergen, Bertrand Fava, Brendan Lyall, Cali Calabio, China D Z Paul, Claudia Dean, Dani Kerr, Debra Dunn, Dom Krapski, Emily Veale, Emma McAnelly, Emma Scally, Emma Towers, Ethan Kong, Evan McInnes, Fay Bynion, Georgia Kelly, Hannah Milligan, Huy Toan Huynh, Juliet Valentine, Kat Chadwick, Kenshin Sugihara, Lachlan Easton, Laetitia Shand, Lisa Theiler, Louise Klerks, Mac Hewitt, Maddison Kitching, Masha Saltykova, Mason Coles, Mina Misic, Natasha Frost, Oriette Wood, Oslo Davis, Pas Tian, Paul Camenzuli, Paul Mariotti, Peter Kennedy, Ptolemy Culvenor, Rashi Jain, Rhea Isaacs, Robbie Luu, Ronald Ramos, Rosie Stanton, Shaun De Roza,  Simon James, Steve Clark, Sunny Tandoc, Takako Osawa, Thomas Gooch, Thomas Milne, Tom Daly, Yunlin Bai

We are excited to present the work of our life drawing group in an open-entry exhibition celebrating the class’s 15^th anniversary. The exhibition showcases a wide variety of figure drawings from our weekly sessions, capturing both short and long poses.

Our life drawing class has occupied art galleries and event spaces in Melbourne’s CBD since 2008. In 15 years, the class has brought thousands of creative and curious minds together to draw the human form at No Vacancy Gallery, Thousand Pound Bend, and Missing Persons in the Nicholas Building.

Join us for the opening party on Thursday 28 September from 6pm to 8pm to commemorate a crystal jubilee.

Download the Room Sheet

Dates: 30 September–1 October 2023
Gallery Hours: Saturday 12-6pm and Sunday 12-4pm

Piaera Lauritz
Is it Working? 

A dance performance exploring the age-old stereotype of artists needing ‘day’ jobs, with excerpts from Piaera’s dance film of the same name.

The performers in Is it Working? juggle multiple jobs outside of their professional dance careers. They’ve played the roles of: bartender, fitness instructor, barista, life model, shop assistant, dance teacher, massage therapist, waitress, theatre usher, lawyer, and receptionist. Is it Working? draws on the intricate patterns of movement perfected in these non-dance jobs to playfully highlight the pressures faced by practising artists.

Does work lie in productivity, repetition, effort, duty, or outcome? In performance, does a work exist before being presented, or only when consumed by viewers? Who owns the work – artistic or otherwise – and how do we validate, quantify, monetise, and label this work?

Is it Working? will take place in the iconic Nicholas Building. With its symbolic history as an industrial hub for a diverse range of creatives, and with the imminent threat of commercial development – this building serves as the perfect backdrop for Is it Working? to premiere in a live performance context.

Dates: 25–27 August 2023. Attend on Facebook

Purchase tickets here

Is it Working? is supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.

House Unmoored

House Unmoored is an intimate portrait of artist Ben Joseph Andrews’ experience of vestibular migraine: a chronic condition that unsettles balance, catalyses false movements and transforms the world into a porous exchange between human and more-than-human forces.

Exploring an emergent aesthetics of motion misperception, this multi-channel film materialises the relentless turbulence of vestibular migraine through a series of projections onto draped cloth. The animation of the film is driven by data from the artist’s migraine journal. By documenting the movement and distortion of his migraine activity, Andrews is able to reflect upon these encounters and share them with audiences in a unique multisensory environment.

Dates: 14–16 July 2023
Hours: 11am–6pm

This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne Arts Grants

Matilda Berger, Lucy Davidson, Amy Manson, Kate Isobel Scott

MOVING PICTURE WORLD is an exhibition of stop motion animation featuring the work of four women artists. The medium is utilised as a form of visual storytelling, through video, editing, sculpture, illustration, lighting design, as well as character and set construction. Artists Matilda Berger, Lucy Davidson, Amy Manson, and Kate Isobel Scott showcase the “behind the scenes” aspects of stop motion, adapting it for a group and silent cinema setting.

Their exhibition combines screen and sculpture, featuring intricate miniature sets and models to add another dimension to viewing. The process of creating the works themselves is an exercise in patience – a labour of love. Constant building, mounting, shifting, repeating, and manipulating of two and three dimensional elements create the enchanting effect of stop-motion animation.

MOVING PICTURE WORLD is loosely themed around artistic labour, biology and science, children’s television, music, and autobiography. It aims to be accessible and enjoyable for all ages.

Exhibition dates: 10–22 June
Hours: Thursday to Saturday, 12–6pm

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

SATURDAY 17 JUNE, 2–3PM
Artist Talk with Matilda Berger and Kate Isobel Scott

Gain insight into Matilda Berger and Kate Isobel Scott’s creative backgrounds from theatre and illustration to stop motion animation. Learn more about their influences and the importance of collaboration, experimentation, and craftsmanship in visual storytelling.

• • • Free event
    • All ages welcome
    • Auslan interpreted
    • Wheelchair-accessible

MOVING PICTURE WORLD is part of an initiative led by Missing Persons to increase the visibility and exhibition opportunities of emerging women artists in the Australian arts, supported by the City of Melbourne.

WAYWORD FORWORD
An exhibition of concrete poetry by Collective Effort Press

Curated by Collective Effort Press and Victoria Perin

The legendary Collective Effort Press was inaugurated about 1978, around a lay-out table, as a group of friends put together a book of poetry. The structure of Collective Effort Press is anarcho-collectivist, politically and artistically. They are committed to bringing poetry out of the academies, and over the years they have performed poetry readings in schools, shop floors, factories, prisons, offices, outdoor festivals, as well as art galleries, zoos, cafes, pubs, and clubs.

This group grew out of Melbourne’s Poets’ Union and the magazine Fitzrot (1973–1974), a magazine that had begun to pioneer a form of concrete poetry that is, to this day, neglected by local art and literary historians alike.

In the words of Jas H. Duke, a founding member of Collective Effort Press, a concrete poem is “a picture made of words and nothing else”.

This exhibition presents new and selected visual poems by Collective Effort Press members: Arjun von Cammerer, Jas H. Duke, Peter Murphy, π.o., Sandy Caldow and thalia, as well as performances by exhibiting poets.

We welcome you to join us from 6–8pm on Friday, 5 May for drinks and performances at the exhibition opening.

Download a copy of Victoria Perin’s exhibition essay

Listen back to Alice Allen’s interview with π.o. and Collective Effort on the Poetry Says Podcast, available online and Spotify.

Dates: 5 to 21 May 2023
Hours: Thursday to Saturday 12–6pm and Sunday 12–4pm

This exhibition is proudly supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.

The TRASHIE clothing exchange is a recurring event that allows consumers to swap their loved pieces and gain new and exciting items.

So what do you do when your favourite shirt isn’t your favourite anymore? Throw it out? Resell it?  Do you put it under your bed and forget about it? Most likely…

TRASHIE is here to make more room for the Boogieman in your closet and give you a home to exchange with other like-minded hoarders.

TRASHIE is created and produced by Katie and Angela Di Fabrizio, two sisters who have spent a large portion of their life fighting over clothing.

This event is presented as part of the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Fashion and Culture program.

Tickets here

Date: Saturday 4 March, 2–5pm

‘I tend to walk with my hands in my pockets
I like the feeling of the inside of my pockets
The comfortability of the inside of my pockets’

‘???’ by William Schmitt is a 356 page book consisting of a collection of screen grabs from selected videos William has filmed from the years 2016 to 2022.

Please join the artist and friends for the book launch on Friday, 10 February. 

Date: Friday 10 February, 5:30–8:30pm

Audio Experience by All That You Hear
Composed by Biddy Connor and soundtracked by The Letter String Quartet

All That You Hear is a collaboration between composer Biddy Connor (The Letter String Quartet) and independent curator, Rachael Paintin. The first work in the series, All That You Hear Is All That Is Heard is a site-specific audio experience set within the Nicholas Building.

Playing with sound and music, The Letter String Quartet presents interwoven stories and recordings collected from tenants of the building, past and present.

​The audio experience is available to listen to online via your smartphone, from anywhere inside the Nicholas building. To begin your journey, you can find the first QR code outside the lift on level 1 of the Nicholas Building. On select floors, additional QR codes link to new soundtracks, while other floors leave the experience up to individual exploration.

All That You Hear recording sessions, rehearsals, and live performances were held at Missing Persons from 2019 to 2022. For more information about the project visit: All That You Hear

Dates: 30 October 2022 until 31 January 2023
Hours: 8:00am–5:00pm daily

Accessible on your smartphone via QR codes located outside the internal lifts in The Nicholas Building.