Initiated in 2001, the Octopus series of exhibitions supports ambitious curatorial practice, through engaging an invited curator annually to develop a project that draws upon their research interests and provides a platform for new forms of exhibition making. In 2021, Gertrude is delighted to be working with Tim Riley Walsh, art historian and curator, as well as the organisation’s current Curator in Residence.
Octopus 21: On Fire is an iteration of Riley Walsh’s exhibition and publication project On Fire: Climate and Crisis recently presented at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Profiling contemporary Queensland art in a time of dramatic ecological change and planetary dysphoria, the exhibition looks via an incendiary lens at climate threat in QLD, its relatedness to the deep impacts of settler colonialism and extractivism on the local environment, and its articulation through visual culture.
Exhibiting Artists: Gordon Bennett, Naomi Blacklock, Michael Candy, Dale Harding, Tracey Moffatt, Mavis Ngallametta, Madonna Staunton, Judy Watson, Warraba Weatherall, and Jemima Wyman.
The Octopus exhibition series is generously supported by Proclaim.
Octopus 21: On Fire, curated by Tim Riley Walsh, is an iteration of On Fire: Climate and Crisis originally developed for and presented at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.