Push / Pull

Upcoming Exhibition
3 May - 28 June 2025
Push / Pull

Push / Pull is a program of live, experiential, post-object and otherwise “non-haveable” art, including tactile installation, short and durational performance works, lecture performance, re-enactments and responses to the archive, video, poetry, plants, food, voice, experimental sound and music.  

When

3 May to 28 June 2025

Access

Tension is important. Under too much load, things fray, and eventually snap. Too little tension, however, and there’s no push and no pull; only slackness. The right amount of tension can be  productive - sharpening senses, attuning us to what is real, risky, and worthy of our attention. Experimental art thrives on tension, drawing its charge from confronting cliches, destabilising norms, proposing new modalities, and cultivating frisson.  

Unpacking Adelaide’s leading role as the historical world centre of so-called “post-object art” today, Push / Pull asks: What kinds of encounters are possible, when “the shock of the new” is a  local tradition? How can we “think with” the artistic radicalism of the past in ways that outpace old limitations while retaining experimental essences, and amplifying unruly energies? How can we build worlds within contemporary and experimental art around the act of being mutually present? 

Push / Pull explores these and other tensions in an exhibition and live program offering points of connection with archival and contemporary “non-haveable” thought and practice.

Feature Image: Shan Michael's studio (2025), detail, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Sam Roberts.

Artists

Antony Abrraciavento,
Elyas Alavi,
Emiko Artemis,
Stephen Atkinson,
Troy-Anthony Baylis,
Alycia Bennett,
Matt Huppatz & Adam Birchmore (Adam & Steve),
Jingwei Bu,
Patrick William Carter,
Luna Chan,
Allison Chhorn,
Amber Cronin,
Dylan Crismani,
Eleen Deprez,
Paul Gazzola,
Alex Grant,
Sasha Grbich,
Dominic Guerrera,
Ray Harris,
Aidan Hughes,
Heidi Kenyon,
Kirsty Martinsen,
Monte Masi,
VNS Matrix,
Shan Michaels,
Ariella Napoli,
Alexandra Nitschke,
Chris Reid,
Tikari Rigney,
Yasemin Sabuncu,
Fiona Salmon,
Cynthia Schwertsik,
Gabriella Smart,
Trudy Tandberg,
Sione Teumohenga,
Sarah Tickle,
Shirley Wu,
Robert Wyatt,
Jake Yang,
Yasser Yassin,
Shenshen Zheng,
Soundstream,
Students from South Australian School for the Visually Impaired

Curators

Danni Zuvela,
Henry Wolff

This project is supported by City of Adelaide and History Trust of South Australia.
Shan Michaels is supported by Arts Queensland.

ACE tampinthi, ngadlu Kaurna yartangka panpapanpalyarninthi (inparrinthi). Kaurna miyurna yaitya mathanya Wama Tarntanyaku. Parnaku yailtya, parnaku tapa purruna, parnaku yarta ngadlu tampinthi. Yalaka Kaurna miyurna itu yailtya, tapa purruna, yarta kuma puru martinthi, puru warri-apinthi, puru tangka martulayinthi.

ACE respectfully acknowledges the traditional Country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains and pays respect to Elders past and present. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today.