Early Career Forum + Self-Archiving Session
Join us at ACE for a career forum featuring informative talks and a lively panel discussion with curator Ivan Gabriel (formerly of Hin Bus Depot, Penang, Malaysia), Caity Reynolds (Director, firstdraft, Sydney) and Danni Zuvela (Artistic Director, ACE).
6 June 2026
1:00pm to 3:00pm
What does it mean to build a life around an artistic practice today? What if career development was more than just “industry climbing”, and also an expansive, exploratory and holistic process?
Bringing together perspectives from artist-run initiatives, international curatorial practice and contemporary art organisations, the panel will discuss career pathways, collaboration and tactics for building sustainable and satisfying creative practices. There’s time for audience discussion and lots of opportunities to ask questions, and have conversations.
Alongside the conversation, we’re opening up the gallery as a space for collective momentum. Artists wanting to work on updating their websites are invited to bring along laptops and tend to their archives at ACE any time throughout the day. Think, draft, edit, upload and (re)configure in good company. All welcome - come for the insights, stay for the company, and leave with a fueled-up creative practice.
Feature Image: Helium Liu 2025, performance documentation, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Benjamin Rees.
Ivan Alexander Francis Gabriel
Curator, Hin Bus Depot, Penang, Malaysia
Caity Reynolds
Director, firstdraft, Sydney
Caity Reynolds is a practising artist, writer and curator. Prioritising empathy and compassion, she is committed to equity and the pursuit of sustainable working practices for artists and art workers.
In 2016 she co-founded Outer Space Contemporary Art in Brisbane alongside Llewellyn Millhouse where they worked together as co-directors until 2020. During this period, she also worked as a sessional academic at Griffith University, Queensland College of Art and across the Moreton Bay Regional Council, Museum and Gallery Network. She joined firstdraft after living and working on Bundjalung land in Northern New South Wales and overseeing the exhibition program at Grafton Regional Gallery. She has a breadth of experience as a curator and facilitator working with artists, producers and community groups across Australia.
Danni Zuvela
Artistic Director, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), Adelaide
Queensland-born Danni Zuvela co-founded the Gold Coast Pride Festival in 2020. Prior to this, she was Artistic Co-Director of Narm’s Liquid Architecture (2013-2019), Australia’s leading organisation for artists working with sound, curating across experimental art, performance, film and sound in Australia and internationally.
Danni has developed curatorial projects for the National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House, Institute of Modern Art, North Norwegian Art Centre and the Tate Britain. Her research-based curatorial practice engages with artists and non-artists in the production of relationships, and the exchange of knowledge. Drawing on her background in experimental performance and music, her artistic and curatorial practice uses research and ideas to fuel experiences and encounters where the non-human world is often a protagonist. Danni Zuvela is the Artistic Director of Adelaide Contemporary Experimental.