'Push / Pull' – Artist Yarns and Braille Bombing

Special Event

3 May 2025

Two people manipulating a piece of bright pink, ruched fabric. One person tightly gathers the material while the other holds the end. The scene takes place in a workshop setting.

Join us for an afternoon of conversation, sound and spontaneous public art-making, centred around Can Touch This – a tactile installation designed with and for the blind and visually impaired (BVI) community.

When

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental

3 May 2025

3:00pm to 6:00pm

Access

Artist Shan Michaels (QLD) will speak about her lived experience and the collaborative process behind Can Touch This, developed with South Australian textile artists and the BVI community. Composer Antony Abbracciavento (SA) will share his approach to tactile wayfinding and composing as a vision-impaired sound artist and play excerpts from his compositions. ACE Artistic Director Danni Zuvela will reflect on the history of “devisualising” the gallery – moving beyond sight as the dominant way to experience art.

We’ll conclude the day with a collective “braille bombing” session – adding playful braille labels around ACE (and possibly beyond) to share the braille love.

Feature Image: 'Push / Pull' – 'Can Touch This': Shan Michaels (2025), workshop documentation, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Lana Adams.

Artists

Antony Abbracciavento,

Shan Michaels

Exhibition Artists

Antony Abbracciavento,

Elyas Alavi,

Emiko Artemis,

Stephen Atkinson,

Troy-Anthony Baylis,

Alycia Bennett,

Jingwei Bu,

Patrick William Carter,

Luna Chan,

Allison Chhorn,

Amber Cronin,

Dylan Crismani,

Eleen Deprez,

Stephanie Doddridge,

Adam-Troy Francis,

Paul Gazzola,

Alex Grant,

Sasha Grbich,

Dominic Guerrera,

Ray Harris,

Aidan Hughes,

Matt Huppatz,

Heidi Kenyon,

Kirsty Martinsen,

Monte Masi,

VNS Matrix,

Shan Michaels,

Ariella Napoli,

Alexandra Nitschke,

Chris Reid,

Yasemin Sabuncu,

Fiona Salmon,

Cynthia Schwertsik,

Gabriella Smart,

Soundstream,

Trudy Tandberg,

Sione Teumohenga,

Sarah Tickle,

Henry Wolff,

Shirley Wu,

Robert Wyatt,

Jake Yang,

Yasser Yassin,

Shenshen Zheng,

Students from South Australian School for the Visually Impaired

Curators

Henry Wolff,

Danni Zuvela

About the Exhibition

Featuring a program of live, experiential, post-object and otherwise ‘non-haveable’ art encounters, and unpacking Adelaide’s leading role as the historical world centre of post-object art today, Push / Pull asks: What kinds of encounters are possible, when the shock of the new is a local tradition?

Support

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) is supported by Create SA and Creative Australia.
This project is supported by City of Adelaide and History Trust of South Australia. Shan Michaels is supported by Arts Queensland.
Special thanks to project partners the South Australian School and Services for the Visually Impaired, and The Mercury.