VERS: On Pleasures, Embodiment, Kinships, Fugitivity and Re/Organising
A two-day, live event that privileges queer ways of doing and being, and centres creative practice and conversation.
17 June to 18 June 2022
VERS: On Pleasures, Embodiment, Kinships, Fugitivity and Re/Organising is a two-day, live event that privileges queer ways of doing and being, and centres creative practice and conversation.
Initiated by MUMA, the event takes place on Kaurna Yarta in Tarntanya/Adelaide across two venues—Samstag Museum of Art and ACE—and involves performances, readings and a rolling discussion held over the course of an afternoon.
Short for ‘versatility’, VERS asks: is ‘vers’ a demand placed on us, an exhausting mode required for meeting expectations of productivity? Or is it a modality that opens towards new capacities for surviving and growing pleasure in our work?
A group of ‘attendants’, including arts workers, artists and curators from across Australia, have been invited to come together to reflect on these questions and the title themes of pleasures, embodiment, kinships, fugitivity and re/organising. Audiences are invited to listen, contribute and come-and-go during the event, as attendants explore how their own practices touch, expand or refute the proposition.
VERS was developed by a curatorial panel consisting of Frances Barrett, Archie Barry, Maddee Clark, Léuli Eshrāghi, Jeff Khan and Melissa Ratliff, and emerges as a response to their collective discussions and deliberation on queer artistic and curatorial practices.
VERS will be audio recorded and made into a podcast after the event.
Feature Image: VERS identity by Hana Shimada.
Attendants
Angela Bailey, Virginia Barratt, Troy-Anthony Baylis, Tyson Campbell, Simona Castricum, Debris Facility, Brian Fuata, Kyra Kum-Sing, Neika Lehman, Liz Martin, Jazz Money, Bhenji Ra, Nikki Sullivan, Verónica Tello and Emma Webb.
Curatorial Panel
Frances Barrett (artist and lecturer, UniSA), Archie Barry (interdisciplinary artist), Maddee Clark (Yugambeh writer, editor and curator), Dr Léuli Eshrāghi (artist, curator and researcher), Jeff Kahn (curator and director of Performance Space, Sydney) and Melissa Ratliff (Curator Research, MUMA)
Friday 17 June
Samstag (Gallery 1)
6pm – V Barratt, Brian Fuata and Daniel Jaber in conversation
with Frances Barrett
7pm – Welcome drinks
Saturday 18 June – 1 to 5pm
Samstag (Gallery 1)
Welcome to Country
Introduction by Curatorial Advisory Panel
Reading by Dominic Guerrera
Conversation on the themes of Pleasures, Embodiment,
Kinships, Fugitivity and Re/Organising with attendants:
Troy-Anthony Baylis
Angela Bailey
V Barratt
Simona Castricum
Debris Facility Pty Ltd
Brian Fuata
Kyra Kum-Sing
Neika Lehman
Liz Martin
Jazz Money
Bhenji Ra
Nikki Sullivan
Verónica Tello
Emma Webb
The attendants will participate in a responsive conversation
that addresses the themes of the day. Each attendant has the discretion to contribute as much or little to each theme as they wish and has been invited to consider a set of questions in relation to their practice or a specific project.
Intermission
Conversation resumes
Saturday 18 June – 5pm
ACE (Foyer)
Performances by:
Archie Barry
Sione Teumohenga
Harriet Fraser-Barbour
Closing drinks
Saturday’s program is being audio recorded and will be available as a podcast after the event.
Locations
Samstag Museum of Art
55 North Terrace, Adelaide
University of South Australia City West campus
Corner of Fenn Place and North Terrace
Entry ground floor Hawke Building
Galleries over 2 floors, lift and stair access
Venue access information ↗
ACE
Lion Arts Centre, North Terrace, Adelaide
Entry from either North Terrace or Morphett Street
Access ramp in front of neighbouring JamFactory
Venue on one level
Venue access information ↗
Arrive by
Free city trams (exit at the City West stop, 100m from Samstag, 70m from ACE Open)
Adelaide Railway Station (10 minute walk or 600m from Samstag and ACE)
Bus (the closest bus stop is X1 North Terrace; various Grenfell Street bus stops nearby)
Bike (bicycle parking on Morphett Street at the Lion Arts Centre precinct entrance, in front of JamFactory and Mercury Cinema)
Car (Samstag has 4 access car spots directly out the front; ACE has an access spot located at the Lion Arts Centre’s Morphett Street entrance; limited amount of ticketed on-street parking; Wilson Parking located one block away on the corner of Hindley Street and Clarendon Street; other commercial car parks located on Hindley Street)
Commissioned by Monash University Museum of Art, Narrm/Melbourne, and presented onsite and in association with Samstag Museum of Art and ACE, Kaurna Yarta/Adelaide.
VERS identity: Hana Shimada.