22 March 2010

A series of exhibitions curated by Melbourne’s internationally renowned Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) will be exhibited concurrently at three regional Victorian galleries from April.

ART1 is a new initiative aimed to bring the latest new works from Melbourne's leading contemporary art space to regional Victoria.

Works from ACCA's pool of artists and their innovative commissions programs will be displayed concurrently at the Shepparton Art Gallery, Wangaratta exhibitions Gallery and Benalla Art Gallery from April 17.

But this is not your average ‘art-in-a-box' tour – the program has been specially devised by ACCA curator Hannah Mathews to suit the collections, audience, architecture and ambitions of each of the galleries.

ACCA is Australia's major centre for contemporary art, which showcases the latest developments in the national and international contemporary art scenes. It also acts as an essential facilitator for emerging Australian contemporary artists, and over the past eight years has commissioned over 60 new works.

ART1 aims to bring the best of these works to galleries around Victoria, offering regional audiences the opportunity to engage with the very latest developments in new art in Australia. The exhibitions will be accompanied by a series of tailored curator and artists talks, a catalogue with newly commissioned texts from some of Victoria's most promising young writers and specially prepared resources for school and tertiary groups.

Wangaratta exhibitions Gallery will show a selection of video works from some of Australia's most exciting young video artists including Shaun Gladwell, Anastasia Klose, Laresa Kosloff, David Rosetzky, Darren Sylvester and Daniel von Sturmer.

Shepparton Art Gallery will exhibit a program of works from Nick Devlin and Justine Khamara, and two new site-specific installations specially commissioned for the gallery by Nathan Gray and Pat Foster & Jen Berean.

Benalla Art Gallery will show young Melbourne artist Brendan Lee's provocative Proving Ground – a major audio-visual installation which reflects on Australian notions of mateship, camaraderie and belief systems. The installation is made up of discarded car tyres.

ART1

April 17 – May 30 2010

Shepparton Art Gallery, Wangaratta exhibitions Gallery, Benalla Art Gallery