The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) will re-open its doors on Friday 10 July, with the much loved Hatched: National Graduate Show. In this, its 29th edition, the work of 24 recent visual arts graduates from every State and Territory will be presented across all of PICA’s gallery spaces, providing an instant snapshot of the nation’s emerging contemporary art trends.
An enduring institution and a key event in PICA’s ongoing commitment to supporting the careers of Australia’s most promising emerging artists, Hatched will run until Sunday 18 October. The 14-week exhibition is the longest in the exhibition’s history. For the 11th consecutive year, the Schenberg Art Fellowship, now worth $50,000 and the most generous prize for emerging artists of its kind in Australia, will be awarded to one exceptional artist, this year presented at a special celebratory event toward the end of the exhibition.
From questions of identity to political protest and media consumption, the innovative and exciting range of practices presented in Hatched tell the story of contemporary Australian culture whilst showcasing the future directions of arts practice.
For this year’s Hatched, 56 students were nominated by 20 tertiary art schools nationally, with the final selection made by a panel of artists and arts professionals from around Australia, including Nathan Beard, Hannah Presley and Megan Monte.
Countless leading Australian artists, including David Noonan, Lynette Walworth, Shaun Gladwell, Julie Dowling, Nick Mangan, Julie Gough, Khaled Sabsabi, Ramesh Nithivendran and Curtis Taylor have exhibited their work in Hatched.
Hatched 2020 artists include Jody Rallah, a descendent of the Biri Gubba, Warangu and Yuggera peoples whose large-scale installations of 250 ceramic coolamons has been produced through a community-based practice; Michelle Vine, whose interest in the sense of touch grew from her lived experience of chronic illness and whose Hatched works offer a reimagining of common household objects as tools for self-soothing; and WA artist Siahne Rogers, who presents a creative response to their grandfather’s fantastical biography as the founder of the iconic Fast Eddy’s restaurant empire in Perth.
“We are delighted to be re-opening with Hatched, without doubt one of our most popular shows,” says PICA Director Amy Barrett-Lennard. “While COVID has created some additional challenges for us, it has also opened up opportunities for us to be engaging with artists and audiences at a distance through digital platforms. We hope to support more artists through our professional development program and reach more audiences than ever with this year’s Hatched.”
To further extend the reach of Hatched in this time of travel and social restrictions, PICA has introduced a range of digital initiatives, including a virtual guided tour of the exhibition for those who can’t visit and online artist-created activities for those who like to get creative at home. There will be regular Hatched artist interviews released throughout the coming months across PICA’s social media channels, in a mix of written, video and audio formats. For the first time, the Hatched catalogue will be available digitally for free. The printed catalogue will be released in late July, featuring new images from the installation at PICA.
For more information, visit pica.org.au.
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