University of Tasmania, Australia

Guest opening speaker: Marisa Molin, Director, Sawtooth ARI

Exhibition opening: 5.30pm - 7.00pm Thursday 16 May

Exhibition curator: Merle Tonts

Exhibition artists: Connie Anthes (NSW), Robert Boldkald (TAS), Mathew Carey (TAS), Josh Foley (TAS), Laura Hindmarsh (TAS), Stella Rosa McDonald (NSW), Team Textiles (TAS)

The group exhibition stems from research of the creative and economical survival within the Australian contemporary art scene for emerging artists and focuses on the conditions that they face.

The terms `emerging art/artist´ and its use have changed in the past decade. The concept of an artist's emergence has been dubbed as an after-effect of the over-professionalisation of art that tends to forcefully divide artists into genre, age and type categories.

The Gambit exhibition features selected works from Tasmanian and New South Wales artists who are in the emergent stage of their careers; experimenting within their practice or finding collaborative ways to survive and progress in the Australian contemporary art scene. The emergence of an artist(s) also suggests the concept of 'taking the first steps' into the world of global culture and art markets, where novelty (by age and newness) and instantaneity of the artworks are premiums.

Gambit (noun)

1. chess – an opening move in which a chessman, usually a pawn, is sacrificed to secure an advantageous position;
2. an opening comment, manoeuvre, etc., intended to secure an advantage or promote a point of view

^{Collins Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition, 2009©}

^{image credit: Half-tone Screen Test, 2013, Offset lithograph, 45 x 35cm (courtesy of Laura Hindmarsh and Big Fag Press)}