As Australia considers the implications of Truth-telling and a proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, join us for this special symposium reflecting on the power of art to interrogate this nation’s troubled history, to stimulate our national consciousness in resolving current challenges and create equitable futures. Through in-person and hybrid-presentation panels we explore the role of art in activism, caring for Country, and unpack how art contributes to the action of Truth-telling.

download full symposium program

Symposium Program
Friday 5 May

Location: Plimsoll Gallery
37 Hunter Street, nipaluna/Hobart

5.00-5.30pm Welcome to Country/drinks
5.30-6.30pm In Conversation/Artist Talks
6.30pm onwards Drinks and get together

Right Here Right Now: In Conversation
An informal conversation between Right Here Right Now -
Australia 1988 artists and Curator Rachael Rose.

Remembering 1988/Art Activism Now
Right Here Right Now artists share their recollections
of the Bicentenary and the rise of art collectives as a
potent heart of social activism. The artists will delve into their
individual creative practice during the 1980s and discuss their
trajectories in the 35 years since.

Artists: Sue Anderson, Steve Fox, Marla Guppy,
Alice Hinton-Bateup, Marie McMahon, 
Toni Roberston, Julie Shiels

REGISTER FOR FRIDAY 5 MAY

Saturday 6 May

Location: The Ian Potter Recital Hall
29 Campbell Street, nipaluna/Hobart

Session 1
10:00am–11:30am
Right then and now: Print media and activism

A look into the thriving ecology of print media organisations
in the 1970s and 1980s and its intersections with a growing
political and social activism through networks of art cooperatives,
exhibitions, protests, critical writing, and art practices that led to
the Right Here Right Now – Australia 1988 exhibition.

Speakers: Alison Alder, Julie Ewington,
Dr Lee-Anne Hall, Dr Ron Radford AM
Moderator: Professor Kate Darian-Smith

Break (morning tea): 11:30–12:00pm

Session 2
12:00pm–1:30pm
Art caring for Country

How do artists refocus our gaze from ‘landscape’ towards land?
Join us for this panel discussion to explore the role of art, writing 
and research, in environmental activism and caring for Country.

Speakers: Raymond Arnold,
Dr Mandy Quadrio,  Dr Tyson Yunkaporta
Moderator: Dr Toby Juliff

Break (lunch): 1:30–2:15pm

Session 3
2:15pm–3:45pm
Truth-telling: Voices for the Future  

In the lead-up to the referendum for a Voice to Parliament,
we unpack what is truth-telling? And what does a future in
Australia where a treaty is possible look like? Join us for this
panel on how art, art history, and law-making navigate the
complexities of truth-telling and share ways in which we
can work towards a more just and equitable society.

Speakers: Karla Dickens, Kait James, Professor Greg Lehman, Chips Mackinolty
Moderator: Emeritus Professor Kate Warner

REGISTER FOR SATURDAY 6 MAY

This symposium is a public program associated with the exhibition Out of the Everywhen and is supported by the Theatre Royal and the University of Tasmania’s College of Arts, Law, and Education (CALE).

Out of the Everywhen exhibition is curated by Jane Barlow, Caine Chennatt, and Rachael Rose; developed by the Plimsoll Gallery and Cultural Collections, University of Tasmania, and co-presented as part of the Ten Days on the Island Festival.

Image: Graphic design by Michael Brady remixing motif from the original catalogue for the Right Here Right Now - Australia 1988 exhibition, designed by Leon Cmielewski

All information in this program is correct at time of publishing,
speaker profiles and more details will be released prior to the symposium.