MTALKS: EXPERIMENTAL FUTURES: ART IN A POST-COVID WORLD

COVID has changed the cultural landscape of Australia profoundly. Why is the role of arts crucial in shaping what comes next? And what agency or imperative is there for artists to intervene, act and imagine post-pandemic futures?

Assembled and moderated by Luna Mrozik Gawler, presented by MPavilion and the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2020, this panel explored the role of experimental and cross-disciplinary art in visioning radical futures. Considering the monumental shifts in art creation and funding that occurred throughout 2020, the panelists discuss a range of themes from inclusive ecological methodologies, cross-disciplinary inclusion in the creative arts and the value and role of grief and death in post-pandemic culture. In a world of increasing uncertainty, experimental art offers a valuable platform for both artists and audiences to practice ways of thinking and being in both possible and preposterous futures. What artistic imperatives arise in a crisis? What potential does a condition of precarity offer the arts and artists?

Featuring perspectives from a range of artistic disciplines, curation and research-led design, the panel will explore the challenges, changes and speculative possibilities of art practice in a post-COVID world.

Panelists included:

Dr Jaz Choi - RMIT School of Design and CreaTures project.

Madeline Collie- Artist, curator and PhD candidate Monash University

Fiona Hillary - Artist, curator

Priya Namana - Artist

Sarah Rowbottam - Producer

You can read and find out more about each of the panellists here. And watch the full panel as presented by MPavilion above.