un Projects is based on the unceded sovereign land and waters of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation; we pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
un Projects
Jack Ball, Magic marker 8, 2023, inkjet print on rag, aluminium pins, acrylic paint, 80 x 110 cm. Image courtesy the artist and sweet pea. (Cropped)

Launching at West Space, 4-6pm Saturday 16 December.

un Magazine 17.2 – RETURN

un Magazine 17.2: RETURN, guest edited by Bahar Sayed and Gemma Weston.

Contributors: Bianca Acimovic & Ruby Djikarra Alderton, Hana Pera Aoake, Anjelica Angwin & Eugene Hawkins, Aaqila, Jack Ball, Robert Cook & Benjamin Forster, Corinna Berndt, Marguerite Carson, Suzanne Claridge, d duan, Wendy Hubert, Tahmina Maskinyar, Katie Paine, Tui Raven, daniel ward, Justine Youssef.

Subscribe below to make sure you get your print copy delivered straight to your door! 💌

un Magazine 17.1

un Magazine 17.1, RESIST, guest edited by Bahar Sayed and Gemma Weston.

Issue 17.1 features contributions from Aisyah Aaqil Sumito & Mossy 333, Elyas Alavi, Hana Pera Aoake, Mayma Awaida, Timmah Ball, Andy Butler, Marguerite Carson, Sam Elkin, HEAVY DUTY, Marnie Badham & Kelly Hussey-Smith & Nina Mulhall, Hannan Jones & Shamica Ruddock, Joana Partyka, Leila el Rayes, Jack Augustine Irvine Mitchell & Eliki Reade, Emily Morel & Amy Stuart, Olga Svyatova, Rebecca Suares-Jury, Megan Tan, and Ane Tonga.

Call for proposals – un Magazine 18.1: BADAUD and 18.2 AFTER-CARE

Proposals are due by midnight AEDT Sunday 24 March 2024
Late or incomplete submissions may not be considered. 

un Projects is excited to announce our first open call of the year for un Magazine contributions. This year for our 20th anniversary, un Magazine is shaking up our format and hosting four different guest editors to produce four separate thematic issues across 2024 – starting with 18.1 guest edited by Tara Heffernan and 18.2 guest edited by Joel Sherwood Spring.

We invite critical essays, opinion pieces, reviews, artist pages, and short reflections from arts writers, artists, and academics. An Australian focus is encouraged. Word length negotiable. Contributor fees are set roughly between $200 and $900, depending on length. If your application is successful you will have around 4-6 weeks turn around to produce your final contribution for publication.

un Extended – un Projects online platform for arts writing, podcasts, and events.

Archivo Entusiasta, curated by Syndell Razo, 2023-24. Image courtesy of Grupo Ascencio.

Fire Me, Paul – Diego Ramírez

‘Two weeks had suddenly passed and I was also late for the extension, Paul. I was busy attending a psychic expo with my partner, where I bought Uruguayan amethyst, Paul. Time is running out once again, so let me tell you about Grupo Ascencio, located in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico, Paul.’

For his last contribution, outgoing un Editor-in-Residence Diego Ramírez tests the editors, extends deadlines and reflects on his recent time visiting and working in artist-run spaces in
Guadalajara, Mexico.

Read more…

Roberta Joy Rich: The Purple Shall Govern, installation view, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), 2023, image © the artist, photo: Dan McCabe.

Archival / Activism – Timmah Ball

‘Purple is splashed across the entrance of PICA and the windows in the West End Gallery are coated with a purple glaze which permeates the space. This imbues the building with the energy of protest that movingly reflects the current gathering of bodies that take to the streets filling urban environments with colour: this time, watermelon.’

Timmah Ball reflects on Roberta Joy Rich’s recent exhibition The Purple Shall Govern showing last year at PICA.

Read more…

Image courtesy the author.

Inter-Review with the artists in their office-cum-studio-cum-gallery – Carmen-Sibha Keiso

‘It is not common to be surprised by the artistic endeavours of a peer, as you can’t avoid looking into things too intimately or ask questions too domestically; where most decisions are accepted as mere tokens or trials in experimentation. Looking at an object, totally reliant on the natural progressions of assemblage and my prefixed trust of the artist’s personal taste; I have no choice but to passively accept their motives.’

Outgoing un Extended Editor-in-Residence Carmen-Sibha Keiso inter-reviews Hana Earles and Anabel Robinson at their studio ‘Dream Gallery’ in Pakenham.

Read more…

John Nixon—Four Decades, Five Hundred Prints, installation view, Geelong Gallery 2023, Photographer: Andrew Curtis.

Four Decades, Five Hundred Prints – Giles Fielke

‘Coupled with his practical, “non-objective” philosophy of engaging commonly available “everyday” materials like newspaper; cardboard; hessian; industrial-grade timbers; Perspex; and housepaint; the set of works on display — many for the first time — at the Geelong Gallery, are further constrained by the typical and recognisable artistic vocabulary he set out consistently across his career. In this way Nixon might be understood an antipodean Ellsworth Kelly, a regional Piet Mondrian.’

Giles Fielke delves into a showing of work by the late John Nixon at Geelong Gallery, guided by seven watchwords: ‘Matrix’, ‘Potato’, ‘Orange’, ‘Waste Not Want Not’, ‘Frottage’, ‘Montage’, ‘The Cross’.

Read more…

Image courtesy the artist.

Alex Hobba – Cockfighter’s Ghost – Tom Campbell

Cockfighter’s Ghost is an ambitious presentation, a successful emulation of the documentary form, and the artist injects her trademark sense of humour into her worldbuilding. ‘

Tom Campbell reviews Alex Hobba’s Cockfighter’s Ghost, which showed at BLINDSIDE earlier this year.

This text was commissioned through the Emerging Writers’ Program – an annual collaborative projects from KINGS and un Projects, that supports critical arts wrting, fiction, poetry, experimental, cross-genre and digital text forms.

Read more…

Photography by Mischa Wang. Featuring a performance by Rosie Isaac titled ‘Various Blues’.

Language Ecologies – Ren Jiang, Wen-Juenn Lee, Madison Pawle

‘We attempted to coordinate an arriving-together to ACCA but we failed and instead met on the seats inside, gossiping over instant coffee and lemon ginger tea as we waited for Language Ecologies to begin.’

In the lead up to un Projects’ 20 year anniversary, we hosted Language Ecologies, a day of panel discussions, readings, and performances that explored the multiple ways language and writing emerges from, and shapes, artistic practice. Situated in James Nguyen’s exhibition ‘Open Glossary’ at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Language Ecologies fostered discussions on publishing, storytelling, self-determination, togetherness, entanglement, digital networks, and language materiality.

For un Extended, we asked three attendees — Ren Jiang, Wen-Juenn Lee, Madison Pawle — to write a response to Language Ecologies.

Read more…

Luyuan Zhang, Bamboozled, 2022. Video still, courtesy the artist.

cobalt goblin – Emily Morel

‘I don’t know if this is a case of pareidolia or Whistler’s intention, but painted on the plate’s surface I can distinctly see a cute, impish face. Has Kai isolated a reference to the kobold here? Or perhaps has a kobald made itself manifest in this cobalt glaze?’

Emily Morel reviews cobalt goblin, a recent exhibition of work by Amy Stuart, R Kai, Luyuan Zhang, Mari Matsumoto, housed at the West Melbourne artist-run Car Wash.

Commissioned by Diego Ramírez, un Extended Editor-in-Residence.

Read more…

Installation view of Francis Carmody, A Relic Remains, presented at Gertrude Glasshouse, 2023. Photo: Christian Capurro. Courtesy of the artist and Gertrude. 

A never-quiet looking, an endless pulling – Skye Malu Baker

‘On second glance, these works are evasive and refuse to be pinned down. The viewer’s innate desire to attach meaning to the symbolic is co-opted into a staged drama of questioned perception.’

Skye Malu Baker writes a double review for un Extended: Victoria Stolz, no external (Cathedral Cabinet) and Francis Carmody, A Relic Remains (Gertrude Glasshouse).

This text was commissioned through the Emerging Writers’ Program – an annual collaborative projects from KINGS and un Projects, that supports critical arts wrting, fiction, poetry, experimental, cross-genre and digital text forms.

Read more…

Sarah Drinan, Spring, 2023. Acrylic and oil on canvas. Image courtesy of FUTURES.

Flesh Boundaries – Madison Pawle

‘Another synchronicity: when I arrive at FUTURES I have been reading through Carson’s back catalogue. Like Drinan, Carson has a way of taking an everyday thing and making it sensational. The figurative encroaches on scenes of ordinary encounter.’

Madison Pawle reviews Sarah Drinan Flesh Boundaries, a recent solo exhibition at FUTURES Gallery.

This text was commissioned through the Emerging Writers’ Program – an annual collaborative projects from KINGS and un Projects, that supports critical arts wrting, fiction, poetry, experimental, cross-genre and digital text forms.

Read more…

Still from Carmen-Sibha Keiso and Emily Hanson, Emily Cardboard; Tendencies in Female Behavior, 2020

Emily Cardboard: Tendencies in Female Behavior – Joanna Pope

‘Keiso described their long walks together as exercises in autistic-girly-psychogeography. As a female autist, I find their solemn, eventless traipsing through the city in strange sexy-ugly garb almost joyous, a perfect study in autistic girl companionship and all its drama-free intensity.’

Joanna Pope visits Emily Cardboard; Tendencies in Female Behavior, a recent exhibition at Hyacinth by Carmen-Sibha Keiso and Emily Hanson, featuring their short film of the same name. Commissioned by Carmen-Sibha Keiso, un Extended Editor-in-Residence.

Read more…

Sophie Cox, Community Garden, 2022, thread on linen in embroidery hoop, 320 x 320 mm. Image courtesy of the artist.

A Language of Craftivism – Uswa Qureshi

‘The language of activism remains relevant in a social economy based on efficiency. Obliqueness is an enemy to being heard and we require more than just visual symbolism to process the mess of information we absorb daily. Maybe Cox’s work is an antidote to an information overload that can be debilitating to both personal health and collective action.’

Uswa Qureshi reviews Sophie Cox’s ‘Protest and Survive’, a recent solo exhibition at Rubicon ARI.

This text was commissioned through the Emerging Writers’ Program – an annual collaborative projects from KINGS and un Projects, that supports critical arts wrting, fiction, poetry, experimental, cross-genre and digital text forms.

Read more…

Installation view, James Ashley, Radio Therapy, 2023, Wooden cladding screws, guitar, amplifier, drill, found photos, paper, various toys and figurines, dimensions variable. Freak Flag, 2023, Spray adhesive, oil paint, hair, 60cm x 220cm. Photo: Christo Crocker, courtesy the artist and Bus Projects.

With energy stolen from the bohemians who decorate the room? – Douglas Maxted

‘You’re weird. What do you want? A cappuccino, please. Grunt. The waiter rips out a page from their pad. They slam it on the table. It reads ‘theory boy cappuccino’ in marker. They turn to the long-haired sommelier. What are you doing tonight? Everything, baby. I’m a bohemian.’

Douglas Maxted’s meta-fictional response to ‘With energy stolen from the bohemians who decorate the room’, a recent group exhibition at Bus Projects. Edited by Carmen-Sibha Keiso, un Extended Editor-in-Residence.

Read more…

Support un

un Projects is based on the unceded sovereign land and waters of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation; we pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.


Advertisement
Advertise with un