Announcing Hobart Current: Epoch

Chris Twite

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and the City of Hobart are excited to announce the new Creative Director and the opening of artist expressions of interest for the second iteration of Hobart Current.

Hobart Current, an innovative long-term partnership between the two organisations, is a major biennial program that nurtures and showcases contemporary artists working across different media, culminating in an exhibition every two years.

The successful inaugural iteration of the program, Hobart Current: Liberty, saw 10 artists from Tasmania, interstate and overseas present their work at TMAG and across two outdoor sites in the Hobart CBD from March to May 2021.

Following a national recruitment process, Chris Twite will take the reins as the Creative Director for Hobart Current in 2023, which will focus on the theme ‘Epoch’.

Chris has programmed and produced for organisations such as the Falls Festival, Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival and the Sydney Opera House, helping to cultivate new art and ideas in cities around the country.

He will work with an advisory panel of leading Tasmanian arts organisations to select ten artists to participate in Hobart Current: Epoch, at least six of whom will be Tasmanian. Each artist commission is worth up to $15,000.

“I am thrilled to direct the next chapter of Hobart Current, a vital and exciting exploration that takes stock of culture right here and now,” Chris said.

“Hobart Current brings together an artistically rigorous program across multiple disciplines to showcase the incredible talent and culture that exists here in Hobart, and Tasmania as a whole, and to contextualise it alongside works from interstate and overseas artists.

“It represents an opportunity to really deeply engage with Hobart’s vibrant creative communities, and to spend the next year working with artists to create dynamic works that will excite the people of Hobart, Tasmania, and visitors, at a time when perhaps we all so desperately need art’s restorative properties to uplift and inspire us.”

Each artist will be commissioned to create a new work for the exhibition around the theme ‘Epoch’, with expressions of interest welcomed from those working across a wide range of media including design, music/sound, performance, screen and digital arts, visual art, and writing.

“We live in interesting times, plunged into global upheaval, shaken by local change and challenged to personally reflect,” Chris said.

“Like never before, we have been given the opportunity to take stock of our lives, our beliefs and our actions as individuals, communities, and nations.

“As we step forth into 2023, one thing is certain, we know that it is a doorway and through it lies a new epoch. A new era that will define us for another generation.

“As we pass through towards this new future, there is room for nostalgia and cynicism for the past just as there is for hope and indignation for the future – but nothing will be the same.

“I want to encourage artists to look as much to the world as to themselves and their neighbours, to examine their stories and to spark conversations on who we have been and who we will become in this next great era.”

The artist application form is available here: hobartcurrent.com/artist-eoi. PLEASE NOTE: Applications are now closed – deadline for applications was Monday 21 March 2022.

Hobart Current: Epoch will incorporate a variety of public and education programs, and will culminate in an exhibition to be presented at TMAG and locations across the Hobart CBD from November 2023 to February 2024.

Hobart Current is presented in partnership between the City of Hobart and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Visit the Hobart Current website for more information: www.hobartcurrent.com.

Pictured: Chris Twite. Image: Teresa Tan.