Radical Ghosts: Looking for women in the archives of experimental art

In this History Festival lecture, curator Sasha Grbich delves into her research behind The Experimental Anarchive, a major exhibition project spanning Flinders University Museum of Art and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE), alongside a guest-edited issue of Artlink magazine.

Unearthing overlooked performances, ephemeral works and counter-institutional practices long absent from institutional archives, Grbich reveals a radical history of experimental art that challenges conventional narratives of Australian art history. Responding to the stark underrepresentation of women and First Nations artists represented within Australian experimental art collections of the 1960s and 70s, including FUMA’s Post-object and Documentation collection, The Experimental Anarchive revives these histories through newly commissioned artworks and writing, interviews and reprised archival material.

Tracing the enduring legacy of experimental art in Adelaide and beyond, this lecture offers a timely reconsideration of whose stories are preserved, whose voices are excluded, and how contemporary artists and curators are reshaping cultural memory.

Sasha Grbich is an artist, writer and lecturer at the Adelaide Central School of Art where she teaches in sculpture, art history and theory. She is a regular contributor to Artlink and other critical review publications. Grbich was awarded the 2018 Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship to attend the Maumaus School's School of Visual Art in Portugal, where she undertook an independent study program. In 2015, Grbich completed postgraduate research at University of South Australia and is currently researching her PhD at Flinders University.

This event is held in the Flinders City Campus, Level 3, Room 312. Click here for more information on location, map and transport.

To livestream the event, click here.

Image: Sandra Greentree Nicolaides, 𝘜𝘱 𝘛𝘰 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴, 1980. Colour photograph documenting performance, Adelaide Festival Centre, 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬. State Library of South Australia: SRG 850/97/3283. Sandra Greentree, Festival 1980, from the Women's Art Movement Slide Registry. Image courtesy State Library of South Australia. © the artist.

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