Opening Immemorial - Reaching Back Beyond Memory

IMMEMORIAL - REACHING BACK BEYOND MEMORY
OCTOBER 27 - NOVEMBER 27 2011

Opening Reception: Wednesday, October 26, 7:00pm

Chan Contemporary Art Space State Square, Darwin, opposite Parliament House Darwin, Australia

ARTISTS:
Catriona Stanton, Hayley West, Julie Gough, Min Wong, Pip McManus, Simon Cooper, Tobias Richardson, Lashita Situmorang, Wimo Ambala Bayang, Caroline Rika Winata, Lyra Garcellano, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Jed Escueta

CURATORS:
Sudjud Dartanto (Independent Curator and Lecturer Indonesia Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Norberto Roldan (Director Green Papaya Art Projects, Manila, Philippines) , Steve Eland (Director 24HR Art - Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, Australia)

Immemorial-reaching back beyond memory offers an extraordinary cultural exchange within a current social and political context, endeavoring to invigorate dialogue between cultures. The curatorial rationale of Immemorial-reaching back beyond memory seeks to investigate commonalities of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, as they consider their ancestral histories and their present notions of cultural identity. Too often, cultural identity concentrates on the 'differences', particularly in current global political environments; concepts of 'difference' can at times be an irrational construct used for the purposes of division. Immemorial-reaching back beyond memory aims to break down these notions of 'difference' by transplanting ancestral investigations and common accounts into an exploratory visual language, invigorating discourse on cultural perspectives. Throughout history people have migrated or dispersed by choice, force or need. The curators, in developing the rationale, believe family stories of journeys,displacements, triumphs, interruptions and secrets transcend political boundaries as recognizable common threads. The rationale incorporates a much broader notion of cultural identity, many family histories have universal elements; these elements are not confined nor controlled by geographic or sovereign boundaries.