The Board of Gertrude is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Callum Morton as its new Chair. Morton is Professor of Fine Art at Monash Art Design and Architecture (MADA) Melbourne and Director of Monash Art Projects. A highly respected and recognised artist, Morton brings to the organisation a rich knowledge of contemporary art and its broader role within Australian culture.
In his response to the appointment, Morton says 'Gertrude is the most important incubator for artistic and curatorial practice in the country. For almost 40 years, it has provided studio spaces and exhibition opportunities for some of the most influential contemporary artists and thinkers to emerge on the national and international stage. As a young artist, Gertrude played a pivotal role in my development and I am looking forward to working with the Board and the staff to help realise our ambition to expand this support for future artistic communities.'
Executive Director Tracy Burgess said, 'I am excited to welcome Callum to this role and look forward to his leadership during an important and dynamic period for Gertrude - as we work to secure the legacy of this vital organisation through ensuring it has a permanent home to support future generations of artists and audiences.'
'I’d also like to thank outgoing Co-Chairs Bianca Robinson and Su Baker. Bianca and Su have provided valuable guidance to the Board and support for the organisation over the past six months as we have welcomed Callum to the role' says Burgess.
Professor Su Baker will continue in the role of Deputy Chair and Biana Robinson will continue in the role of Treasurer.
Callum Morton’s installation and sculptural practice is inspired by architecture and the built environment. His works explore human interaction with architectural space and ideas through scale models and facades of well-known buildings. He represented Australia at the 2007 Venice Biennale with a scale model of his childhood home, designed and built in the 1970s in a modernist style by his architect father.
Morton has been exhibiting nationally and internationally since 1987, including solo shows at the Santa Monica Museum of Art (1999), the MCA in Sydney (2003), The Indian Triennale in New Delhi (2004) and ACCA in Melbourne (2005). His public projects include Hotel (2008) on the Eastlink freeway in Melbourne, the permanent pavilion Grotto (2009) for the Fundament Foundation in Tilburg, the Netherlands, Silverscreen (2011) for the new location of MUMA in Melbourne in 2010 and Monument Park in Melbourne’s Docklands (2014).
In 2011 Morton’s work was the subject of a retrospective at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and in 2014 he participated in the 19th Biennale of Sydney, Imagine What You Desire. In 2017 he completed the outdoor work Sisyphus in Silkeborg, Denmark for the European Capital of Culture and in 2019 was included in the show Down Under at PAC in Milan. He has designed for theatre a number of occasions including for productions of Other Desert Cities (2013) and Endgame (2015) for the MTC, Ranter’s Theatre production of Come Away with Me to the End of the World (2017) and the set for Chunky Move’s major production Yung Lung (2021/22). He is currently completing multiple public commissions internationally and nationally.
Morton’s work is held in numerous state, regional and university collections in Australia, and international collections including Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand and Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples.