Octopus 17: Forever Transformed Exhibition Opening: 6pm–8pm Friday 28 July
Open House Melbourne Weekend: 10am-4:30pm Saturday 29 July and 10am-4pm Sunday 30 July
Location: 21-31 High Street, Preston South
Gertrude Contemporary is moving forward!
Over the weekend of Friday 28 July – Sunday 30 July Gertrude will launch our new architecturally-designed location and first exhibition in Preston South.
Our first exhibition, Octopus 17: Forever Transformed curated by Georgie Meagher will be officially opened on the evening of Friday 28 July. As part of Open House Melbourne, over the following Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 July, the public will be offered a special look into our new building in its entirety – including the exhibition and back of house artist studio spaces.
Architecture firm Edition Office have designed the fit-out of our High Street premises. The building was built in 1983 and previously operated as a retail furniture showroom. The large, open-plan building offers a flexible shell within which custom-made spaces have been designed for Gertrude’s artistic program. The new location includes Gertrude’s main exhibition spaces, sixteen studios for our two-year studio program and administration offices.
‘With purpose designed exhibition spaces that are expansive in scale, versatile in use, and designed with consideration of how we as an organisation support the full and expanding range of artistic practices, our new building will enable us to work with artists and curators on configurations that are adaptable and can best present projects of scale, ambition and risk’, says Mark Feary, Artistic Director.
Gertrude’s sixteen subsidised studios have been incorporated within the configuration of Gertrude’s new premises. For the first time in our history, the design of the new building privileges each artist equally, with all of the studios being of the same generous spatial proportions, as well as access to shared workshop facilities.
Importantly, all of the ground level studios have increased accessibility for artists to work on larger scaled works, as well incorporating more social areas to increase interaction between the studio artists, staff and audiences. Highly functional, flexible and neutral, these studios form an armature around the gallery spaces, making more publicly discernible Gertrude’s dual focus of supporting both the production and presentation of contemporary art.
Located right on the main High Street strip, the area is a wonderful new home for Gertrude and our audiences. It is a vibrant and developing hub of great food, bars and interesting shops and is highly accessible by public transport - tram, train and bus alike. We are creating a “Gertrude’s Guide” to the new area highlighting some of our favourite places in the area.
‘This is an important move for Gertrude – the beginning of a new chapter in our 32-year history for our artists and for our audiences. Audience experience and accessibility were key considerations for the design of the new location. We are thrilled to offer our audiences a unique Gertrude insight into the work of Australia’s most exciting contemporary artists at pivotal moments in their careers’, says Christine Tipton, Director, Business and Operations.
Following Octopus 17: Forever Transformed, we have an exciting major exhibition program planned at the new location for the rest of 2017. Gertrude will present a project by Melbourne-based artist Tony Garifalakis and Mexican artist Joaquin Segura, curated by San Francisco-based researcher and independent curator Ivan Muñiz Reed and featuring new and recent works focussing on issues of violence, systems of control and political change. To conclude the year, Gertrude will present our highly anticipated annual exhibition by Gertrude’s sixteen Studio Artists.
Gertrude Glasshouse, located at 44 Glasshouse Rd, Collingwood will continue to be our satellite exhibition space and the home of the Gertrude Studio Artist Solo Exhibition Program.