We welcome you to the second New Contemporaries Online Showcase, presented by Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), The University of Sydney.
This online showcase represents SCA’s 2022 graduating cohort. Working across Screen Arts, Photography, Painting, Printmedia, Sculpture, Ceramics, Glass and Jewellery and Object. The works within represent the capstone of degrees including the Bachelor of Visual Arts, Bachelor of Visual Arts/Bachelor of Advanced Studies, Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), Higher Degree Research and Masters of Moving Image.
This online platform showcases the work of 100 students, with each represented by a meandering line of their design. Each creative fingerprint is a portal through which a student’s finished work can be explored, to better understand their artistic practise and process. Each line is adjusted to a colour of the student’s choice and moves to mimic the pace at which they create.
Built by arts graduates in consultation with our own, the website presents a cohort that has relished in its return to campus. Inspired by images of floorplans and staircases, it reflects both SCA’s ever-expanding footprint within its new Camperdown home and the labyrinthine experience of studying Visual Arts itself.
In parallel to this online showcase, the physical exhibition of the same name will be held at SCA Gallery and adjoining spaces from 1-10 December, 2022 at Old Teachers’ College. After the physical exhibition closes, this website will remain as an archive of our students’ artistic achievements and time studying at SCA.
This exhibition would not have been possible without the dedicated support of SCA’s academic and professional staff. Above all, we commend all students for continuing to create through disruptions and during isolation. We are proud to present their work and wish all continued success in their future careers.
I feel so lucky to have a role that connects me with the students and staff who have worked tirelessly on New Contemporaries. All of us are artists in one form or another, and all of us contributing to making something special at Sydney College of the Arts. It is an institution that has, for more than 40 years, fostered ambitious and experimental works from the next generation of artists – a remarkable contribution to the wider cultural life of the country.
I extend my gratitude to the Co-Directors and Co-Chairs of SCA Andrew Lavery and Julie Rrap, along with SCA Manager Gulnara Shayakhmetova, for their faith and commitment across the board to this project.
Liam Garstang and Emma O’Neill are the most fantastic people to work with each day, and without them, this exhibition wouldn’t be anything like it is. The New Contemporaries website was made collaboratively with our students and offers an incredible opportunity for professional practice development. This work was made possible by the wonderful Sophie Penkethman-Young and Alexander Tanazefti. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of website intern Lyn Deng.
I want to especially thank the academics who supported the third-year undergraduate program, Oliver Smith, Jacky Redgate, Zoe Robertson, Robyn Backen and Stuart Bailey. I would also like to thank Jan Guy and the Honours supervisors.
Each year the technical officers put in an enormous effort; Canbora Bayraktar, Joshua Boerma, Nicholas Boerma, Michael Brewster, Cobi Butcher, Rhonda Dwyer, Virginia Hilyard, Harry Klein, Isobel Markus-Dunworth, Timothy Osborne and Remi Siciliano. To mount the graduate exhibition, our students were joined by Paul Greedy, Richard Kean and Julien Bowmen who undoubtedly bring their skills and knowledge as practitioners into the fold, and did a lot of hard labour along the way. At the end of the day, it’s not always about becoming a famous artist. A successful education in Visual Art is about gaining the confidence to lead a positive, thoughtful and critically driven experimental life – one that extends into the future and beyond the institution, to enrich one’s life in any context.
To our graduating students: write your own manifesto frequently, and don’t fear rewriting and revising it throughout your life. Try to be on the lovers’ side, rather than that of the straightener, as the lovers path can only lead to joy.
From Covid lockdown into the light our graduating Master of Moving Image students filmed in Sydney and beyond to deliver a diverse slate of screen stories about memory, sex, eco-dystopia, AI, identity and tainted love, set now and in the future.