Officially launching at the Deakin University Art Gallery this week is the exhibition Venetian Bind.
Created for the European Cultural Centre in conjunction with the Venice Biennale in 2024, Venetian Bind captures key elements of an ambitious research project developed by Deakin's Associate Professor Cameron Bishop and Professor David Cross. It marks the second iteration of the project, following the first presentation Venetian Blind exhibited at the Gallery in 2021.
The exhibition, which was first staged in the Palazza Mora in Venice last year before being reinvented for the Deakin University Art Gallery, features six interconnected artworks by teams of Deakin researchers and Higher Degree by Research candidates with a specific focus on the ecology and cultures of Venice, the lagoon it sits in, and the islands that surround it.
Each team was asked to respond to a unique 'bind', or provocation, set in six specific Venetian locations with experiences ranging from encounters with local experts to hands-on workshops, leading to the creation of public performances and a series of artefacts and videos featured within the exhibition.
'This project seeks to employ emergent curatorial thinking in temporary public artwork to mesh experimental art making with the accumulation of new skills, straddling technique, participatory engagement and a deeper understanding of environment and its assorted transitions,' said co-curator Professor Cross.
Associate Professor Bishop, also a curator of the exhibition, added: 'Venice in these terms becomes a dynamic laboratory of communities, histories and technologies, rather than operating in its default setting as an exotic backdrop to display artwork.'
The Venetian Bind exhibition is proudly hosted by the Deakin University Art Gallery and continues until 8 August 2025 at the Melbourne Burwood Campus. The Deakin University Art Gallery is open to the public Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm and entry is free.
Professor Meghan Kelly, Head of School Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University will officially launch the celebration of the exhibition on Wednesday 16 July at 6pm.
WHAT: Venetian Bind
WHEN: Continues until 8 August 2025.
WHERE: Deakin University Art Gallery, Building FA, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood
Image: Bernardo Bellotto, The Campo di SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, 1743/1747 oil on canvas. Image in the public domain, Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington. Adapted by Cameron Bishop, 2024. Promotional image only provided by Curators of the Venetian Bind exhibition.
