Before
Contemporary
Exhibition
09.06.19 → 29.03.20
Before Time Began, a saying by Aboriginal artists which is often heard in Central Australia, has different levels of interpretation:
In the concept of the Dreaming, this phrase can be referred to in describing the process of Creation. The idea of a “time out of time” or “everywhen” helps us understand a complex concept innate to Aboriginal culture, whereby the Earth was created by the actions of our ancestors during the Dreaming.
From an art history perspective, the title evokes the origins of contemporary Aboriginal art from a number of isolated regions of Australia, amongst which ancient works from the Arnhem Land and paintings from Papunya dating back to the early seventies.
Before Time Began offers insights into the evolution of contemporary Aboriginal art through a selection of nearly 80 major works — paintings on canvas and bark, installations and sculptures — from its emergence in 1971 to the present day, including very recent works from the APY Lands.
Two monumental collaborative paintings, created especially for the exhibition, as well as Kulata Tjuta: Kupi Kupi, an installation of 1500 spears part of the official selection of BIENALSUR 2019, constitute the cornerstone of the exhibition.
Pipilotti Rist
Berg Elle, 2017
Audio video installation with a stone suspended from ceiling
To embody Fondation Opale’s vocation to support art as a vehicle for dialogue, Berg Elle, an installation by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist that speak about the beginning of time and the unity of all human beings, echoes the works of the great initiates in Before Time Began.
Special Focus
Painting on Country
The art gallery’s Special Focus space host Painting on Country, a project through which the artists of Tjungu Palya worked directly with their native landscapes to tell their stories. Their ephemeral artworks, drawn with a natural white pigment, have since washed away with the first rains, but are immortalized through the series of photographs taken by Berlin-based photographer Leopold Fiala under the direction of Anangu.
Exhibition curators
Georges Petitjean
Bérengère Primat
Scenography
Thematis
Exhibition partners
Photos
Before Time Began
Women’s Law alive in our Country, 2018 (detail)
Betty Muffler, Angkaliya Curtis © 2019, ProLitteris, Zurich
Wawiriya Burton © Copyright Agency
Painting on Country
Rock paintings
Marita Baker,
Angkaliya Curtis,
Beryl Jimmy,
Keith Stevens,
Bernard Tjalkuri
Photo © Leopold Fiala