Curated by Jacqueline Larcombe
Featuring Eleni Christou, Stephen Dobson, Ulvi Haagensen, Lyn Heazlewood, Jacqueline Larcombe, Sarah Newall, Jane Polkinghorne, Matte Rochford, Jayanto Damanik Tan and VAZA
Who said the everyday had to be humdrum? Suburban XTRA brings together ten artists and collectives who reveal how the minutae of daily life are constantly changing, and changing us in the process. Guest curated by Jacqueline Larcombe, the show explores the ways in which baring witness to or participating in the quotidian can generate deep nostalgia in the now. From sharing a meal, cleaning a pool, or toying with obscelescence and the mundanity of mass consumption, you’re invited round to reexamine the routines and structures that shape our lives and make up most of what we do with our waking hours.
In our STREETSPACE, Matte Rochford has redirected his personal mail and correspondence to The Tit for the show’s duration, where he will be reading and responding to the material he receives every Friday between 4 and 6pm. Around the corner in THE LANEWAY, Jayanto Damanik Tan has created a series of jajan pasar (street food) paste-ups. Inside the CURIOSITY CABINET, Lyn Heazlewood has rendered household tools forever fragile and functionless in clay while Sarah Newall has created exquisite limited edition TV Dinner sets in oak and bamboo as a form of sustainable nostalgia. On our TAXIDERMY T.V., Ulvi Haagensen, Jane Polkinghorne and Jayanto Damanik Tan look at rituals of care and consumption and role play queer fantasies. In THE LOOS, Stephen Dobson has appropriated IKEA advertising to parody “the good life”, and in THE SALON, Jacqueline Larcombe’s wall hanging pays homage to Acropolis Funeral Services in Earlwood and the dark links between banking and death.
There’ll also be live performances on opening night by Prince Aydin and Ms Frizz, with a zine pop-up by VAZA, weekly mail readings by Matte Rochford, a jajan pasar tea ceremony as part of Queerbourhood on September 4, and Eleni Christou’s watermelon rind spoon sweets being served on our Jacuzzerie boards throughout the show.
We’re putting out the welcome mat… Just be ready for that little bit XTRA.
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OPENING NIGHT DRINKS: Tuesday August 27, 6-8pm
with beers brought to you by our besties at Philter Brewing
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The Bearded Tit acknowledges that this exhibition takes place on Aboriginal land which was never ceded. We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this land and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Image: Jane Pollkinghorne, 'A Woman's Man (Disco Balls)', 2017. Video still, courtesy the artist.