EMILY FERNANDEZ
New initiatives are helping upcoming Brisbane artists showcase their projects and curators learn about running art exhibitions.
Artist Run Initiatives or ARIs create pop-up exhibition opportunities for emerging artists, providing them with somewhere to experiment, learn, and share their work.
Some ARIs use traditional art gallery spaces, while others use their own homes.
KUNSTBUNKER is an emerging ARI in Brisbane’s Highgate Hill who focus on enabling artists to showcase their new work in a dedicated and unique space.
Founders of KUNSTBUNKER, Kat Campbell, Liam Marsden and Remi Roehrs say the initiative is helping give exposure to upcoming artists whilst allowing their own business to grow.
“We had access to an available space, which is a finite resource in Brisbane so, we thought it would be a shame not to use it and to use this space for something that brings a community of people together and gives emerging creatives and artists an opportunity to develop, practice, experiment, and collaborate with no risks or expectations,” Ms Roehrs said.
Aiden Renata is finishing his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Queensland University of Technology and recently held a presentation of his project PUSH, PULL, PUSH, PULL, showcasing a unique collection of ‘failure as a queer aesthetic’ through fashion.
“Through my research, I came across ideas and there were several things that especially spoke to me, for example this book by Jack Halberstam The Queer Art of Failure which I took a lot of inspiration from,” Mr Renata said.
“Essentially, this author helped to position failure, the inherent failure in queer life and repositioned them out of the idea of success or being successful because success is tied to a lot of heteronormative ideals and so when you reposition that you have a chance to re-explore these inherent failings in queer identities and in queer fashion as well.”
There are several more ARI’s located in Brisbane including KUNSTBUNKER, Fake Estate, The Brisbane Collective and many more.
Co-founder of KUNSTBUNKER, Kat Campbell says they will be holding more events throughout the end of this year.
“We will be running more events towards the end of the year, none we can confirm with you now as we are still running through the bookings but there will definitely be more,” Ms Campbell said.