Some Sort of Notation takes its name from the journals of Alexander Marshack: an archaeologist who, in 1964, published a study on seemingly random, human-made notches on palaeolithic bones. Adamant that the markings were far from meaningless, he proposed they were complex lunar observations— a proto-writing system. “It is clearly neither art nor decoration,” he’d said, “but some sort of notation.”

(maelstrom) presents new works by South Australian artists Nicholas Hanisch and Nicole Clift. The two bodies of work, oil paintings and hand-woven tapestries, are responses to tangible and intangible manifestations of density, respectively. Nicholas Hanisch’s small oil paintings on canvas and bronze present intense tonal studies of sudden force, such as volcanic eruptions, fireworks, black holes, meteor showers and billowing smoke clouds.

This exhibition revisits selected works from Danish Quapoor’s recent good grief series, recontextualising them amongst related works. Quapoor’s trademark illustrative paintings on stretched paper feature alongside wall drawings and sculptures. Collectively, the works allude to diverse concepts including shifting personal identities, familial relationships, corporeality, grief, memorialisation, frustration, allergies, expectations, gender roles and sexuality.

'Working Tiles' is an exhibition featuring works from 14 artists, designers, and makers, all operating within a shared studio environment. ‘Tiles’ gallery and studios are located on Gadigal and Wangal country, Lewisham.

We have partnered with WestWords to deliver our writers program this year.

Kate Coyne

Kate Coyne's studio practice explores how experience can be embodied and the nature of the relationship between the body/experience and materiality in a socio-political feminist context. Temporality, the progression of past, present and future is inherent, with materials discolouring over time and gravity taking over form and identity in the same way that it does with an ageing, sagging body.

Kate Coyne; Sehej Kaur x Kaylee Rankin; emoeba h♡rtbridge; Bonnie Huang; Keesha Catherine Field

Firstdraft’s pop-up classroom, Class S2, calls for you to tap into your child-like self with the materials, knowledge and memories collected and experienced by who you are today, making objects in experimental and hopeful ways. 

Ali Noble

What ideologies are subverted when curtains assert versatility, sensuality and movement in spaces typically defined by fixedness? Cubbyhouse(Nothing is Certain, said the Curtain) merges the familiarity of Ali Noble’s existing textile-based practise, with the exploration of a new format, video.