Hey - we've missed you!

We've been thinking a lot about the last time we hugged…

We've been searching online trying to connect, trying to find you, but we still feel so distant. So we have turned each of our feelings into code to build a space to meet - It's a web wormhole, a digital celebration, a space for offering, giving and holding one another.

We've named it Collective Trace and invite you to join us there!

With the energy of an art opening and the warmth of a hug Collective Trace brings together artists and the internet in acts of generosity that leave a trace. Manisha Anjali, JD Reforma, Kris Savic and Akil Ahamat are joining us there, creating performative instructions for a New World Order, snail soundscape games, TikTok art opening banter and Zoom portraiture.

Let's meet on the evening of Wednesday 15 July for a night of playfully experiencing artworks, collectivity and optimism in these trying times. We will dive into this immersive digital experience, not to replicate what once was, but to make something new - together.

It's cold outside, bring your warmest feelings.

Love,
Collective Trace

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ARTIST STATEMENTS:

AKIL AHAMAT - "I am an arts worker and interdisciplinary artist working in sound, video and installation. My work is driven by research into the phenomenon of ASMR and the translation of its sonic aesthetics into gallery and performance contexts. This work draws upon online experiences to consider the physical and social isolation that often governs the shaping of identity."

JD REFORMA - "I am an interdisciplinary artist whose research-based practice encompasses sculpture, performance, installation, video, photography and writing. The meaning explored in my work is embedded in different racialised and classed contexts: the lived experiences of the Asian-Australian diaspora; popular culture and the cult of celebrity; corporate branding and institutional critique; and political dynasticism and cultural imperialism. I am also a humorist and satirist, a practice enacted online through the Instagram persona Keeping Up With the KPIs, a meme-based account in which the ubiquitous Kardashian/Jenner celebrity dynasty are positioned as imaginary figures within an institutional critique of the art world."

KRIS SAVIC - "Hi, my name is Kris Savic and I’m a Sydney-based video artist. My work is often self-reflexive and a meta take on the production process. I am interested in the relationship between the artist, the audience and the artwork. I construct spaces where the audience viewing the work becomes part of the work itself. My practice is very playful in nature and takes on a D.I.Y process of making."

MANISHA ANJALI - "I am a writer and artist living and working on unceded Wurundjeri country. My practice is rooted in the language of dreams and unconscious expression. I am the author of Electric Lotus (Incendium Radical Library Press, 2019) and the producer of 'Neptune', an archive of dreams, hallucinations and visions. I have guest edited for Runway Journal and The Lifted Brow. I have also exhibited at Bus Projects, SEVENTH Gallery, and performed at writers festivals across the country. My poetry is published in Surrealistic Pleasure, Australian Poetry Journal, Meanjin, Blackmail Press and IKA Journal."

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ATTENDANCE IS FREE BUT REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL VIA EVENTBRITE: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/collective-trace-a-digital-celebration-tickets-110734748614

Ticket holders will receive a link to the website one hour prior to the event starting.

Collective Trace is a collaboration of Nerida Ross, Sophie Penkenthman Young and Anna May Kirk. We strive to create a curatorial project with care and love.

Collective Trace and PACT acknowledge that this project happens on the stolen land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Collective Trace is presented by PACT Centre for Emerging Artists through their PACT House program. PACT House has been made possible with the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body; the NSW Government through Create NSW; and the City of Sydney through its Cultural Grants program.