How can art and design influence change and contribute to a positive future?
We Change the World considers the work of contemporary artists and designers that prompt us to question our current world and consider our own capacity for change.
To mark the opening of the exhibition, exhibiting artists and designers Emily Floyd, Simone Slee and Yan Huang, along with the NGV’s Head of Learning, Michele Stockley, reflect on the concept of change and the role of art and design in shaping, questioning and exploring the world around us.
Hosted by NGV Assistant Curator Katharina Prugger, the conversation will consider the variety of ways that artists and designers challenge us to consider our own potential for change, empower us to be creative and think critically, and prompt action.
Moderator
Katharina Prugger is Acting Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Victora (NGV) and co-curator of We Change the World.
Speakers
Emily Floyd is an artist whose practice includes sculpture, printmaking and public installation. Floyd is renowned for her text-based sculptures and pedagogically inspired works that combine a strong focus on visual qualities with an interest in the legacies of modernism. Her work engages a wide range of disciplines including social activism, design and typography, literature and cultural studies, community participation and public education. Intersecting public space with a carefully considered aesthetic approach, the artist creates bold spaces for public engagement and interaction.
Simone Slee makes work that has its origins in sculpture. She produces installations, photographs, videos and sculptural objects that often engage the body, have performance potential and tests the limits of materiality. Through her work she coined the term abfunction, which identifies the way function is moved away from within the production and effect of an artwork. Humour and vulnerability continue to emerge as key concerns in her practice, generating the unexpected, instability and endurance. Simone Slee is the Head of VCA Art, within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at The University of Melbourne. Simone has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally in India and Germany and her artwork is collected by major Australian public galleries and museums. Simone is represented by Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne.
Yan-Hong Huang 黄燕红 was born in China and studied fine arts at Xiamen University, before moving to Melbourne to study Industrial Design at RMIT University. A former automotive designer for General Motors USA and Australia, she established an independent design practice in 2015. Inspired by her observation of nature and of daily life, Yan creates sculptures with playful practicality. In her current practice, Yan explores the intersection of art and design, reinterpreting iconic or archetypical forms. She desires to decode and redefine the meaning of our interactions with the world, both everyday and ritualistic.
Michele Stockley is Head of Learning at the National Gallery of Victora (NGV) and co-curator of We Change the World.