The Dr Harold Schenberg Art Centre at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Centre of Visual Art (CoVA), University of Melbourne, announce a new partnership commencing in 2019 offering a new program for artists, writers and curators based in Perth and Melbourne to build strong research collaborations for the benefit of Australian art in an international context.

The program includes residencies, industry placements, exchanges, publishing and exhibition opportunities.

In April 2018 the University of Melbourne received a generous bequest from the estate of Dr Harold Schenberg (1930-2000), an art collector and patron of the arts who has endowed a number of art and music projects in Western Australia - in particular the Dr Harold Schenberg Art Centre at UWA. Dr Schenberg’s relationship with UWA started in 1948 when he was a first-year medical student. He completed his studies at the University of Melbourne (a full degree in medicine wasn’t offered at UWA at that time). After returning to Perth to establish his practice, his affiliation with UWA continued throughout his lifetime. In 2000, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from UWA, in recognition of his distinguished services and contribution to the Arts.

The inaugural Schenberg International Arts Collaboration program was launched recently at the Lawrence Wilson Gallery, UWA, on the occasion of the exhibition HERE&NOW18 and the ART+AUSTRALIA PUBLISHING Book and Journal Launch [Apostrophe Duchamp and Art + Australia, Issue Four: The Miracle (No. 55.1)].

Professor Ted Snell, Chief Cultural Officer at UWA, and Professor Su Baker, Director of the Centre of Visual Art (CoVA), announced the following aspects of the program:

• Berlin Residency in the Phasmid Studio
  An annual curatorial residency awarded to the curator of the HERE&NOW series exhibition each year, for three years. This first residency will be offered in July and August 2019, and include a $10,000 stipend
  
  
• Residency in Melbourne at the Norma Redpath Studio in Carlton.
  Selected through an application process for emerging practitioners involved in the arts – music, writing, visual arts, curatorial among others. Includes a $10,000 stipend.
  
  
• Editorial position with Art+ Australia Online.
  A remunerated position to be made available as the Art+Australia Online coordinating editor based in Perth.
  
  
• Exhibition development
  Proposed curatorial partnerships between UWA and University of Melbourne's cultural venues - such as the Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Buxton Contemporary and the Ian Potter Museum of Art.
  
  
• Publishing partnership 
  Proposed Art+Australia publications on Western Australian artists in the Documents Series, one edition per year for three years
  
  
• Sharing a range of visiting artists, curators, critics as the opportunity arises.

The first candidate to benefit from Dr Schenberg’s vision and generosity is Joanna Sulkowski, curator of the HERE&NOW19 exhibition to be held at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in September 2019. Ms Sulkowski will be the first recipient of the Berlin residency at the Phasmid Studio.

“Joanna was selected from a very strong field or candidates who responded to this year’s call for expressions of interest from young, Western Australian based curators. Her project will explore the role of textiles in contemporary visual arts practice and survey current work by Western Australian based artists who work within the expanded framework of textiles as a medium” explained Professor Snell.

Professor Baker, who grew up in Perth, knew of Dr Schenberg’s contribution to the arts and expressed her “… delight that UWA and the University of Melbourne could share in this gift and honour the wishes of the donor in this way, guaranteeing his legacy lives on in perpetuity”.

Enquiries

Su Baker
Director, Centre of Visual Art
University of Melbourne
E: [email protected]

Ted Snell AM CitWA
Director, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
Chief Cultural Officer
University of Western Australia
E: [email protected]