The Pulse of Art History Lecture Series presents
NIRIN and Powerful Objects: Brook Andrew in conversation with Jolene Rickard
Register in advance for this lecture
October 21,2020, 6pm
NIRIN was the title of the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, which means “edge” in Wiradjuri, the language of western New South Wales in Australia, and of the artistic director BrookAndrew’s people. NIRIN was conceived as an artist and Indigenous led exhibition and featured over 700 artworks by 101 artists and collectives from cultures that have historically been relegated to the peripheries. The exhibitions also featured a collection of what Brook Andrew coins Powerful Objects that included cultural objects and historic documents to activate a trans-historical frame through which to encounter the contemporary artworks and reveal connections across times, places, and people that may not be apparent to us all today.
Brook Andrew is a Wiradjuri/Celtic artist and scholar. In his interdisciplinary practice, including museum interventions and curatorial projects, Andrew assembles alternative narratives to challenge the legacies of colonialism and modernist histories and centre Indigenous perspectives. He was the artistic director of NIRIN, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney and this year has exhibited new work at the musee du quai branly, Paris; the Nest, the Hague; and Artspace, Sydney. Based between Melbourne, Australia and Oxford, UK, Andrew is Associate Researcher at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford; Associate Professor Fine Art, Monash University and Enterprise Professor Interdisciplinary Practice, University of Melbourne.
Jolene Rickard is Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art and the Department of Art, and affiliated faculty member in the American Indian Program at Cornell University.
