Stone Soup: Curator Floor Talk
Join Head Curator, Samantha Comte for a floor talk on our current exhibition Hany Armanious: Stone Soup.
In Stone Soup, leading Australian artist Hany Armanious transforms everyday objects, from crackers and candles to paint trays and lumps of Blu-Tack, into near-perfect doubles that make the familiar feel newly alive. Join us to explore Hany’s practice, which invites us to pause, look closer and rediscover the joy of seeing things as if for the very first time.
Visitors to the event can also participate in Unresolved Sentiments, a free activity in the gallery foyer. Drawing on Hany’s playful spirit of transformation and improvisation, this hands-on activity invites you to be creative and uncover the hidden poetic humour in everyday objects.
Hany Armanious: Stone Soup runs until 11 April 2026.
Photography by Astrid Mulder.
Event Details
Saturday 21 March
1–2pm and 2–3pm
Access
Buxton Contemporary is fully wheelchair accessible. Find detailed information about building access and available resources on our Visit page. Please contact the gallery at buxton-contemporary@unimelb.edu.au or on 03 9035 9339 if you have any questions or would like to request an accommodation.
About the experts
Hany Armanious is an Australian artist living and working in Sydney. His work has been exhibited throughout Australasia, Europe and North America. Armanious represented Australia at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. His selected solo exhibitions include Fine Arts, Sydney (2024); Michael Lett, Auckland (2022); Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney (2018); Southard Reid, London (2016); City Gallery Wellington, (2014); Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (2013); Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2012); MCA Sydney Sculpture Terrace, Sydney (2012); Foxy Production, New York (2010); Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis (2008); Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and City Gallery Wellington (2006-07) and The Hammer Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles (2001). Hany Armanious is represented by Fine Arts, Sydney, Michael Lett, Auckland and Phillida Reid Gallery, London.
Samantha Comte is Head Curator of the Potter Museum of Art and Buxton Contemporary at the University of Melbourne. Samantha has worked across a range of public and private contexts including Monash University Museum of Art, Gertrude Contemporary, the National Gallery of Australia, Next Wave Festival, and the Michael Buxton Collection. She has curated more than 20 exhibitions of the work of Australian and international artists, published in a range of journals and exhibition catalogues and is deeply committed to supporting Australian artists and arts practice.
Samantha is the co-curator of Hany Armanious: Stone Soup with Laurence Sillars, Head of the Henry Moore Institute and Charlotte Day, Director of Art Museums at the University of Melbourne.