THIS IS A POEM

9 July – 14 November 2021

Bringing contemporary art and poetry into dialogue, This is a poem was a multi-disciplinary project encompassing new commissions in a diverse mix of media and forms, live performances, a publication and an exhibition.

 

The project drew notable artists and poets into creative discourse. Each participant was invited to write, perform, read or present in visual form an original work of poetry in response to an artwork held in the University’s Buxton Contemporary collection. Conceived to creatively animate the collection, This is a poem brought art, artists, and poetry into orbit with audiences through an experimental and experiential exhibition that explored the longstanding tradition of ekphrastic poetry.

 

An ekphrastic poem can be defined as a vivid description or response to a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating or reflecting on an artwork, a poet may amplify and expand its meaning. The rich array of poetry created in response to this invitation is variously poignant, heart-rending, playful, humorous, critical and absurd. It spans a broad range of topical themes, from the impact of colonisation, human mortality and the nature of compassion through to the very act of breathing itself.

 

This is a poem offered an expansive sample of poetry in multiple and often surprising forms, including concrete and visual poetry, spoken and written word, dance, movement-based expression, sound, colour poetry, found poetry and poetry as physical form and assemblage. While poetry often appears in other modes of art and is incorporated into exhibitions and within broader museum programming, a presentation of this scale and depth was uncommon.
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This is a poem sought to make a meaningful contribution to an expanded expression and definition of ekphrasis – the imaginative and magical correspondence between poetry and art.

The participating artists and poets: Aleks Danko, artist; Alex Selenitsch, concrete poet; Bella Li, poet and artist; Brad Aaron Modlin, poet and writer; Evelyn Araluen, poet, descendant of the Bundjalung nation; Fayen d’Evie artist with Benjamin Hancock dancer; Jeanine Leane, Wiradjuri poet and writer; Justin Clemens, poet and writer; Kevin Brophy, poet and writer with Oscar Weimar filmmaker; Lisa Gorton, poet and writer; Lisa Radford & Sam George, artists; Lou Hubbard, artist; Michelle Nikou, artist; Mitch Cairns, artist; Newell Harry, artist; Rose Nolan, artist; Sandra Parker, dancer and choreographer; Simryn Gill, artist.

Artists from the collection: Hany Armanious, Pat Brassington, Janet Burchill, Mutlu Çerkez, Destiny Deacon & Virginia Fraser, Emily Floyd, Rosalie Gascoigne, Mira Gojak, David Jolly, Tracey Moffatt, John Nixon, Raquel Ormella, Mike Parr, Stuart Ringholt, Sandra Selig & Leighton Craig, Peter Tyndall and Louise Weaver.
Curated by Melissa Keys.

PAST EVENTS

POETRY READING – NEW CONSTELLATIONS, curated by Justin Clemens 

POETRY READING – NEW CONSTELLATIONS, curated by Justin Clemens 

POETRY READING – selected works by Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk

POETRY READING – selected works by Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk

PERFORMANCE – Lisa Radford and Sam George, The Dugong Sublime (Hotel Sorrento)

PERFORMANCE – Lisa Radford and Sam George, The Dugong Sublime (Hotel Sorrento)

THIS IS A POEM

THIS IS A POEM

Gallery

Headphones hang on a wall with a pink and grey rectangular artwork on the other wall

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–7 November 2021, with (left to right) Sandra Selig & Leighton Craig, Special mechanism for universal uncertainty 2010 (detail); Bella Li, Planet Score 2021 (still), photography Christian Capurro

A series of red and white paintings pieced together to make one artwork

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–7 November 2021, photography Christian Capurro.

Artworks in a pink room with one visitor sitting on a pink bench

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–7 November 2021, with Tracey Moffatt, Scarred for life I 1994 and Scarred for life II 1999 (details)

Two framed artworks of the Regent hotel on a blue wall

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–14 November 2021, with (left to right) David Jolly, Hotel part of Liquid Nature 2006 and Office part of Liquid Nature 2006, photography Christian Capurro

A projector on a table with artworks on a wall in the background

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–7 November 2021, with (left to right) James ‘Jimmy’ Green, Untitled (Sydney Habour) 1972; Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Green, Table Mountain, Cape Town (from memory) c.1980s; Newell Harry, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: Part I 1975–2012 and Untitled: White / Conundrum 2021, photography Christian Capurro

A wall with the exhibition artwork This is a Poem

Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 9 July–7 November 2021, photography Christian Capurro.

Exhibition Catalogue

A book cover for This is a Poem. This is a series of red arrows pointing in different directions
This is a poem is a multidisciplinary project that brings contemporary art and poetry into dialogue, encompassing new commissions in a diverse mix of media and forms, live performances, a publication and an exhibition.

Contributors include Justin Clemens, Melissa Keys and Jeanine Leane.

 

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ARTWORK LABELS
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Image credit: Installation view, This is a poem, Buxton Contemporary, The University of Melbourne, 2021 with Mitch Cairns, Studies for This is a poem 2020 photography Christian Capurro

Buxton Contemporary acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we work, learn and create, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong peoples, and the wider Kulin Nations. We acknowledge their continuing care for Country and recognise that Australia’s First Peoples art and cultural practices have thrived here for millenia.