Join us for the launch of two publications: Shifting Ground: The Evolving Role of Art in the Australian Public Domain by Felicity Fenner, and close reader: complex notophyll vine forest by Clare Milledge and Ineke Dane.
The evening will feature a conversation with Felicity Fenner and Danielle Robson discussing Shifting Ground, followed by an introduction to close reader from Clare Milledge and Ineke Dane, and short readings by Tom Melick and Snack Syndicate (Andrew Brooks & Astrid Lorange). Guests are then invited to stay for refreshments and purchase copies of the books.
Shifting Ground: The Evolving Role of Art in the Australian Public Domain offers a critical examination of recent transformations in the conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and modes of engagement that shape contemporary art practices in the Australian public domain. Bringing together leading scholars and practitioners working at the forefront of cultural production, the volume analyses the paradigmatic shift in public art away from colonial epistemologies toward approaches grounded in relationality, situated knowledge, and socially responsive place-making. Positioned within an international landscape of institutional and ideological change, the book examines grassroots initiatives through to major civic commissions drawn from across Australia. Collectively, these analyses articulate a reconfigured field of public art attentive to plural knowledges, contested histories, and evolving civic imaginaries.
Author/Editor: Felicity Fenner
Design: Evi-O.Studio
Contributors: Felicity Fenner, Tony Albert, Tara Heffernan, Alison Page, Amy Spiers, Prudence Gibson, Edition Office, Danielle Robson, Bethan Donnelly, Ellen van Neerven, Barbara Flynn, Callum Morton, Chris Fox, Nina Miall
Supported by Creative Australia
Published by Formist Editions
RRP $50 ($40 UNSW students and staff)
Hardcover, 176 Pages, 25 x 18 cm
close reader: complex notophyll vine forest is a companion to Clare Milledge’s solo exhibition ‘complex notophyll vine forest: ground-proof’ (2025–26) at Lismore Regional Gallery. The publication is intended as a stand-alone book rather than a traditional exhibition catalogue and includes a collage of subject matter and visuals ranging from historical ecological articles advocating for the preservation of endangered rainforests, to childhood photos, sketchbook pages, and newly commissioned texts. close reader is richly dispersed with artwork from Milledge’s practice across the past decade.
Co-editors: Ineke Dane, Clare Milledge
Contributors: Clare Milledge, Tom Melick, Nan Nicholson, David Milledge, Tess Allas, Marian Tubbs, Snack Syndicate (Astrid Lorange & Andrew Brooks), Ineke Dane & Ashleigh Ralph, Morten Milledge-Grayburn
Design: Marilena Hewitt
Supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation
Published by Lismore Regional Gallery
RRP $45
Softcover, 86 pages, 28 x 22 cm
For more information click here
