Spanning over 30 years of Artist’s practice, Performance Artist Leisa Shelton, will, for the first time this April, bring together her completed body of work in Archiving The Ephemeral at Abbotsford Convent.
Archiving The Ephemeral, the major outcome of Shelton’s artist in residence at the Abbotsford Convent is a world first, and the only time the full collection has been seen.
Archiving The Ephemeral provides an environment to reflect on the value and role of artists within our society, and the potential to create dialogue and action for the future.
Five major works, MAPPING, ARCHIVE, SCRIBE, addendum and Performing the Archive will come together into an exhibition, series of live performances and opportunities for audiences to participate in the work.
Each of these responsive works focuses on the need for greater visibility, recognition and honouring of hundreds of Australian experimental artists, through the voices of the audience.
Leisa Shelton is a performance artist, teacher and curator. Her current work, whether teaching, curating, enabling remains focused on questions of contemporary identity and processes for valuing the role of artists within society.
Performing the Archive will launch with renowned contemporary artists, Jill Orr and STELARC, who will talk about pivotal moments from their career in a series of private one-on-one conversations with audiences. 15, 16 & 22 April. Entry via ballot.
In MAPPING, Shelton asks visitors to name an Australian artist who has made an impact on them, then adds this name to a publicly curated archive of the Australian artist, building a national archive of significant Australian artists for future generations.
An archive is like a map; allowing us to see the full landscape and our place within it. In this part of the exhibition ARCHIVE, Shelton includes the name of every artist within the programs published by Arts House in a typed durational film and printings. See here a link to an extract of the film.
SCRIBE is a live writing project within festival and event contexts, that has been commissioned 18 times in Australia, the UK, Canada and Berlin. This is the first time the public will access the full collection of over 1200 documents. These videos show the work in action.
addendum was created while Leisa Shelton was an artist-in-residence at the Abbotsford Convent. This project displayed 30 years of Lisa’s arts practice and culminated in the durational burning of the full archive. All ash from each project was kept, bound, hand-sewn, and labelled. The full collection of over 140 packages is now complete.
Artist talk: How do we acknowledge and honour our Elders within the arts? How are we creating visible Linages of Practice for emerging generations and how are we enabling our artist to know they are valued within our community Australian Context? Hear Australian artists Jill Orr and STELARC, Leisa Shelton and Academic Dr. Anne Marsh. Tuesday 18 April (4.00pm – 5.00pm).
Leisa Shelton is a performance artist, teacher and curator with a practice that foregrounds collaboration and an advocacy for new Australian trans-disciplinary work.
Current work, whether teaching, curating, enabling remains focused on questions of contemporary identity and processes for valuing the role of artists within society.
Archiving The Ephemeral
Magdalen Laundry – Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Event: 14 – 22 April 2023
Information: www.abbotsfordconvent.com.au
Image: addendum fire by Leisa Shelton – photo by Devika Bilimoria