Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with Principal Partner MA Financial Group, launches its eighth edition today, and announces the winner of the acquisitive $10,000 MA Art Prize as emerging First Nations artist Alfred Lowe.


Presented at Presenting Partner Carriageworks from 5 – 8 September 2024, Sydney Contemporary showcases over 85 galleries and more than 400 artists from Australia and around the world, alongside a dynamic program of installations, performances and talks.

Since its foundation in 2013, Sydney Contemporary has established itself as Australasia’s premier art fair, regularly attracting over 25,000 visitors at each edition and recording over $121 million in art sales since its launch. The Fair is the pre-eminent meeting place for the art world, and critical to the growth of the art market in Australia.


Highlights this year include a giant 20m wide Skywalker Gibbon installation by renowned contemporary artist Lisa Roet on the roof of Carriageworks for Installation Contemporary; a dynamic Talk Contemporary program headlined by a conversation with Mona’s Kirsha Kaechele; a vibrant immersive performance by multidisciplinary artist HOSSEI for Performance Contemporary; and artist Lara Merrett leading Kid Contemporary.


Sydney Contemporary Fair Director Zoe Paulsen said: “We are excited to throw open the doors to this year’s Sydney Contemporary, which features an incredible lineup of galleries and artists from Australia and around the world. Each year Sydney Contemporary offers artwork of exceptional quality by artists at diverse stages in their careers working across a range of mediums. We aim to provide entry points for all our visitors to the Fair, whether they’re buying their first artwork or seeking to diversify their collections, and we can’t wait for them to experience this year’s program, filling the iconic Carriageworks space with joy, curiosity and ideas in a major celebration of contemporary art.”


Sydney Contemporary Founder and Co-Owner Tim Etchells said: “Sydney Contemporary has firmly established itself as Australasia’s premier art fair, and as we unveil the eighth edition this year, we look forward to welcoming collectors from across Australia, New Zealand and around the world to Carriageworks for yet another year of strong art sales. Providing the most concentrated week of art sales annually in Australia, Sydney Contemporary plays a vital role in the Australian art market and provides a key meeting place for collectors and art lovers alike”.

MA ART PRIZE


The winner of the MA Art Prize has been announced today as emerging First Nations artist Alfred Lowe, who is showing at Sydney Contemporary with Sabbia Gallery. The acquisitive prize valued at $10,000 has been established to celebrate and support emerging and early career artists in Australia.

Lowe is an Arrernte person from Snake Well in the Central Desert, north of Alice Springs, who now lives and works in Adelaide, practising at APY Studio.

The artist uses clay and ceramics to explore themes of Country using organic forms and textures informed by his intimate knowledge of the central desert landscape. His winning work, All dressed up I, 2024, sees a large-scale vessel created using hand built stoneware with sgraffito and raffia.

Lowe is deeply influenced by his lived experience growing up in Central Australia, fuelling an interest in politics and racial justice, and in particular how culture and identity are navigated and manifested in modern times.

Lowe was selected by a judging panel comprising Andrew Martin, MA Financial Group, Janna Robertson, MA Financial Group, Amelia Hill, MA Financial Group, Jarrod Rawlins, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), and Sue Cato, Cato & Clive.

Andrew Martin, Head of Asset Management at MA Financial and member of the judging panel for the MA Art Prize winner said: “Alfred’s work is an impressive stand amongst a high-quality group of finalists. He is a worthy recipient of the MA Art Prize. Alfred’s bold and confident use of colour, form and texture draws on his intimate knowledge of the central desert landscape north of Alice Springs. We are hopeful that the MA Art Prize will help Alfred, as an early career artist, realise his full potential.”


Artist Alfred Lowe said: “I am thrilled to be the recipient of the 2024 MA Art Prize. Sydney Contemporary is a gathering of the country’s best artists and galleries and I look forward to this event every year, so to be recognised here is very special. My work, ‘All dressed up I’ is a joyful celebration of love, defiance and what it means to present yourself to the world. The work holds space unapologetically and dares you to try to ignore it”.

SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY GALLERY HIGHLIGHTS


2024 gallery highlights include:

  • Six leading galleries join the expanded WORKS ON PAPER section of the Fair for the first time. Curated by Akky van Ogtrop, President of Print Council of Australia, the sector showcases the best of national and international contemporary printmaking, watercolour, drawing, artists’ books, photographs, and zines. These include Ames Yavuz, Australian Print Workshop, Nanda\Hobbs, N.Smith Gallery, Utopia Art Sydney and Vermilion Art, presenting works by leading artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Chuck Close, Abdul Abdullah, Zico Albaiquni, Cybele Cox, Sarah Drinan, Solomon Kammer, Tom Polo, Caroline Rothwell, Manit Sriwanichpoom, David Fairbairn, Ah Xian, Fang Lijun, Chen Wenling and Geng Xue
  • The Renshaws presents a solo exhibition by sculptor Jamie North created specifically for the Fair. These major new works comprised of concrete, stainless steel and bronze, are each planted with flora native to the local Eora nation, creating a dynamic interplay between the industrial and the organic that echoes the resilience of nature.
  • Sullivan+Strumpf has curated a presentation of new works by renowned contemporary female artists, including senior Yolŋu artists from North East Arnhem Land Dhopiya Yunupiŋu and Naminapu
    Maymuru-White    , and Lindy Lee. This is Maymuru-White’s first presentation since the 2024 Venice Biennale exhibition, marking the first time bark paintings have been included in the main exhibition of the world’s oldest contemporary art event of its kind.
  • Ames Yavuz presents their first solo presentation with celebrated Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal artist Brook Andrew, with a selection of works centred on music, poetry and the archive. The gallery also presents new works by artists and brothers Abdul Abdullah and Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, exploring animal archetypes
    and deconstructing contemporary quests for knowledge and identity.
  • MARS Gallery showcases major new works by Atong Atem and Daniel Agdag, as well as select works by Emil Cañita, in their debut at Sydney Contemporary. With Atem’s hand-printed textiles, Agdag’s hand-carved sculptures and Cañita’s handwritten stories, MARS celebrates the artist's hand as a reminder to slow down
    and notice the creator in their practice.
  • Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery presents a curated booth of works from the gallery's 42-year archive alongside new works. Highlights include never before seen works from Nyapanyapa Yunupingu’s estate, a pair of unseen photographs from one of Bill Henson's most highly sought-after series the 'Paris Opera Project' (1990-1991), new works by leading Indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd, early works by Imants Tillers (1987) and Linda Marrinon (1998), and photographs from Isaac Julien's iconic series Looking for Langston (1989).
  • CASSANDRA BIRD spotlights a captivating series of artworks by The Tennant Creek Brio, an artist
    collective working on Warumungu country that includes contemporary artists from both Northern Central Australia and Melbourne. The collective blends Aboriginal cultural heritage, the ruggedness of the mining industry, and a mix of regional and global artistic influences. The booth features a sculptural installation by Clifford Thompson Japaljarri, collaborative paintings by Fabian Brown Japaljarri and Rupert Betheras, paintings by Marcus Camphoo and Arthur Dixon and a series of ceremonial motifs painted on mining maps
    by Joseph Williams and Lindsay Nelson Jakamarra.
  • COMA presents a suite of new work by Australian artists living and working abroad, as well as a number of highly regarded international practitioners, continuing their mission to ensure Australian artists are contextualised on a broader international stage. Artists include Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Justin Williams, Nick Modrzewski, Mia Middleton, Madeline Peckenpaugh, Renée Estée, Tala Worrell, Fabian Ramirez, Kansas Smeaton, Jose Davila, Mikey Yates, Punni Brown Nungurrayi and Shan Turner-Carroll.


INSTALLATION CONTEMPORARY


Curated by Talia Linz, Senior Curator at Artspace, Installation Contemporary showcases works that extend beyond the traditional booth presentation, providing an opportunity to experience innovative, site-specific and interactive installations within the unique architecture of Carriageworks.

Highlight installations include:

  • A major 9m high and 20m wide installation of a Skywalker Gibbon by leading contemporary artist Lisa Roet, represented by Gow Langsford Gallery, appears on the roof of Carriagework, marking the first time the work has been presented in Australia. Made of solar-sensitive inflatable material, the work has been hand painted to depict a Skywalker gibbon, an endangered primate discovered in 2017, highlighting the impact of humans on the planet and mass extinction of animal species.
  • Senior men and women from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands present the latest in their Kulata Tjuta (many spears) project, which shares the skills of spear making across generations. Consisting of 200 traditional Anangu tools and weaponry suspended from the Carriageworks ceiling, Tjara, Wana, Miru is a
    major new installation rooted in age-old traditions. Presented by APY Art Centre Collective.
  • A large new wall-based work by artist Stephen Bird titled Continent of Exiles, features his renowned ceramic plates and sculptures. Investigating the interrelationship of surface, form, colour, line and mark-making, Bird draws attention to our emotional connection with objects that have been made by hand. Presented by OLSEN.
  • Large-scale text works by artist, designer and activist David McDiarmid, who died from an AIDS-related
    illness in 1995 when he was just 42. With pithy, often ironic, political and poignant observations, McDiarmid’s Rainbow Aphorisms reframe and appropriate cultural discourses of the time. The colour spectrum works were created in Sydney in the final years of the artist’s life and their insightful play with the power of words and the concept of truth remains relevant today. Presented by Neon Parc.


TALK CONTEMPORARY


Talk Contemporary features a dynamic lineup of industry leaders exploring current trends and topics at the intersection of art, design and architecture. The first strand of talks, curated by Micheal Do, Curator of
Contemporary Art at the Sydney Opera House, examines art today, while the second strand, curated by Stephen Todd, Design Editor of Australian Financial Review, is focused on the latest trends in design and architecture.

The program is headlined by an In Conversation with Kirsha Kaechele, the artist and curator known for her project The Ladies Lounge at Mona (Museum of Old and New Art), speaking with arts advocate Pippa Dickson, on Thursday 5 September, 6pm.


Highlight talks include:

  • Weave and Weft: Art and Fashion | Thurs 5 Sept, 1:30pm
    Moderated by Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, panelists Lisa Havilah (CEO, Powerhouse Museum), Kaylene Milner (WAH-WAH AUSTRALIA), and artists Atong Atem and Darren Sylvester, discuss fashion as a cultural artefact capable of communicating identity, history and storytelling. Industry leaders take a closer look into boundary blurring collaborations defining our cultural moment.
  • Poetics, Politics and the Personal: A Method | Sat 7 Sept, 3pm
    A look into how art can navigate and influence the turbulent times in which we live, moderated by leading First Nations journalist and writer Daniel Browning, with Filipina-Australian artist Marikit Santiago and Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money. Panelists address socially and politically engaged art that provides a platform for healing, resistance, and solidarity, and what tangible effects it can have on current global conflicts and their local impacts.
  • The New Taste Makers on the Future of Collecting | Thurs 5 Sept, 3pm
    Gallerist Cassandra Bird (CASSANDRA BIRD), secondary-market expert Jesse-Jack de Deyne (A
    Secondary Eye), and cross-disciplinary creative Jordan Gogos delve into the vision driving some of the newest leaders on the art scene and discuss their advice for collectors entering the market and those wanting to update their approach. Moderated by Stephen Todd.
  • How To Curate An Eye-Catching Interior | Sat 7 Sept, 1.30pm
    Three masters of contemporary architecture and design, interior designer Blainey North (Blainey North & Associates), architect Nick Tobias (Founding Principal, Tobias Partners) and interior designer Yasmine Ghoniem (YSG Studio) share their tips for conjuring up artful interiors. Moderated by Stephen Todd.


PERFORMANCE CONTEMPORARY


The dynamic Performance Contemporary program brings the space to life, curated by Sam Watson-Wood, Director of Friends with Strangers. Performances include:

  • Two performances of the major work ESSSENSSSE by HOSSEI, a multidisciplinary artist with Persian,
    Turkish, and Russian ancestry. The performance, featuring ten performers and a vibrant installation, is about letting go and being one with the spirit and embracing its purity and vulnerability. ESSSENSSSE is an aquatic ecosystem that explores the tenacity of the human spirit, stripping away corporeal human qualities and revealing what’s underneath. ESSSENSSSE is the next morning, the BODY, MIND, SPIRIT after a big night, looking at the sea for new beginnings.
  • A dedication to the late artist, song woman and orator Séini Sista Native Taumoepeau, titled GRIEF DIGEST sees two Sydney based artists, Sereima Adimate and Kilia Pahulu, working with cultural concepts and their contemporary practices in a collaborative exploration of grief, death, and the process of digesting them. This performance invites their audience to process their own constipated grief and allow them permission to dissolve grief into joy.

KID CONTEMPORARY


Artist Lara Merrett presents an immersive installation titled The Blue Room, inviting participants to create their own artworks using the cyanotype process. Inspired by her own artistic practice within the expanded field of painting on both an intimate and monumental scale, Merret asks audiences to bring their own pocket size natural object and transform it into a print using coated Cyanotype paper and UV light boxes. Participants can take a print home and leave another to become part of the evolving large-scale blue installation artwork at Sydney Contemporary.


Tickets to Sydney Contemporary are available to purchase online: https://sydneycontemporary.com.au/tickets/

Sydney Contemporary is supported proudly by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

EVENT DETAILS: Sydney Contemporary will take place from 5 – 8 September 2024 at Carriageworks located at 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW. The invitation-only Collector Preview will be held on Wednesday, 4 September. The Fair will remain open in the evening for Art Night on Thursday, 5 September, 5.30pm - 9pm, and until 8pm on Friday 6 September.

ABOUT SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY: Sydney Contemporary, Australasia's premier contemporary art fair, returns from 5 – 8 September 2024 with the country's largest and most diverse gathering of local and international galleries. Staged at Carriageworks, one of Australia’s largest creative industry hubs, the Fair welcomes over 85 leading galleries.

Defined by the vibrancy of its host city, Sydney Contemporary provides collectors, industry professionals and the art loving public access to cutting-edge art from some of the world's most respected artists and galleries as well as the opportunity to discover new, emerging talent.

Alongside the galleries are curated sectors for Installation and Performance as well as an ambitious program that includes engaging panel discussions, guided tours, educational workshops and an extensive VIP Program. The Fair is also home to restaurants, cafes and bespoke bars making it an all-encompassing art and dining experience. Billed as one of the most celebrated events on Australia’s cultural calendar, Sydney Contemporary has firmly established itself as a must-attend art event and the perfect place to discover and collect modern and contemporary art.

Sydney Contemporary was founded in 2013 by Tim Etchells of SME London Ltd. Etchells also co-founded Art Central (Hong Kong), Taipei Dangdai, ART SG, and was co-founder of ART HK, now Art Basel Hong Kong.

ABOUT MA FINANCIAL GROUP: MA Financial Group is a global alternative asset manager specialising in private
credit, real estate and hospitality. We lend to property, corporate and specialty finance sectors and provide corporate
advice.

Our investment teams have diverse skill sets and experience across a range of strategies and market conditions and are focused on delivering long-term growth. Our conviction runs deep and as testament to this we co-invest in many of our strategies alongside our clients, aligning our interests with theirs.

We invest and manage $9.6 billion on behalf of our clients, have over $112 billion in managed loans and have advised on over $120 billion in advisory and equity capital market transactions.

We have a team of over 600 professionals across locations in Australia, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
Website | LinkedIn: @MAFinancial Group | Instagram: @mafinancial__

ABOUT CARRIAGEWORKS: Carriageworks is one of Australia’s most significant creative industry hubs, renowned for its dynamic cultural events, performances, and exhibitions. Housed in a historic railway workshop in Sydney, Carriageworks offers a vibrant platform for contemporary art, theatre, music, dance and more, collaborating with leading local and international artists to foster innovation and creativity in its distinctive industrial setting.

Visit carriageworks.com.au or follow Carriageworks on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news and updates.


FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter


SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY 2024 GALLERY LIST


The main sector of the Fair provides a significant platform for solo or group exhibitions by leading galleries.


.M Contemporary
1301SW | STARKWHITE
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm | Sydney / Gadigal Land | Auckland /
Tāmaki Makaurau | Queenstown / Tāhuna
A Secondary Eye
Alcaston Gallery
Ames Yavuz
APY Art Centre Collective
ARC ONE Gallery
Art Collective WA
Artereal Gallery
Arthouse Gallery
Australian Galleries
BAProjects
CASSANDRA BIRD
CHALK HORSE
COMA
Cooee Art Leven
Curatorial+Co.
D'Lan Contemporary
Darren Knight Gallery
DOMINIK MERSCH GALLERY
Egg & Dart
Emilia Galatis Projects
Fine Arts, Sydney
Flinders Lane Gallery
Gajah Gallery
Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert
Gow Langsford
Jacob Hoerner Galleries | MAGMA Galleries
James Makin Gallery
Justin Miller Art
Lennox St. Gallery
MARS Gallery
Martin Browne Contemporary
Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin
MOORE CONTEMPORARY
N.Smith Gallery
Nanda\Hobbs
NAP CONTEMPORARY
Neon Parc
Niagara Galleries
OLSEN
PAULNACHE
PIERMARQ*
Praxis Artspace
Redbase Art
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Sabbia Gallery
Saint Cloche
Stanley Street Gallery
STATION
Sullivan+Strumpf
Sutton Gallery
The Commercial
The Renshaws
Utopia Art Sydney
Void_Melbourne
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm
Singapore | Sydney / Gadigal Land
Adelaide / Tarntanya | Sydney / Gadigal Land | Melbourne /
Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Perth / Boorloo
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land | Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm | New York
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Wollongong/ Dharawal
Fremantle / Walyalup
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm
Jakarta | Singapore | Yogyakarta
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau
Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land | Berlin
Perth / Boorloo
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Mildura / Mildura
Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Gisborne / Tūranganui-a-Kiwa
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Adelaide / Kaurna Country
Sydney / Gadigal Land | Yogyakarta
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm | Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land | Melbourne / Naarm | Singapore
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Brisbane / Meanjin
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm


FUTURE


A dynamic platform for young galleries or Artist Run Initiatives which have been operating for five years or less, presenting curated solo or duo artist exhibitions of new work.


ACAE Gallery
Five Walls Gallery
Jennings Kerr
LON Gallery
Minerva,
Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Robertson / Gundungurra
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land

PAPER


Presented in association with The Print Council of Australia Inc, PAPER showcases the best of contemporary printmaking and works on paper.


16albermarle Project Space and Project Eleven
5 Press
AGAVE PRINT STUDIO
Alphabet City Press
Ames Yavuz
Australian Print Workshop
Baldessin Studio
CBD GALLERY
Cicada Press
Damien Minton Presents
Gallery East
Melbourne Studios
Michelle Perry Fine Arts
Mossenson Galleries
N.Smith Gallery
Nanda\Hobbs
Open Bite Printmakers Inc
PARKER Contemporary
Print Council of Australia
Redbase Art
Riverside Studios
Tiliqua Tiliqua
UPSPACE
Utopia Art Sydney
Vermilion Art
WHALING ROAD STUDIO
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm
Trentham / Dja Dja Warrung
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Singapore | Sydney / Gadigal Land
Melbourne / Naarm
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Perth / Boorloo
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Perth / Boorloo
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Brisbane / Meanjin
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land | Yogyakarta
Melbourne / Naarm
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land
Sydney / Gadigal Land