2 SEPTEMBER: Artist workshop with Kate Just and Mulyana

Monday, 2 Sept, 2-4.30pm

Octagon Exhibition Space, The Stables, VCA

The meeting of two dots form a line. The meeting of lines produce form. Working with yarn, string and other types of material lines, Indonesian artist Mulyana and Melbourne artist Kate Just create worlds in two- and three-dimensional space. From portraits to monsters, text to coral reefs, Mulyana and Just work almost exclusively with knitting and crochet with different aims and vastly different effects. What brought them to this material? How could we incorporate their methods into our practices?

This workshop introduces knitting and crochet as contemporary art technique through the practices of these well-established artists. We will begin with a conversation between Mulyana, Kate Just and art historian Chloe Ho about their choice of techniques before moving to a hand crochet and knitting workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring their own material and tools. Prior experience is not required.

Booking necessary. Researchers who are only interested in the conversation are also welcome.

Jogja-based Mulyana was educated as an art teacher and learned knitting and crochet with Tobucil, a book shop collective, in Bandung, Indonesia. His work is made of small organisms that bloom and proliferate into vividly coloured clusters held together by an invisible strength, often presented as large-scale and immersive installations. These organisms often appear as corals or monsters and octopi, called Mogus and Gurita. Mulyana installations become the habitats in which they live and the space at which a sense of community is created. 

Kate Just is an established artist who works with sculpture, installation, neon, textiles and photography to produce contemporary art works that promote feminist representations of the body and experience. Specific to Just’s practice is the use of knitting as engaging sculptural medium and an unwitting political tool. In addition to her highly crafted solo artworks, Just often works socially and collaboratively within the community to create large scale, public projects that tackle significant social issues including sexual harassment and violence against women.

Chloe Ho is a doctoral candidate in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Sheworks ontwentieth and twenty-first century Singapore art in relation to performance and installation art and art historiography. She investigates the place of performance in the transmission of art and the art historical in the Singapore context, looking at both artistic works and social phenomena and its relation to society. Her broader research interests include Southeast Asian art histories and artistic migration. 

Mulyana’s visit to VCA is generously supported by his residency with Project 11.

IMAGES
Left: Mulyana with A Man, A Monster & The Sea, Goods Shed, Claremont, WA. Photo by Taryn Hayes.
Right: Kate Just with Anonymous Was A Woman, Art OMI, New York, USA.