Join us for Essay Club 4 with Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer. We’ll discuss ‘The Vulgar Image’, an essay by Dean Kissick published in the Summer 2025 issue of Spike Magazine. The essay unpacks the proliferation of AI-slop to ask whether we are chasing machines into a pastiche hell. Aloisio-Shearer will also discuss his work as Assistant Director Programs at the IMA, as well as his projects as a curator and artist. Join us for pizza and drinks.

•

Reading group, meets salon, meets networking drinks. Whether you’re a university student, emerging arts worker, artist, or just someone who thinks critically about art and culture, there’s space at the table. For each session of Essay Club, one of our well-read neighbourhood friends selects a text that’s shaping their thinking, conversations, and approaches to contemporary art. We dig into the ideas together, with a focus on how global conversations translate locally. Essay Club hosts for 2026 include Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer (Institute of Modern Art), Holly Anderson (artist), Madeline Brewer (Institute of Modern Art), Elena Dias-Jayasinha (Museum of Brisbane), Holly Eddington (Milani Gallery), Jocelyn Flynn (UQ Art Museum), Tay Haggarty (Outer Space), Llewellyn Millhouse (Wreckers Artspace), and Holly Riding (State Library of Queensland).