This language that is every stone
  • Sancintya Mohini Simpson, 'Kāla', 2022, sugarcane ash, 70 x 70cm. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Daniel Boyd, ‘Untitled (27°27'34.9"S 153°02'12.4"E)', 2022, window installation, adhesive vinyl on glass. Photo: Joe Ruckli

  • Koo Jeong A, ‘FLAMMARIOUSSS’, 2006. Photo: Joe Ruckli

  • Dir. Manthia Diawara, ‘Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation’, 2009. Photo: Joe Ruckli

  • Installation view, ‘This language that is every stone’ 2022. In view: Daniel Boyd, ‘Untitled’ (EOTAEIAOOTA), 2020; Daniel Boyd, ‘Untitled’ (UTCITM), 2020; Philippe Parreno, ‘Call Me!’, 2018–2022. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Daniel Boyd, 'Untitled (EOTAEIAOOTA)', 2020, oil, acrylic, and archival glue on canvas. 58.5 x 82.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.

  • Megan Cope, ‘Kinyingarra Guwinyanba’, 2021, Eucalyptus, Kinyinyarra (Sydney Rock Oyster) shell and stainless-steel trace wire, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Khaled Sabsabi, '1008', 2020–2021, 56 enamel and acrylic paint on paper and foam board, 360 x 420cm. Courtesy of the artist and Milani gallery, Brisbane. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Phuong Ngo, ‘Heart Breaking to see a house of God in flames’, 2019, pigment print, found postcard, 35 x 35cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Joe Ruckli

  • Shireen Taweel, ‘Switching Codes’, 2020, directional sound sculptures, copper, steel, three channel audio, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Taloi Havini, 'Tsomi wan-bel', 2017, 3-channel video, 00:09:42. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

  • Yhonnie Scarce, ‘Nucleus 9 & 10’, 2020. Photo: Joe Ruckli

  • Anri Sala, 'Làk-kat 2.0 (British/American)', 2015, two-channel video and stereo sound, 00:09:38. Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

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This language that is every stone

12 February–23 April 202212 Feb–23 Apr 2022

#ThisLanguageThatIsEveryStone

Today, the question of preservation versus innovation seems to underlie much cultural discourse, as if a choice between cultural identity and a global homogeneity were possible. This language that is every stone examines this tension through the concept of creolisation: an idea brought to prominence by Martinican writer Édouard Glissant. Widely recognised as one of the most important literary figures of the Caribbean, Glissant was a poet and philosopher whose body of work continues to inspire and influence artists across the globe.

Glissant defined creolisation as a constant state of cultural transformation, whereby endless local difference emerges from recurrent contact between people—with one another—as well as the natural world. As Glissant writes, creolisation is “a phenomenon that is real in the world: that is to say not one of us can pretend to be shielded from the good or bad influences of the world.”

Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Asad Raza, and Kamilaroi artist Warraba Weatherall, This language that is every stone is the fourth iteration in a series of exhibitions conceived by Obrist and Raza that survey Glissant’s life and work. Developed specifically within an Australian context, This language that is every stone explores cultural synthesis and permeability through the works of Australian First Nations and diasporic artists, with contributions from international counterparts.

A publication accompanying the exhibition, edited by Olivia Fairweather, Liz Nowell, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Asad Raza, and Warraba Weatherall, is now available through the Gallery Shop.

Artists

Vernon Ah Kee, Robert Andrew, Daniel Boyd, Megan Cope, Manthia Diawara, Taloi Havini, Koo Jeong A, Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Phuong Ngo, The Otolith Group, Philippe Parreno, Raqs Media Collective, Khaled Sabsabi, Anri Sala, Yhonnie Scarce, Latai Taumoepeau, and Shireen Taweel

Curated by
  • Hans Ulrich Obrist
  • Asad Raza
  • Warraba Weatherall
Curator Bios

Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Aristic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show “World Soup” (The Kitchen Show) in 1991 he has curated more than 300 shows.

Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist

Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Aristic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show “World Soup” (The Kitchen Show) in 1991 he has curated more than 300 shows.

Asad Raza

Born in 1974 in Buffalo, USA and of Pakistani background, Asad Raza works with experiences, human and non-human beings, and objects. He conceives of exhibitions as metabolic entities, zones of activity in which he constructs dialogue and scenarios between visitors and participants. Past works include Untitled (plot for dialogue), for which Raza installed a tennis-like game in a deconsecrated church in Milan. Root sequence. Mother tongue, first shown at the 2017 Whitney Biennial, is a forest of twenty-six living trees with human caretakers in the museum. For home show, which took place at his apartment in New York, Raza asked friends, family and artists to intervene in his own life.

Warraba Weatherall (b. 1987) is a Brisbane-based installation and street artist from the Kamilaroi Nation of south-west Queensland. Weatherall has a specific interest in archival repositories and structures, and the life of cultural objects and histories within these environments. His practice critiques the legacies of colonisation, where social, economic, and political realities perpetually validate Eurocentric ideologies. Drawing on his personal experience and cultural knowledge, he uses image, material and metaphor to contribute to a cross-cultural dialogue by offering alternate ways of seeing and understanding. Weatherall has exhibited locally and nationally, including DATUM, 2019 (Milani Gallery Carpark, Brisbane); While You Were Sleeping, 2019 (aMBUSH Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra); InstitutionaLies, 2017 (Metro Arts, Brisbane); and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, 2017 (Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin).

Warraba Weatherall
Warraba Weatherall

Warraba Weatherall (b. 1987) is a Brisbane-based installation and street artist from the Kamilaroi Nation of south-west Queensland. Weatherall has a specific interest in archival repositories and structures, and the life of cultural objects and histories within these environments. His practice critiques the legacies of colonisation, where social, economic, and political realities perpetually validate Eurocentric ideologies. Drawing on his personal experience and cultural knowledge, he uses image, material and metaphor to contribute to a cross-cultural dialogue by offering alternate ways of seeing and understanding. Weatherall has exhibited locally and nationally, including DATUM, 2019 (Milani Gallery Carpark, Brisbane); While You Were Sleeping, 2019 (aMBUSH Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra); InstitutionaLies, 2017 (Metro Arts, Brisbane); and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, 2017 (Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, Darwin).

Related Resources

The IMA acknowledges, thanks, and pays our deepest respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that we work with and the Country we work on. 

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