Amanda Slack-Smith

ISEA2013

Amanda Slack-Smith is Assistant Curator, Australian Cinémathèque at the Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art. In 2008 the Queensland Art Gallery initiated the first of three acquisitive award exhibitions at the Gallery of Modern Art surveying contemporary new media practice in Australia. Funded by the Queensland Government, the project comprised a $75,000 acquisitive award and a $25,000 scholarship for an emerging Queensland-based practitioner. The project enabled the Gallery to engage with a wide range of practitioners working with media art, develop this collection area for the museum and focus on issues surrounding the ongoing installation, conservation, and preservation of media art. It was also an important opportunity for the Gallery to develop new audiences and understanding for practices under represented within the art museum context. Reflecting on these challenges and experiences, QAGOMA curator (and co-curator of the 2012 Award) Amanda Slack-Smith will discuss the award series and the ongoing conservation and presentation of works held in the QAGOMA collection.