News from Gertrude Contemporary that journalist Virginia Trioli has been appointed the new chair of Gertrude Contemporary. Trioli joins Gertrude Contemporary as they make plans to move to a new home in Johnson St at the former Collingwood Technical School.
From Gertrude Contemporary:
The Board of Gertrude Contemporary is pleased to announce the appointment of Virginia Trioli as the new Chair of the Board of Management. Trioli is one of Australia’s most respected and recognised journalists, and brings to the organisation a rich knowledge of visual art and its broader role within Australian culture.
Gertrude Contemporary Director Emma Crimmings said, ‘We are delighted to welcome Virginia to the role of Chairperson of the Gertrude Board. Virginia was associated with Gertrude in its earliest stages, working alongside founding Director Louise Neri when the organisation launched in the early 1980s. Virginia re-joins Gertrude at a significant moment in our thirty-year history, as we relocate the organisation to a new home that enables us to dramatically expand the capacity and reach of our programs. Virginia’s passion for the arts combined with her strong national profile will prove to be invaluable to an organisation poised to reinvent itself over the next few years.’
In response to her appointment Trioli states, ‘I am thrilled to be back at Gertrude after being involved at the very beginning of this important cultural institution. As an independent, practice-based space for emerging and mid-career artists, Melbourne can be very proud of the continuing success of this place. Our move to Collingwood to be part of a new arts precinct is a great vote of confidence by this and previous governments in the importance of local, creative work that can be appreciated by all Australians.’
For thirty years Gertrude Contemporary has been an influential centre for the development and presentation of contemporary visual art, launching the careers of some of the country’s most successful artists and building an international reputation for Australian art. At the heart of the organisation is its unique combination of artist studios and exhibition spaces, which enables an equal emphasis on the production and presentation of contemporary art.
Former Gertrude Studio Artist Emily Floyd, recently the subject of a major solo survey exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, describes the experience of holding a coveted Gertrude Studio as follows; ‘Gertrude was an iconic moment. Not just a studio, it was a launching pad into a community of artists, writers and curators who would come to set the agenda for contemporary Australian art.’
Current Board Member Doug Hall AM, Principal Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, and former Director of the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, said, ‘Virginia is recognised as one of Australia’s most distinguished cultural broadcasters. Across many artistic disciplines she has reported on and critiqued exhibitions, organisations and institutions. Her interviews have become an important chronicle. This tremendous experience will be invaluable as Gertrude begins its new future.’
Currently a co-host of ABC News Breakfast, Virginia Trioli is a two-time Walkley Award winner, who started her journalism career at The Age. She has been a columnist for The Bulletin magazine and has hosted the drive shift on 774 ABC Radio in Melbourne and the morning slot on 702 ABC in Sydney. Virginia has also been a regular panelist on the ABC’s Insiders program and a presenter of the Artscape ‘In Conversation With’ series, in which she interviewed some of the biggest names in music, film, theatre and the arts.
An honours graduate in Fine Arts of the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University, she did post-graduate studies at New York University from 1993 to 1994.
Virginia is the author of Generation F: Sex, Power and the Young Feminist published in 1996, a riposte to Helen Garner’sFirst Stone. In 1995 she won Australian journalism’s highest honour, the Walkley Award, for her business reporting, and in 1999 won the Melbourne Press Club’s Best Columnist award, The Quill. In 2001 she again won a Walkley Award for her interview with former defence minister Peter Reith over the Children Overboard issue.