Exhibition Dates: 30 April - 2 July 2016 

CURATOR: Francis E. Parker

ARTISTS: Lawrence Abu Hamdan (LBN), Allora & Calzadilla (USA & CUB), Karen Black (AUS), Gunter Christmann (AUS), Jin Chul Kyu (KOR), Shilpa Gupta (IND), Guan Wei (CHN), Khaled Hourani (PSE), Raafat Ishak (AUS), Isaac Julien (UK), Sonia Leber & David Chesworth (AUS), Kai Löffelbein (DEU), Ricky Maynard (AUS), Carlos Motta (USA), Tony Schwensen (AUS), Amy Spiers & Catherine Ryan (AUS), Danae Stratou (GRC), Judy Watson (AUS)

Borders, barriers and walls delineate this group exhibition of Australian and international artists. It reflects on how these contested and complex forms shape the world, producing situations of separation, isolation or thwarted passage across the globe. Whether they be physical constructions, psychological constructs or natural defences, the exhibition considers the forces by which these divides are either upheld or breached.

Borders, Barriers, Walls features more than twenty-five artworks covering video installation, painting, photography and sculpture. The exhibition includes a new commission by local artists Amy Spiers and Catherine Ryan.

Curator Francis E. Parker said that ‘The exhibition takes place against the backdrop of the global refugee crisis and seeks to add to the voices speaking out against the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers by the Australian Government through offshore detention.’ While director Charlotte Day said: “This is a timely exhibition that continues MUMA’s commitment to contemporary art that engages critically with the social, political and cultural issues of our times.”

Almost fifteen years after the September 11 attacks, many of the works in Borders, Barriers, Walls address the subsequent shift in geopolitics and political unrest that has resulted in the displacement of peoples and the dramatic increase of refugees world-wide. While the exhibition is focused on recent and contemporary events, history informs several of the works that detail government policies of restricted movement and exile in relation to both Indigenous Australians and people all over the world.

The exhibiting artists share a concern with the geographies that delineate nation states: oceans, air space, land, as well as the modes of transport that enable passage between them. A number of video and immersive soundscape works foreground narrative and emphasise documentary form as a mechanism for personal and cultural reflection.

Through lyricism, humour, satire, essay and documentary forms, the artists in Borders, Barriers, Walls seek to disrupt systems of control – political, militaristic, bureaucratic – as well as reflect on past injustices, sites of trauma and the importance of bearing witness.