A message from the Director of the Power Institute, Mark Ledbury
Mark Ledbury in conversation with Huey Copeland at the Visions forum, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 15 August 2024.
Dear colleagues, friends and supporters,
Thank you for being part of another wonderful year with us here at the Power Institute!
We're so grateful to have you as part of our community, whether you attended an event (or watched the recording), read one of our books, or joined us as one of our amazing speakers, visiting scholars or international fellows.
Since our founding at the University of Sydney in 1967, the Power Institute's mission has been to provide access to the very best new ideas in art and visual culture. We have worked hard this year to fulfill that mission: to bring people together, to foster and support research, and to form partnerships that help us spread this research to the world outside the University.
Supporting Research and Publishing
The Power Institute remains proudly linked to the University of Sydney's Art History discipline—this year listed as the #1 art history program in the country! The Schaeffer Library (one of Australia's most significant art history libraries) remains a crucial resource for the discipline, and for staff and students across campus. Under the leadership of Senior Librarian M. Sajid Foazdar, the Library has this year expanded its offerings, launching a new exhibition program and hosting artist-in-residence Simryn Gill.
Off site, the Power Institute continued its Paris Residency program thanks to the generosity of Nicholas and Angela Curtis, supporting four Australian artists and researchers to spend time at our Paris studio (Amala Groom, Gail Priest, Tony Bond and Blythe Worthy) and announcing four more for 2025 (Anneke Jaspers, Helen Grace, Jessica di Costa and Jude Philp).
Our Publications Manager Marni Williams saw a number of major new books to fruition, including the epochal volume Ian Burn: Collected Writings, 1969–1993, edited by Ann Stephen; Chinese Toggles: Culture in Miniature, edited by Chen Shuxia and Min Jung Kim; and Yhonnie Scarce: The Light of Day, edited by Clothilde Bullen, which won an Australian Writing and Publishing Award.
People
In 2024 we hosted Gerald McMaster, a pioneering artist, art historian and curator, who spent time at the University of Sydney as our inaugural Visiting Professor in First Nations American Art. In Sydney, Professor McMaster generated conversations and networks, taught students, and led a series of public events, culminating in a day-long symposium entitled Indigenous Visual Knowledge as part of the Biennale of Sydney.
Professor McMaster was just one of a large cohort of visiting scholars at the Power Institute this year, including Alex Alberro (Columbia University), McKenzie Wark (The New School), Jung Joon Lee (Rhode Island School of Design) and David Getsy (University of Virginia). Each of our visitors delivered public programs and worked directly with University staff and students.
Partnerships
People are key to what we do at the Power Institute—so too are partnerships. In 2024 we worked with institutions across Sydney and Australia, including the Chau Chak Wing Museum, the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, Performance Space, the University of NSW Art and Design and the University of Western Sydney.
One of our most lasting partnerships has been with VisAsia at the Art Gallery of NSW, with whom we present the Sydney Asian Art Series. The series comprises a suite of lectures and workshops that this year, convened by Olivier Krischer and Yvonne Low, explored the theme of "community", including with a month-long visit from Bangkok-based scholar Thanavi Chotpradit (Silpakorn University).
The Power Institute also shares a long history with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia—indeed, the Power Institute instigated the Museum's founding in 1991. Today, we remain closely tied as partners on the Visual Research Program, which we launched in 2024 with Visions, a three-day forum of presentations on the art, science and politics of seeing. The forum included artists Trevor Paglen and Ben Grosser, scholars Kate Crawford and Huey Copeland, a panel on Torres Strait Islander ways of seeing, and many others.
Our Team
All the above was made possible by our small, but amazingly talented team. My thanks go to our Schaeffer Librarians M. Sajid Foazdar and Nick Keyzer, our public programs coordinator Dr Nick Croggon, our publications maestros Marni Williams and Lachlan Thompson and to our newly appointed Research Associate Dr Katrina Grant.
It's been a big year! If you'd like to learn more about our work, or catch up on events you may have missed during the year, please head to our website.
We'll see you next year for another rich year of activities!
Mark Ledbury
Power Professor, Art History & Director, Power Institute
University of Sydney
The Power Institute is a Foundation based at the University of Sydney. If you'd like to support our work, or stay informed about all our activities, follow the links below.
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