Kyneton Contemporary

Kyneton Contemporary Inc. acknowledges that it works on, and its committee members and their families live on, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri Country whose ancestors and their descendants are the traditional owners of this Country. We acknowledge that they have been custodians for millennia and continue to perform age old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal. We acknowledge their living culture and their unique role in the life of this region.

Force Fields: Art, Architecture and Audience 

A book of photographs and essays celebrating the inaugural Kyneton Contemporary Art Triennial – KCAT.

The inaugural Kyneton Contemporary Art Triennial – KCAT – was launched in April 2018. To share more insight into the art and the event, and honour the agency of creativity and collective endeavor within a regional community, we are producing a book: Force Fields: Art, Architecture and Audience.

About KCAT

The Kyneton Contemporary Art Triennial is a celebration of contemporary art and an exploration of the energies that resonate in place and community. The inaugural KCAT was an innovative multi-site art event featuring the artwork of ten Australian artists, presented in unusual sites and venues throughout the regional Victorian town of Kyneton. Artists were encouraged to produce new work that reflected on their impressions and experiences of spending time in the town. The processes and ideas they undertook in the development of their work led to choices about site and location for the presentation of their completed artworks. Some of the sites that were chosen included a motel suite, the nineteenth-century caretaker’s cottage in the botanic gardens, an abandoned industrial foundry, a large pine-forested allotment of state-owned land, and a loft in a doctors’ consulting suite that once housed medical archives.

Chee Yong

David Attwood

Elvis Richardson

Georgie Mattingley

Jessie Stanley

Make or Break

Meagan Streader

Sarah Rudledge

Tom Borgas

The artwork that was produced drew from the personal histories of clients in an aged-care home; analysed the botanic and geological structures of the local environment; recorded the architectural spaces of domestic and public buildings in town; and overlaid digital technologies with analogue realities. Several involved a strong performative component. Many were highly immersive, inviting physical and multi-sensory interaction with audience, architecture and place. Artworks were presented, in conjunction with a series of complimentary events and performances, over a ten-day period.

Importantly, KCAT was highly collaborative and richly engaged with community. Whether it was the 60+ volunteers who helped greet visitors and run the events or whether it was the incredible generosity of venue providers, KCAT is a fine example of what can be accomplished when people work together to make something interesting happen for themselves and others. Community groups, local businesses, tiers of government and open-minded participating audiences – all contributed to the artists' work and helped make KCAT into something special for all involved.

About the Book

Force Fields: Art, Architecture and Audience extends on the physical event of KCAT that occurred from 14 – 22 April, 2018. It documents and archives the development and presentation of the artworks, performances and additional experiences, as well as the overall energy and significance of the event and its evolution. It offers an opportunity to contribute to the discourse around the nature of multi-site exhibitions – often simply, and reductively, referred to as the ‘biennale model’ – from a particularly Australian perspective, with a regional flavour.

Featuring an introduction by Andrew Frost (writer, critic with The Guardian, tv presenter).

Essays providing an insight into the conception, development and delivery of KCAT by founding committee members Jess Bridgfoot, Clare Needham and Kent Wilson.

Colour photographs from a variety of photographers. 

Additional texts about artists' practice and process.

Designed by Hope Lumsden-Barry, Ryley Lawson and Dennis Grauel.

By pre-ordering your copy of the book, you too are helping to bring the outstanding work of the artists involved to a wider audience. Your contribution is not only bringing a great book to your bookshelf, it helps to ensure the production of the book for others as well. Your pre-order makes you part of the dynamic and vast network of people who have worked together to bring carefully-researched, highly-evocative artwork into the world for inspiration and enjoyment. Your support also acknowledges the importance of creative projects generated from within, for and about regional communities.

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Image credits:

• Indicative book spread featuring the work of Sarah Rudledge and Elvis Richardson. Photographs: Brent Edwards
• Indicative book spread featuring the work of Tom Borgas. Photographs: Tom Borgas
• Installation by Jessie Stanley. Photograph: Jessie Stanley
• Indicative book spread featuring the work of David Attwood. Photograph: Jacqui Shelton
• Indicative book spread featuring text by Meg Slater

Kyneton Contemporary Inc is a registered non-profit arts organisation fully invested in a dynamic contribution to arts practice and audience engagement. We are local curators and artists inspired to maximise our shared skills, knowledge and passion for the arts. 

The aim of this fundraising initiative is only to cover costs for the production of this publication, with a view to extending the reach of the work created by the wonderful artists who made the inaugural KCAT such a terrific event. It is a celebration of community effort, collaborative energies and supportive participation. All we need is a little extra help from you to bring it to fruition.

KCI is investing $4000 into the project (drawn from KCAT ticket sales) and three committee members – Jess Bridgfoot, Clare Needham and Kent Wilson – are contributing their essays for free. Artists are generously contributing insights and process documentation. Dr Andrew Frost has been commissioned to write an essay and designers Hope Lumsden-Barry, Ryley Lawson and Dennis Grauel have been commissioned to design the book and manage the production.

Books are $40 (+ $10 for postage and handling).

Save on the postage and handling by visiting Kyneton to collect your book!