Join us for an afternoon of artist talks, green-thinking and community connection, exploring how artists collaborate with plants, landscapes and more-than-human worlds.
Shenshen Zheng will share her experiences working with peas (Pisum sativum) in her slow-moving plant performance Peas, Shoots and Leaves. Trudy Tandberg will speak about her work with limestone, saws and soil in Cleaving the Woakwine. Artist and ecologist Amber Cronin joins Stephanie Dodderidge and Danni Zuvela for an open conversation on ecologically engaged art in South Australia. To close the day, Heidi Kenyon will lead a casual discussion (and potential experiment) in guerilla gardening.
We’ll also be hosting a plant swap – bring a cutting and take home something new!
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Date: Saturday 14 June
Time: 3–6pm
Where: ACE, Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide (Kaurna Yarta)
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Tension is important. Under too much load, things fray, and eventually snap. Too little tension, however, and there’s no push and no pull; only slackness. The right amount of tension can be productive - sharpening senses, attuning us to what is real, risky, and worthy of our attention. Experimental art thrives on tension, drawing its charge from confronting cliches, destabilising norms, proposing new modalities, and cultivating frisson.
Co-curated by ACE Artistic Director, Danni Zuvela and Henry Wolff, Push / Pull features tactile installations, short and durational performance, lecture performance, re-enactment, video, poetry, plants, food, sound, and experimental music. With a strong emphasis on live, experiential, and post-object practice, the program explores what it means to gather around the non-haveable: practices that resist commodification in favour of presence, process, and provocation.
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Artists:
Antony Abbracciavento, Elyas Alavi, Emiko Artemis, Stephen Atkinson, Troy-Anthony Baylis, Alycia Bennett, Jingwei Bu, Patrick William Carter, Luna Chan, Allison Chhorn, Amber Cronin, Dylan Crismani, Eleen Deprez, Stephanie Doddridge, Adam-Troy Francis, Paul Gazzola, Alex Grant, Sasha Grbich, Dominic Guerrera, Ray Harris, Aidan Hughes, Matt Huppatz, Heidi Kenyon, Kirsty Martinsen, Monte Masi, VNS Matrix, Shan Michaels, Ariella Napoli, Alexandra Nitschke, Chris Reid, Yasemin Sabuncu, Fiona Salmon, Cynthia Schwertsik, Gabriella Smart, Soundstream, Trudy Tandberg, Sione Teumohenga, Sarah Tickle, Henry Wolff, Shirley Wu, Robert Wyatt, Jake Yang, Yasser Yassin, Shenshen Zheng, and Students from South Australian School for the Visually Impaired.
Support:
Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) is supported by Create SA and Creative Australia.
This project is supported by City of Adelaide and History Trust of South Australia.
Shan Michaels is supported by Arts Queensland.
Special thanks to project partners the South Australian School and Services for the Visually Impaired, and The Mercury.
Feature Image: Shenshen Zheng (2025), 'Peas, Shoots and Leaves', progress documentation. Photography by Lana Adams.
Also check out other Arts events in Adelaide, Fine Arts events in Adelaide, Literary Art events in Adelaide.
