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.
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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.
Drawing from Adelaide’s legacy as a centre of experimental and post-object art, 'Push / Pull' asks: What kinds of encounters are possible, when “the shock of the new” is a local tradition? With new commissions and existing works from more than 40 Australian artists and collaborators, 'Push / Pull' is grounded in experimentation and live exchange. Across installations, performances, workshops, community activations and site-specific works, the exhibition explores tension as a generative force that heightens awareness, challenges expectations, and opens space for shared experience.
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'Push / Pull' includes a series of major projects that explore tension in different forms – between past and present, individual and collective, structure and improvisation.
Key projects include:
–She Also Performs – revisiting feminist histories of live art through new performances by South Australian Artists Jingwei Bu, Luna Chan and Sasha Grbich, in dialogue with archival works by Pam Gilbert, Tony Kirkman and Kim Gray. The project unfolds across the exhibition’s live programs, with Bu’s reinterpretation of Ritual Integration Performance (1976) presented on Opening Night; Chan’s The Working Day, revisiting Tony Kirkman’s The Working Week (1974), performed at ARTPOD; and Grbich’s responding to Kim Gray’s Sweater (1976) as part of Deeply Hanging Out – Day 2.
– Can Touch This – a tactile installation co-created with the blind and visually impaired (BVI) community in South Australia, led by artist Shan Michaels (QLD), with sound by Antony Abbracciavento (SA). The project includes a series of activations such as Blind Community Day, Artist Yarns and Braille Bombing, and an Access Tour.
– Deeply Hanging Out – is a two-day celebration of experimental performance and collaborative live art – unfolding across Adelaide’s public spaces and at ACE.
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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: Shan Michaels' studio (2025), detail, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Sam Roberts.
Also check out other Arts events in Adelaide, Exhibitions in Adelaide, Fine Arts events in Adelaide.
