If a picture is worth a thousand words, MELT has a lot to say!
Featuring exhibitions by Hillary Green, Ethan Waghorn, Jessi Lewis, Sophie Reid-Singer, Matthew Taylor Thomas and Tyronne Curtis, and a special MELT commissioned digital project by Joel Devereux on the external wall. QueerTech.io will also be returning.
Unique Exotic
Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse
Mosquito Foyer
Unique Exotic is a retrospective exhibition of Hillary Green – a visual artist who explores ideas of self-hood, representation, and performance through the lens of portrait photography. For the last decade, Hillary’s images have captured a huge range of stage performances, artists and events from the Brisbane queer arts scene and beyond. In addition she created many self-portraits including her acclaimed Black By Popular Demand series. A beloved member of the queer community, Hillary passed away in 2017 due to complications from cancer. This exhibition pays tribute to Hillary, her work bringing creative expression into sharp focus, and celebrates her vivid, electrifying and often mischievous perspective on the world as an artist and as a human being.
Hung Dada
Presented by Ethan Waghorn in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse
Switch Wall
Hung Dada is an art exhibition by Ethan Waghorn, which explores what it’s like to be a gay man in a sex-crazed culture. Each pop art print exaggerates and overtly sexualises the nude male form beyond its physical limitations. For many of us, sex is a big part of our lives but we pretend that it’s not. It can also be a very perverted aspect of ourselves. As a reaction to this, and by taking cues from Dadaism and Pop Art, Ethan regurgitated all the porn he consumed in his life to create this digital art series that both mocks and celebrates gay porn culture. This exhibition is suitable for 18+.
The Cave
Presented by Sophie Reid-Singer in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse
Visy Foyer
Developed as a single-player computer game, The Cave investigates the philosophical function of storytelling through drawing, sound and installation of mythological symbolism. This quest explores the relationship between narrative identity and heteropatriarchy, through the videogame as a queer space that revels in a narratological middle lacking a climax.
Cry
Presented by Jessi Lewis in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse
Turbine Foyer
Cry shows men opening up and revealing their pain through the tears they shed in video portraits. In an increasingly threatened world, we need conversation and ideas be put forward that, from their very foundations, shake or at least question what society deems acceptable behaviour.
Robbing The Muse
Presented by Matthew Taylor Thomas in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse
Visy Foyer Walls
Robbing The Muse is a collection of photographic portraits inspired by the words and lyrics of Tori Amos’ 2014 LP ‘Unrepentant Geraldines’. Each image tells a story that is open to interpretation by the viewer, whilst simultaneously representing a form of self-expression. Stylistically, the images toy with commonly-held views about aesthetics, with the purpose of being as interpretive as Amos’ songs. My intent is for the viewer to find their own narrative and mark out a journey inward using the visual cues, perhaps even pairing this experience with listening to the album for themselves.
Glow Up
Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse
Powerhouse Plaze (External wall)
The Powerhouse facade will light up and come to life every evening with a series of motion portraits featuring some of Australia’s boldest and brightest LGBTI+ artists from around Australia. A fitting display of their larger than life character, pride, personalities and approach to making the most out of life.
True Toxic Love
Presented by Tyronne Curtis in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse
External Wall
True Toxic Love is an exploration into the highest highs and the lowest lows of queer relationships. Presented using augmented reality technology and invisible to the naked eye until revealed using a device and a free iOS/Android app. Curated and created by queer artists, True Toxic Love combines emerging technology with an age old framing tool, relationships. Two free standing zones will represent both the positive and the negative sides to queer relationships.
QueerTech.io 2018
Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse and QueerTech.io
Mosquito Foyer
Take the leap into the queer digital realm with this extraordinary project that gathers digital artworks by queer identifying artists from across the globe, presented by QueerTech.io. Themes emerging from the 2018 selection include digitally-born queer utopias, queer re-imaginings of computer game platforms, and interactive works that extend the digital as a queer prosthesis. The project will feature over twenty artists engaged in making neural networks, augmented reality, computer games, interactive websites and video art.
