Planetary Gestures is an exhibition devised to explore ideas surrounding ecological systems, ancient knowledge, celestial blueprints and tidal movements across the land, sea and sky known as Australasia, part of the wider Asia-Pacific and the ‘Great Ocean’. This framework brings together a range of artists who think deeply about alternative geographies; paying respect to the cultural continuum and envisioning a future, not only equipped with this knowledge but also actively enacting it.

In her 2003 text, Death of a Discipline, theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak put forward the proposition, “can we imagine ourselves as planetary subjects rather than global agents, planetary creatures rather than global entities?” Taking this perspective as a starting point, Planetary Gestures aims to open spaces of respect and responsibility for the unique differences and otherness of planetary subjects, human and nonhuman, a particularly relevant and urgent cause to explore in our post-pandemic context today.

Cycles of movement and time will be explored by local and international artists in a group exhibition and publication including Amrita Hepi, Susie Losch, Raqs Media Collective, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Jimmy John Thaiday and Trevor Yeung.

Together, these artists direct us towards where the sea meets the sun; and dare us to imagine a future deeply respectful for the multiplicity of perspectives derived from the many custodians of the planet.

Curated by Tess Maunder for NorthSite Contemporary Arts