‘ephemeral traces’ provides the first comprehensive analysis of artist-run practice in Brisbane during the final decade of the conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. The exhibition focuses on the scene that developed around five key spaces that operated in Brisbane from 1982 to 1988: One Flat, A Room, That Space, The Observatory, and John Mills National.

Drawing on artworks, documentation and ephemera, the exhibition provides a contextual account of this progressive artist-run activity, examining collective projects, publications and the spaces themselves, as well as organisations such as the Artworkers Union and Queensland Artworkers Alliance. A counterpoint to Michele Helmrich’s earlier exhibition ‘Return to sender’ (UQ Art Museum, 2012) which focused on the artists who left Queensland during the Bjelke-Petersen era. This exhibition is about the artists who stayed.

Curator: Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson’s work was supported by a Siganto Foundation Fellowship granted by State Library of Queensland for research conducted in the Australian Library of Art.