In 2024, Samstag Museum unveils three seasons of exhibitions, showcasing bold and creative artists from South Australia and beyond.
Image: Dana Awartani, I Went Away and Forgot You. A While Ago I Remembered. I Remembered Iʼd Forgotten You. I Was Dreaming, 2017, Mixed media installation with sand and natural pigments, single-channel video, with no sound, 22 minutes.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Friday 1 March – Friday 10 May 2024
Launching our 2024 program, Samstag is delighted to present Bruce Nuske (AUS) ceramics and two moving image works by Dana Awartani (SAUDI/PS) for the 2024 Adelaide Festival in an exploration of decoration, tradition and symbolism.
Bruce Nuske with Khai Liew (Australia)
In this third project in a series of exhibitions focusing on renowned Tarntanya/Adelaide-based practitioners, the Samstag Museum of Art proudly presents leading South Australian ceramicist Bruce Nuske.
Fastidiously intricate, whimsical and often surprising, Nuske’s practice is steeped in the history of the decorative arts—from Chinoiserie to Japanese ceramics, Wedgewood to the Arts and Craft movement—and draws on a rich array of botanical references, symbols and traditions.
Displaying remarkable technical skill in hand-built forms, complex surface application and rich glazing, Nuske’s teapots and pouring vessels are astounding in their variety, conjured by an unfettered imagination working in a quiet garden studio, surrounded by rare species of orchids and bromeliads.
In response to Nuske’s playful and highly decorative sensibility, renowned furniture and exhibition designer Khai Liew brings a singular and refined approach to creating a captivating gallery experience.
Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia/Palestine)
Seeking to reconsider the forms, techniques, concepts and spatial constructs that define Arab visual culture, in Awartani’s practice the wisdom and poetics embedded in traditional crafts are harnessed to tackle a range of contemporary issues.
At Samstag, two moving image works are examples of a varied artistic practice, in which Islamic geometric patterns are interpreted as a highly codified and philosophical language, rather than a lost decorative art, and the domestic and the literary are equally important to cultural record.
Contemplative, political and poetic, Awartani makes a case for beauty in the things we create and their ability to transcend time and attitude. Presented for the Adelaide Festival, her work features as part of Samstag’s Parnati season, where tensions in craft, tradition and decoration are thrown into focus.
