Samstag Museum is currently closed and will open for the Adelaide Festival in March 2024_ 

2023 / IN REVIEW

The year began with a disaster – a flood of biblical proportions that closed the galleries for nine months, just two weeks out from our Parnati season / Adelaide Festival launch.

A bit of luck and fast work saw us shift the presentation of James Newitt: HAVEN and Emily Wardill: Night for Day to the Adelaide Railway Station, a setting that seemed preordained, given how terrific the work looked in the space.

In April, across the border in Victoria, Julie Byfield’s flowers of the sea, our 2022 Adelaide Festival exhibition, opened at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.

Amrita Hepi: Scripture for a smoke screen: Episode 1 – dolphin house, Samstag’s eagerly anticipated moving image co-commission with ACMI, found a new venue at the nearby SASA Gallery for our Kudlila Season.

In October, we were thrilled to welcome visitors back onsite for Wirltuti, stepping onto freshly laid boards for moving image works by Hayley Millar Baker (Guntjitmara/Djabwurrung), Joel Bray (Wiradjuri) and Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu (Gumatj) from NGA’s 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony.

Continuing our series highlighting ephemeral art practices, musician and composer Sebastian Collen devised and performed CARTE and CREDO this year.

We hosted conversations on our podcast series, On Art, with First Nations artists Archie Moore (Kamilaroi/Bigambul), Amrita Hepi (from Bundjulung/Ngapuhi territories) and Hayley Millar Baker, each bright, insightful and thoughtful powerhouses in their own right.

Behind the scenes, we were shepherding two significant publications into being – a monograph of Helen Fuller’s work for SALA, and Outside the Frame: Art and the Moving Image, a collaboration with ACMI and Perimeter Editions, documenting 21 moving image commissions.

It was a year of working closely with writers, with Ross Wolfe, Sasha Grbich, Glenn Barkley, Emma O'Neill, Christina Li, Ben Nicholls, Gemma Topliss, Dr Kate Warren and Lauren Carroll Harris lending their smarts to thinking about a range of diverse artists, contexts and histories.

Helen Fuller’s monograph was launched at Adelaide Central School of Art alongside an exhibition of the artist’s work, followed by an exhibition and launch at the Queensland University of Technology. Artist Daniel Crooks—in Adelaide for the EXPAND Lab, an AFF, Samstag, Illuminate and AGSA collaboration that brought 30 creatives together for a week-long intensive and commission opportunity—was our guest to launch Outside the Frame: Art and the Moving Image, represented by both a Samstag and ACMI commission.

How we extend hospitality and make our galleries hospitable environments and inclusive communities was at the forefront of our minds this year. With our friends at MoD, Nexus Arts, AGSA, Ace and SAM, we hosted ACCESS ALL AREAS, a two-day, interactive symposium exploring how galleries, museums and the broader arts and cultural sector can champion equality through their spaces, programs and consultation.

We thank you for your ongoing interest and support, and look forward to seeing you in 2024 for a bumper year celebrating artists, art practice and community.