PICA is pleased to announce its 2021 exhibition and performance programs, including newly commissioned works, major projects and solo presentations by artists who are forging new territory with their practices.

the gathering
9 February – 18 April
Curated by Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, this exhibition brings together the voices of First Nations artists from Australia, Māori artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australian South Sea Islander artists. An invitation for audiences to reconsider histories, our new realities and our shared humanity, at a time when the world is united in so many ways, but increasingly divided by others, the gathering showcases existing and newly commissioned sculpture, video, photography, painting and installation by artists Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Dean Cross, Sharyn Egan, Peggy Griffiths Madij, Yabini Kickett, Bridget Reweti, Damien Shen, and James Tylor. More

SONGS from Patrick William Carter
9 February – 18 April
Noongar artist and performer Patrick Carter uses performance, video, sound and painting to tell his stories. This evocative survey of Carter’s artistic practice tracks explorations in narrative, gesture and dance and the development of significant collaborations with filmmakers and musicians. More
the gathering and SONGS from Patrick William Carter are presented in association with Perth Festival.

Whale Fall by Ian Sinclair & The Kabuki Drop
17 – 27 February
WORLD PREMIERE
Inspired by environmental writer Rebecca Giggs’ essay of the same name, Whale Fall features rich visual language, intimate performances and immersive design to conjure the familiarity of the Australian coast. Created by an exceptional team of WA theatre makers, this new work brings together people from different backgrounds that identify with and support the trans, gender diverse and queer communities. More

Dead-ends and Detours by Bruno Booth
Coming in 2021
Commissioned by PICA & Next Wave
Dead-ends and Detours is a participatory outdoor installation that puts the audience in a wheelchair, pits them against their friends and shows that disability is not a dirty word. Interactive, playful and subversive by nature, the work invites members of the public to navigate it as an ‘obstacle course’ within a wheelchair. This work recasts physical disability as a skill-set to be celebrated within an enjoyable and competitive game. More

Hatched: National Graduate Show 2021
8 May – 1 July
In 2021, PICA celebrates 30 years supporting the work of Australia’s leading artists at the earliest stages of their careers through Hatched: National Graduate Show. Over this time PICA has presented the work of over a thousand artists who have gone on to help define contemporary Australian practice as the leading artists of their generation. This anniversary offers an opportunity to share and understand the impact and importance of the exhibition that forms a cornerstone of PICA’s annual program. More

KISS club 2021
10 & 11 June
Returning for its fifth successful co-presentation between PICA and pvi collective, KISS club will continue to showcase work in development by WA artists working across contemporary performance practices. Both organisations will provide critical feedback and rehearsal time to selected artists before ideas are tested with a live audience in a supportive feedback environment. More

Love in Bright Landscapes
27 July – 10 October
Through the work of artists living, working, hailing from, or passing through both cities, Love in Bright Landscapes, curated by Annika Kristensen, explores the possibilities of contemporary art in contributing to ongoing stories of identity, purpose, presence and place in the cities of Perth and Los Angeles. Artists include Kevin Balantine, Emma Buswell, George Egerton-Warburton, Teelah George, Cassie Lynch and Mei Swan Lim, Laure Prouvost, and Brendan van Hek, with more to be announced. More

I don’t see colour by Salote Tawale
30 July – 10 October
I don’t see colour presents a new body of work by Fijian-born, Sydney-based artist Salote Tawale, the starting point for which is a conversation that took place between the artist and a philosophy student at a party in the UK. Presenting painting, installation and video, I don’t see colour is a response to this exchange and an attempt to process the implications of this statement in the face of the unevenly felt impacts of climate change brought on by colonial and capitalist structures. More
This project is supported by the Michela & Adrian Fini Artist Fellowship, awarded by the Sheila Foundation.

Sione Monu
30 July – 10 October
The short films of Sione Monu present a personal encounter with everyday dilemmas and social realities to explore identity, family and Pasifika queer experience in the diaspora. Filmed and edited on an iPhone, their temporal distortions and montages of impressions, memories and fantasies reflect the influence and impact of social media on everyday life. More

Sky Cave by Amy Perejuan-Capone
22 October 2021 – 9 January 2022
A solo exhibition featuring a new body of work by Western Australian artist Amy Perejuan-Capone, who will use the dramatic height of PICA’s central gallery space for the presentation of historical hang gliders as she builds on her parents’ pioneering contribution to the sport to examine the complexity of family narratives and relationship to place, as well as the transference of skill, memory and points of connection across generations. More
Presented as part of the inaugural Indian Ocean Craft Triennial.

Kin by Alex Martinis Roe
22 October – 9 January 2022
In her solo presentation at PICA, Melbourne-based artist Alex Martinis Roe sets out to explore feminist, lesbian and queer kinship structures via a non-linear genealogy of the artist’s own kin (and their kin). Taking as a starting point the Western Australian based Lespar Library of Women’s Liberation, initiated in 1979 by Karin Hoffman, Martinis Roe’s project traverses queer and feminist histories across Australia, to situate these connections as a rhizomatic genealogy of political family, a network of biological and non-biological kin. More

Unheimlich
15 – 25 September
WORLD PREMIERE
Conjuring fantastical creatures and imagery from the dark recesses of the human mind, UNHEIMLICH is a new performance work by director and Last Great Hunt alum Katt Osborne and multidisciplinary artist Tarryn Gill.
Drawing inspiration from her acclaimed Guardians series of sculptural works, Gill has created life-sized sculptural creatures and wearable masks that will be animated and brought to life by an exciting team of Perth’s most-established performing artists. More.
Image: Alex Martinis Roe, Bliss Techniques, 2018.