‘Contrary to common belief, Australia is not an island – it’s an archipelago. Each of the islands – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania – engages in its own internal commerce as well as its own outside economy.‘
– John Mateer, from the essay Australia is not an Island.

To coincide with the In Confidence exhibition, PICA is presenting a symposium which contemplates John Mateer’s notion that art made in this part of the world requires a special kind of consideration. Interstate and international guests speaking at the symposium include artists Danius Kesminas: founder of art collective PUNKASILA, living and working between Melbourne and Indonesia; Hossein Valamanesh: Adelaide based artist originally from Tehran; Hayati Mokhtar: living and working in Kuala Lumpur; and Lynn Lu: based in London, originally from Singapore.

The panels of artists, chaired by Marco Cuevas-Hewitt (Perth) and Tim Gregory (Sydney), will address the outer geography of place and migration, and the inner geography of history and memory – as the speakers discuss their own experiences as artists and travellers.

As part of the symposium, Lynn Lu, who began making performance whilst studying in Japan, will present a new performance work with her four-month old baby, specially commissioned for In Confidence.