Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts and the School of Art, University of Manitoba, is pleased to present “Disquietude: Landscape and the Australian Imagination”, a talk with visiting curator Alasdair Foster.

In this talk, Foster will draw on his experience as a curator, writer, and magazine editor to address the place of Australian landscape photography in contemporary art. The majority of Australians live in the large, coastal city centres, distanced from the harsh continental centre. The inhospitable vastness of the land evokes a sense of disquiet for many Australians and this seems to have impact on its representation. As a result, landscape is rarely the subject of art photography in that country.

Foster will explore the emerging trend among Australian photographers to annex landscape to the realm of fantasy, creating new worlds of the imagination. The presentation will conclude by considering what Foster deems as the most popular landscape photograph in Australia.

Alasdair Foster has a long history working in national arts institutions and within the public cultural sector in Europe and Australia. He was the founding director of Fotofeis, the award-winning international biennale of photo-based art in Scotland and, more recently, director of the Australian Centre for Photography. He recently completed his doctoral research at Monash University, Melbourne and he is an associate member of the Centre for Visual Anthropology in the Australian National University, Canberra. He currently runs an international consultancy that initiates intercultural photography and visual art projects, especially in Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Plug In ICA gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council as well as generous donors, dedicated members and hardworking volunteers.

For general information please contact: info@plugin.org.

For media inquiries please contact: Janique Vigier at janique@plugin.org or by telephone at (204) 942-1043 ext 27.