Creative Opportunity: Kluge-Ruhe Residential Fellowship - First Nations Curator
In partnership with Creative Australia, Kluge-Ruhe is offering a residential fellowship in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
The fellow will curate an exhibition of recent and promised gifts of acrylic paintings on canvas by Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) from Western Australia produced between 2001-2021. Pila Nguru people left their ancestral homelands when the British began nuclear testing in the Australian desert. They began painting in 1997 as part of their Native Title claim involving the return of their homelands. Kluge-Ruhe’s collection contains works by such leading artists as Lawrence Pennington, Tjaruwa Woods and Patju Presley.
This fellowship is divided into two residential periods totalling six months with a holiday break in December-January. Research and development will take place over four months between mid-August and mid-December 2024. The fellow will return to Charlottesville for two months in February and March 2025 to oversee installation and implement programs associated with the exhibition.
This schedule aligns with the semesters at the University of Virginia, ensuring that the fellow has access to museum curators, staff, and academic partners throughout the residency. It also allows production time for didactics and the printed catalogue prior to the exhibition opening. The precise timing of the fellowship will be negotiated with the successful applicant and some flexibility is possible.
The residency will coincide with activities at Kluge-Ruhe including an artist residency (August 2024) and the opening of the major touring exhibition Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala at the Asia Society in New York (September 2024). Each of these programs will provide opportunities for the fellow to engage with Indigenous Australian artists visiting the USA.
Kluge-Ruhe is holding a Q&A information session at 11am AEDT on Tuesday 31 October 2023 for people to learn more about the Fellowship. Potential applicants can click here to join this Zoom session.
Applications close: Tuesday 21 November 2023, 3pm AEDT
Amount: up to $60,000 stipend
