Exhibitions

Dates: 19 January to 5 April 2024

We traverse our city on methodical pathways, like ants carrying crumbs. Our daily routines usher us between checkpoints, through crowds, and across squares, while Adelaide’s gridded streets carry us on our journeys. We are ever moving. Scrambling to get one from one place to another, yet grounded by the structures and landmarks that surround us.

Taking namesake from the phenomena of Kinetic Architecture, this exhibition likens citizens to man-made forms in our contemporary built environment. Six South Australian artists present exploration into human movement through metropolitan cityscapes by analyzing the motion of daily life, and the realities of densely populated spaces. They attempt to reframe human presence in our urban landscape, with a focus on movement, man-made sites, and multiplicity. In many cases this presents as remnants of human existence – blurs and shadows, discarded objects, or structural fixtures empty of occupants. For others it’s an abstracted lens on urbanization, portraying density through color and shape, or presenting human painted forms in moments of rest on a canvas.

As permanent parts of our city we morph into architectural figures, existing as both the predecessors and inhabitants of our modern constructions. We provide the movement that our built environment cannot, and attempt to live in harmony with our fabricated habitat. Through this exhibition we can collectively reflect on the balance we teeter within, and use art as a tool to discuss how we integrate into the spaces that surround us.

Featuring: Deidre But-Husaim, Brad Darkson, Callum Docherty, H. Fleming, Rama Kaltu-Kaltu Sampso, Cynthia Schwertsik

Curated by Chira Grasby, ART WORKS Early Career Curator 2023

Kinetic Structures is presented at the Adelaide Town Hall First Floor Gallery and Mankurri-api Kuu (Reconciliation room) and First Floor Gallery as part of ART WORKS Early Career Curator Program and is delivered by Guildhouse in partnership with the City of Adelaide.

Dates: 15 December 2023 to 28 June 2024

Veale’s Vision commemorates the 60th anniversary of the extensive restoration work undertaken in Adelaide’s South Park Lands, completed in 1963 and named as Veale Gardens in 1964. Through the display of archival images and artefacts, this exhibition articulates the vision of Mr William Charles Douglas Veale CBE, MC, DCM (1895-1971), a soldier, engineer, and City of Adelaide Town Clerk.

This display focuses upon his return from a study tour abroad in 1957 leading to numerous outcomes that revitalised the South Park Lands. His design included formal and sunken gardens, rose beds, water features, a series of recessed grottos, a striking piece of modern art, The Couple, 1962 by Berend van der Struik and a ‘hyperbolic paraboloid’ structure for a restaurant.

This exhibition features a bust of William Veale by acclaimed South Australian artist John Dowie AM (1915-2008), seen publicly for the first time as part of Veale’s Vision, courtesy of the family of William Veale.

Adelaide Town Hall Southern Gallery, Level One

Dates: 4 November 2023 to 17 January 2024

The Big Day is a celebration of the joy and fanfare of Adelaide’s iconic Christmas Pageant.

The Christmas Pageant marks the start of the festive season in Adelaide and holds a special place in the heart of our community. The Pageant began in 1933, growing each year and in 2023 it will celebrate its 91st anniversary. The Pageant continues to be one of the largest parades in the Southern Hemisphere that stops the city.

The Big Day features a selection of historical images of bygone Christmas pageants from the City of Adelaide Civic Collection. These reproductions are enlargement of smaller images capturing the charm and imperfections of traditional photographic techniques.

The Adelaide Town Hall features images that span from the John Martin’s Christmas Pageant from the 1950’s through to the 1970’s. The selection forms part of a collection of photographs, slides and illustrations of the Pageant from its earlier decades through to the present.

These images capture all the spectacle of the big day ranging from captivated crowds of children and adults, extravagant costumes, imaginative floats, roaring marching band and of course, the much-anticipated arrival of Father Christmas to our City.

Be sure to look for the little stories and details in the images and to think about your own special Christmas Pageant experience.

Images featured in The Big Day

• John Martin s Christmas Pageant [spectators on King William Street between North Terrace and Rundle Street]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin s Christmas Pageant [spectators line the route]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin s Christmas Pageant [crowd lines King William Street at Adelaide Town Hall]
  1967, Vinyl Print, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [crowd line the street]
  1967, Vinyl Print Reproduction ,CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant - Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs [float drawn by shire horses - crowds]
  1953, Vinyl Print reproduction,CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant - Hey-Diddle-Diddle [floats drawn by shire horses - crowds]
  1953, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [catty cuties and bunnies in King William Street
  1967, Vinyl Print Reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [Clown riding a penny farthing bicycle in King William Street]
  1965, Vinyl Print Reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [crowd line the street]
  1967, Vinyl Print Reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [crowd lines King William Street - Adelaide Town Hall and GPO in background]]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martins Christmas Pageant [crowd lines King William Street at Adelaide Town Hall]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [Father Christmas float on North Terrace travelling past the National War Memorial]
  1970, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [marching band at King William Street Rundle Street and Hindle Street intersection]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction , CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [Pageant Queen float]
  1970, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [Scottish marching band at King William Street Rundle Street and Hindle Street intersection]
  1967, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives
• John Martin’s Christmas Pageant [spectators line the route]
  1969, Vinyl Print reproduction, CC003316, Civic Collection, City of Adelaide Archives