do it
(australia)

In April 2020, at a time of global lockdown, Kaldor Public Art Project 36: do it (australia) invited audiences to follow an artist’s instructions, enter their world and realise an artwork of their own. The first Kaldor project to be presented digitally, do it (australia) was developed and launched in just four weeks. The project was co-curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and John Kaldor, with Kaldor Public Art Projects curator Emily Sullivan and Monique Leslie Watkins.

do it (australia) was a new incarnation of do it, the longest-running artist-led project in the world. Initiated by Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1993, do it asks artists to create simple instructions that generate an artwork, whether an object, a performance, an intervention, or something else entirely.

Kaldor Public Art Projects commissioned eighteen new artist instructions from Australian creatives across the fields of art, music, literature, philosophy, design, floristry and dance. Contributing artists and creative practitioners were Rafael Bonachela, Lauren Brincat, Megan Cope, Brian Fuata, Dale Harding, Saskia Havekes, Amrita Hepi, Julia Jacklin, Jonathan Jones, Janet Laurence, Ian Milliss, Tracey Moffatt, Glenn Murcutt, Gerald Murnane, nova Milne, Khaled Sabsabi, Latai Taumoepeau and Thom van Dooren. Through May 2020, written instructions by each artist, along with accompanying sketches and videos, were released via Instagram and a dedicated website.

do it (australia) facilitated a genuine sense of connection between artist and audience, realised through the co-creation of an artwork. The results were unprecedented, with audience engagement marked by the depth of responses, sometimes taking the form of poems, photographs, movement or dialogue with family and friends.

Live online events were held in conjunction with the project, including an Interview Marathon, featuring Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with seventeen participating artists.

The project culminated in the production of an experimental digital catalogue, featuring new essays by John Kaldor, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Emily Sullivan, and hundreds of audience responses.

In addition, Kaldor Public Art Projects published a limited-edition print publication, edited by Monique Leslie Watkins, as a bespoke “instruction manual“ documenting all artist contributions to do it (australia).

Presented in partnership with Serpentine Galleries, London, Independent Curators International and Google Arts & Culture, and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, do it (australia) formed part of do it (around the world), which saw more than 50 new artworks commissioned and shared online.

Visit the do it (australia) project here.