Contemporary Art Tasmania

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Contemporary Art Tasmania Contemporary Art Tasmania is a lead Tasmanian art space dedicated to contemporary and experimental art.

CAT provides a dynamic context through which contemporary art, ideas and communities flourish. Contemporary Art Tasmania is a not for profit membership-based arts organisation dedicated to supporting and developing professional contemporary art since 1992. Contemporary Art Tasmania is an active participant in the creative community, providing opportunities for artists and arts professionals via an annual program of high quality exhibitions, off-site projects, professional development initiatives, publications and the provision of studios. Contemporary Art Tasmania occupies a lead role in the contemporary culture of Tasmania and is respected for its experience and professionalism in the contemporary visual arts sector in Australia. It is a member of the Contemporary Art Organisations national network and is assisted by the Australia Council, Arts Tasmania and through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy.

How do we as a species behave towards 'wild' animals, plants, fungi and microbes? Are they worthy of ethical considerati...
15/10/2026

How do we as a species behave towards 'wild' animals, plants, fungi and microbes? Are they worthy of ethical consideration like those of domestic cats, dogs or animals in farms?

If we change how we treat forests, use rivers and occupy land, how might this improve the planet?

Who gets to speak for ‘nature’?

As part of Summoning a Portal, Cody Gangell-Smith (Palawa/Pakana activist) and Selena de Carvalho (post activist/settler) are hosting three peer-to-peer discussion groups to explore these questions. We encourage you to draw together your kin, friends, family or work colleagues and sign up for these in-person get-togethers.

▶︎Rights of Nature Reading Group, 5.30pm-7pm
Wednesday 21 October + Wednesday 28 October + Wednesday 4 November
Contemporary Art Tasmania, 27 Tasma St, North Hobart

Free event, registration required. To get the most out of the discussions, registration is for all three sessions. If you can't attend all three, please contact [email protected] and your name will be added to a waitlist.

Head to our website to find more information, links to the discussion texts and if you can't come along — how to set up your own reading group!

https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/whats-on/rights-of-nature-reading-group/

Accessibility: The space is mobility accessible. For more information about general accessibility at CAT, please visit contemporaryart.org.au/access or get in touch.

In The Hedge of Halomancy, artist duo Hylozoic/Desires excavate the lost archive of the Inland Customs Line. This 4,000k...
09/10/2026

In The Hedge of Halomancy, artist duo Hylozoic/Desires excavate the lost archive of the Inland Customs Line. This 4,000km long line — 2,500 of which constituted a planted barrier, also known as ‘The Great Hedge of India’ — was imposed by British colonial powers in the nineteenth century to enforce the Empire’s deadly monopoly on salt.

Traversing the Indian subcontinent, it separated the British-occupied Bengal Presidency from independent states, to prevent smugglers carrying across this invaluable commodity. Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser) work at the threshold of historical records and speculative imaginings to pe*****te this porous border.

Summoning a Portal continues until 31 October + visit our website for the full program of free events across Oct-Nov!

The Hedge of Halomancy was commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and Tate Britain, supported by India Art Fair and Jaiveer Johal, the Avtar Foundation for the Arts.

Image: Hylozoic/Desires, The Hedge of Halomancy, 2025, film still. Courtesy of the artists.

Join artist Billie Rankin for a workshop that uses ceramics to transcribe local histories of common people and framing b...
08/10/2026

Join artist Billie Rankin for a workshop that uses ceramics to transcribe local histories of common people and framing bureaucracy as a sacred ritual.

▶︎Independent Delegation for the Protection of Localised Data Loss
Saturday 17 October, 10am-12pm
Foyer, Contemporary Art Tasmania, 27 Tasma St, North Hobart

Independent Delegation for the Protection of Localised Data Loss is a workshop to ensure stable and long-lasting archival records of our localised we-are-all-consumers-and-everything-is-a-product culture in the event of mass data corruption, decay, and loss.

The Delegation holds that the complaint is civilisation's oldest surviving genre of the common voice, and that its current custodians cannot be trusted with it. It is the duty of The Delegation to preserve the common record: transferring local public reviews from precarious digital servers to stable, lasting records.

The ceramic tablet is the chosen medium of proven durability (est. 3,800 years). Tablets will be fired and buried in an undisclosed location in Lutruwita.

The Delegation will now begin the archival process.

No experience needed. Participants are required to bring a device that connects to the internet. All other materials are provided.

Ages 12+. Free event, registration required : https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/whats-on/idpldl-workshop/

Accessibility: The space is mobility accessible. The workshop facilitators can assist with any fine motor tasks if needed. Please contact us if you have concerns. Please contact us if you have concerns.

WORK WITH US IN 2027 / We're looking for a Communications and Digital Programs Coordinator (0.6FTE) for a 12-month contr...
08/10/2026

WORK WITH US IN 2027 / We're looking for a Communications and Digital Programs Coordinator (0.6FTE) for a 12-month contract. ㅤ

The Coordinator leads the strategic communication of CAT's activities, working closely with programming staff, artists, curators and other stakeholders to manage all of CAT's marketing and promotion. The role also collaboratively manages delivery of CAT's digital program Journal and the podcast.
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The role commences from 27 January 2027 and is based in Nipaluna/Hobart. Applications close midnight, Monday 2 November 2026.
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Learn more and apply: https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/join-the-team/

Merinda Davies speculative new body of work 'Cowgirls Are Forever' responds to urgent global declines in natural pollina...
02/10/2026

Merinda Davies speculative new body of work 'Cowgirls Are Forever' responds to urgent global declines in natural pollinators. With pollinating species decreasing by 25–60% over the past two decades, the works imagines a near future where traditional systems of agricultural production are at risk of collapse.

Developed during Davies’ research exchange residency with Movement Art Practice in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa, the work invites audiences to reflect on ecological responsibility, multispecies care, and the structures required for genuine environmental restoration.

Experience this Davies' works (including video, tools and an interactive manifesto) as a part of our newly opened exhibition, Summoning a Portal — which continues until 31 October!

Image: Merinda Davies, Cowgirls Are Forever. Photo: Ella Rerekura

Jacob O’Shannassy's solo exhibition 'Silicify' opens tonight at 5.30pm in the Project Space! This new body of work looks...
01/10/2026

Jacob O’Shannassy's solo exhibition 'Silicify' opens tonight at 5.30pm in the Project Space! This new body of work looks at how fragile things can be kept, the artist taking his cue from fossils that turn flesh and bone into stone.

Image: Silicified, 2026, charcoal, butcher's paper, archival sealant and glue on wood panel. Courtesy of the artist.

Summoning a Portal opens tomorrow night at 5.30pm! Across the exhibition and it's conversations contemporary art is ima...
01/10/2026

Summoning a Portal opens tomorrow night at 5.30pm!

Across the exhibition and it's conversations contemporary art is imagineed as a tool to (re/de) build worlds in the face of crisis upon crisis.

Featuring works by Merinda Davies, Cody Gangell-Smith, Selena de Carvalho, Audax M. Gawler, Hylozoic/Desires, Shishi, Katie West and Vicki West.

Public program to be announced!

Image: Shishi, old storage, 2026. Photo courtesy of Constance ARI and Cassie Sullivan Photography

Silicify, a solo exhibition by 2026 studio resident .oshan, is showing in the Project Space from 03 – 31 October. Openin...
29/09/2026

Silicify, a solo exhibition by 2026 studio resident .oshan, is showing in the Project Space from 03 – 31 October. Opening night is from 5:30pm on Friday 02 October!

Silicify explores ways to preserve the fleeting and peripheral traces of a subconscious world through processes of
encasement. The preliminary act of automatic drawing in O’Shannassy’s practice utilises butcher’s paper – a fragile,
glossy surface that would disintegrate over time without protection, but allows for charcoal to flow. Informed by a fossil-rich
cliffside he has revisited, he encountered the term 'silicification' while researching fossil development.

Silicification describes the natural process where fluid carrying silica permeates a porous form. Tissue dissolves and is replaced by it, preserving the traces and impressions of flesh and skeletal structures.

Jacob O’Shannassy is an emerging artist who primarily works across painting and drawing. Utilising surrealist methodologies and abstraction, he explores tactile, fluid, and viscous materials to synthesise the external and subconscious environments. By reimagining this intersection as a new, primordial world – a place to traverse – his work considers the threshold between human experience, the self and imagination, and how these elements permeate one another over time.

In this insightful conversation on the podcast, Hannah Foley, Reece Nicoloau, Elise Romaszko and Maggie Jeffries questio...
28/09/2026

In this insightful conversation on the podcast, Hannah Foley, Reece Nicoloau, Elise Romaszko and Maggie Jeffries question and consider different formats and approaches to exhibiting art — sharing their experiences on ways that white box gallery norms can be challenged, subverted or completely removed.

Listen to What Are You Looking At? on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode was hosted by Sharifah Emalia Al-Gadrie and produced by Honor Marino.

https://contemporaryarttasmania.org/whats-on/thinking-outside-the-white-box/

Image 3: Hannah Foley, courtesy of the artist. Image 4: Reece Nicoloau, courtesy of the artist. Image 5: Elise Romaszko, What The Stars Remember (2026). Photo: Photo by Laura Purcell. Image 6: Maggie Jeffries. Photo: Laura Purcell.

Silicification describes the natural process where fluid carrying silica permeates a porous form. Tissue dissolves and i...
25/09/2026

Silicification describes the natural process where fluid carrying silica permeates a porous form. Tissue dissolves and is replaced by it, preserving the traces and impressions of flesh and skeletal structures.

SILICIFY is a solo exhibition by 2026 studio resident .oshan, showing in the Project Space from 03 – 31 October 2026. Opening event on Friday 02 October from 5.30pm.

SILICIFY explores ways to preserve the fleeting and peripheral traces of a subconscious world through processes of encasement. The preliminary act of automatic drawing in O’Shannassy’s practice utilises butcher’s paper – a fragile, glossy surface that would disintegrate over time without protection, but allows for charcoal to flow.

Informed by a fossil-rich cliffside he has revisited, he encountered the term "silicification" while researching fossil development. Silicification describes the natural process where fluid carrying silica permeates a porous form. Tissue dissolves and is replaced by it, preserving the traces and impressions of flesh and skeletal structures.

Engaging in rituals of pouring, saturating, and layering with fluid or viscous glues and sealants, the drawings are enclosed against the surface of wooden panels. Butcher's paper remains intact or eroded, its fibres made transparent through gesture before it is solidified. Charcoal particles dislodged and carried across the surface, at once moveable, become eternalised.
oshan is an emerging artist who primarily works across painting and drawing. Utilising surrealist methodologies and abstraction, he explores tactile, fluid, and viscous materials to synthesise the external and subconscious environments. By reimagining this intersection as a new, primordial world – a place to traverse – his work considers the threshold between human experience, the self and imagination, and how these elements permeate one another over time.

Location: Contemporary Art Tasmania, 27 Tasma St, North Hobart

Accessibility: The galleries are mobility accessible. An audio description will be available from the second week of the exhibition. A roomsheet will be available online and in large font hardcopies at the front desk. Find more at contemporaryart.org.au/access

Address

27 Tasma Street
North Hobart, TAS
7000

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+61362310445

Website

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