The Charge That Binds

The Charge That Binds celebrates the dynamism, vitality and power of natural phenomena and the more-than human world, reminding us of what is at stake at a time of ecological emergency. Infused with both grief and optimism, the exhibition draws together works that celebrate a world composed of multifaceted, multispecies relations and pulses – foregrounding and reimaging modes of relationality and connection beyond the devastating, extractive logic of capital.

The exhibition is accompanied by a series of experimental workshops, discussions, performances and pedagogical investigations addressing the role of artists and art institutions in fostering collaboration, collective action and new imaginaries in response to our planetary emergency.

The Climate Aware Creative Practice Research Network will host the Relational Ecologies Laboratory throughout the course of the exhibition, culminating in an intensive 2-day program of talks, discussions and workshops in late February 2025.

The Charge That Binds adopts a collective curatorial model, with oversight from a curatorial advisory group including Dr Michelle Antoinette, academic and lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Asian Art, Monash University – Professor Brian Martin, artist and Director of Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab – Professor Peta Rake, Director of University of Queensland Art Museum – and Professor Naomi Stead, Director of the Design and Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform, RMIT University.

With: Zheng Bo, Climate Aware Creative Practices Research Network, Jack Green, Alicia Frankovich, Francis Carmody, Mel O’Callaghan, Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett, Megan Cope and Brooke Wandin, Brett Graham, Izabela Pluta, Emilija Škarnulytė, Sorawit Songsataya.

Curator, Shelley McSpedden.