8 March – 4 May 2025
In Suburbia: Recent Detours
In Suburbia: Recent Detours, is an exhibition that features the work of 19 contemporary artists from across the country who probe, celebrate and question the notion of the great Australian dream.
As we look down the nation’s street of dreams so much has altered. A modest home in a secure community is now financially out of reach to the majority of young people. What was once considered a beacon of security is now evolving into a site of constant anxiety that too often erupts into tragic scenes of domestic violence. Nevertheless, suburbia, in all its disparate manifestations remains the living paradigm for the great majority of Australians.
The exhibition looks across a diverse spectrum of housing types and conditions in suburban environments from Perth, Melbourne, the Wollongong region, Sydney, Penrith, Lismore, the Northern Rivers and Brisbane. The scope and quality of the works is drawn from a select group of artists focuses on the physical and psychological spaces that characterise the suburban experience.
In Suburbia: Recent Detours, is a timely project as the nation comes to terms with an ever-growing housing crisis.
Featuring works by Adrian Doyle, Anne Wallace, Alan Daniel Jones, Catherine O’Donnell, Christopher McVinish, Christopher Zanko, Craig Handley, David Wadelton, Eliza Gosse, Ian Strange, Joanna Lamb, Nick Santoro, Noel McKenna, Peter O’Doherty, Rachel Ellis, Raimond de Weerdt, Robyn Sweaney, Tajette O’Halloran and Wade Taylor.
Curated by Gavin Wilson.
Questioning the great Australian Dream?
A conversation about the housing problem and how to fix it, prompted by the exhibition In Suburbia: Recent Detours.
Presented in association with the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative, The University of Sydney
As Australia grapples with a deepening housing crisis, this panel interrogates the nature of the crisis and wider notions of the great Australian dream. Sparked by the exhibition In Suburbia: Recent Detours, which engages with a diverse spectrum of housing types and experiences across urban and regional Australia, we ask an architect, planner, and artist how they understand the housing problem and how to solve it. Is it only about building new supply? Do we have to abandon the suburban ideal in favour of ‘high density’ living? Is home ownership over for younger generations? Can we imagine a more environmentally sound and socially inclusive suburbia?
Speakers
Anthony Burke, Professor of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney
Nicole Gurran, Professor of Urban & Regional Planning, University of Sydney
Catherine O’Donnell, artist
Gavin Wilson, Exhibition curator
Moderator: David Burdon, Conservation Director, National Trust of Australia (NSW)
Filmed by Wedge-Tail Pictures