Octopus 26: Nu(r)turing
Curated by Krisna Sudharma

An initiative in its 26th year, platforming new modes of curatorial practice and exhibition-making methodologies, Octopus is a mainstay of Gertrude’s annual exhibition program. The program invites an independent or external organisational curator to research and develop a major group exhibition and its composite public and performance programs. For the first time, Octopus 26 is being developed by an international curator, Krisna Sudharma, a contemporary art historian and writer, and director of Nonfrasa Gallery in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. The relationship with Sudharma forms out of Gertrude’s two-year partnership and engagement with DESA (now DESA Projects), organising a program of month-long research residencies for Australian and international artists from 2023-2025. This project will continue, evolve and deepen the connections between Nonfrasa Gallery, DESA Projects and Gertrude, and connect contemporary art practices from Bali, Indonesia and Australia.  

The exhibition concept of Nu(r)turing represents a dialectical approach to juxtaposing two seemingly disparate elements: contemporary study and cultural heritage. This linguistic portmanteau encapsulates a dual ethos; one is ‘nurturing’, intended as fostering creative growth, and the other, pronounced as ‘nuturing’ sourced from the Balinese 'tutur' symbolising the narration of traditional stories. This exhibition will present new commissions and recent works by Balinese, Indonesian, First Nation and Australian artists.

Octopus 26: Nu(r)turing will be a new model for international exchange through evolving curatorial collaboration, and inter-organisational sharing and cooperation. Distinct from importing an exhibition by Balinese and Indonesian artists, instead, this project takes focus on the modes with which these three distinct organisations and initiatives have worked and continue to work, and intersects practices from Bali, Indonesia and Australia.  The project instead will draw on through-lines between a range of practices form these distinct yet neighbouring contexts, that already have a degree of connectivity and familiarity.