Sandra Selig: exploring giant molecules

‘exploring giant molecules’ is the largest exhibition to date of Australian artist Sandra Selig, bringing together key examples of her interdisciplinary projects from the past two decades. 

Selig works at the intersection of visual art and experimental music, using humble materials such as thread, paper, light and sound to articulate intangible notions of form, space, and time. Rather than a chronological overview, the exhibition responds to Selig’s site-specific and iterative practice. It presents six projects that address the dominant concerns, materials, and forms of Selig’s ongoing bodies of work, including the artist's pendulum salt drawings that transform throughout the exhibition. Also included are new thread installations that respond to the gallery’s architecture and spider webs captured on paper — projects that have evolved organically over time and in response to the spaces Selig works and exhibits in. 

The exhibition’s title is a discarded text fragment from an old science book, the source material for her ongoing ‘Cut poems’ series. Selig’s work with sound and experimental music also feature in an accompanying live performance by Primitive Motion.

Accompanying the exhibition is the artist’s first major monograph. It features essays by Hamish Sawyer, Leighton Craig and Professor Susan Best, alongside an interview with José Da Silva, providing important and timely scholarship on Selig’s work and documentation of the exhibition. To support the production of this book, Selig has created the unique edition Matter and being 2021 that connects to the artist’s ongoing interest in line and space within found and built environments.

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Curated by Hamish Sawyer

Developed in partnership with the University of the Sunshine Coast, where the exhibition is presented from 18 February—7 May 2022. Presented with the support of Arts Queensland.

PUBLICATION EXHIBITION LABELS 

Sanda Selig Digital Story: The James C Sourris AM Collection

Interview by Hamish Sawyer, James C. Sourris Artist Interview Series 2017-2018
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland 

 

 

 

 

Public Programs

In Conversation: Sandra Selig & Hamish Sawyer
2.00pm 27 August 2022 | UNSW Galleries
Learn more about the exhibition with Sandra Selig and exhibition curator Hamish Sawyer.

Primitive Motion Performance
3.00pm 28 August 2022 | UNSW Galleriesa
Primitive Motion is Selig’s collaborative project with fellow artist Leighton Craig that continues her interest in sound, music and improvisational form. The duo is celebrated for their durational performances, often staged in non-traditional settings, and accompanied by video projections made by Selig and Craig.

Exhibtion Tour
2.00pm 22 October 2022 | UNSW Galleries
Join UNSW Galleries Curatorial & Public Engagement Officer Catherine Woolley for an intimate walkthrough of the exhibition ‘Sandra Selig: exploring giant molecules', and hear about key works and significant developments in Selig’s practice.

Tile Image: Sandra Selig, 'heart of the air you can hear' 2011. Polyester thread nails, synthetic polymer paint. Installation view: Monash University Museum of Art. Image courtesy of the artist, Milani Gallery, Brisbane and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney. Photograph: John Brash
Installation Image: Installation view, ‘Sandra Selig: exploring giant molecules, UNSW Galleries, 2022. Photograph: Jacquie Manning