Conceptio

Premiered during Roundabout at the City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand, between November 20, 2010 and January 16, 2011, Pay Attention was Tony Albert’s very first solo exhibition in New Zealand and was accompanied by a series of artist talks and panel discussions.

Pay Attention dramatically extends the scope of the artist’s text-based works with its directness of language (appropriated from Bruce Nauman’s work of the same title, which is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia), and most significantly its wide-reaching collaborative process. The piece not only features original artwork by Tony Albert, who completed the forward reading version of the statement, but also the visual and lyrical languages of twenty-five artists from the Indigenous Australian community whom have each addressed one laser-cut, hand-finished aluminium letter in the statement’s reversed orientation (see below).

A second version of the work is currently being shown at the National Gallery of Australia—its juxtaposition against the important “Aboriginal Memorial” permanently installed in the museum raises necessary and provocative questions on the continued injustices and gross negligence that have persisted. In its complete installation the work is a call to arms. Twenty-six artists united to create an arresting and visually diverse statement that cannot be ignored. Who isn’t paying attention? Who must pay attention? 

Collaborating artists include:

P - Judith Inkamala

A - Archie Moore

Y - Abe Muriata

A - Theresa Beeron

T - Jason Wing

T - Megan Cope

E - Joanne Currie

N - Ninney Murray

T - Laurie Nilsen

I - Arthur Pambegan Jr.

O - Leah King-Smith

N - Daniel Boyd

M - Jennifer Herd

O - Judy Watson

T - Bianca Beetson

H - Dale Harding

E - Rahel Ungwanaka

R - Gary Lee

F - Vernon Ah Kee

U - The Last Kinection

C - Gordon Hookey

K - Craig Koomeeta

E - Tonya Grant

R - Richard Bell

S - Maureen Beeron

Read more about Roundabout here.