Acknowledgement of Country

Our programming exists on what always was and always will be the land of the people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, as well as to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the wider Naarm Melbourne community and beyond. Indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded in Australia and we try to be mindful of this in everything we do, given our focus on the modern built environment.

Take Hold of the Clouds

Distributed across 7 sites

Take Hold of the Clouds was a curated exhibition featuring two key works by renowned international contributors – Forensic Architecture’s Cloud Studies (2021) and Cauleen Smith’s Sojourner (2018) – along with six, newly commissioned, responsive works from local and national creative practitioners. The experimental exhibition was distributed across seven of the city’s most significant buildings and urban spaces, with each temporal creative work adding a new layer to how we understand these spaces in relation to the world around us.

Embedding the work within the city itself rather than a traditional gallery, the exhibition modelled best practices for high-impact yet sustainable and resource-sensitive exhibition-making.

Created in partnership with Monash University, Take Hold of the Clouds navigated the Open House Melbourne July Weekend’s theme of Built/Unbuilt through a series of thoughtful encounters in which artists reveal the invisible stories and issues in corners of the city.

The exhibition was conceived by Tara McDowell, Director of Curatorial Practice at Monash Art, Design and Architecture, and co-curated with Fleur Watson, Open House Melbourne’s Executive Director.