ON ART

In 2025 Samstag Museum of Art invited Kaurna-based artist and Samstag scholar Monte Masi to create a new work to be performed across multiple performances in the gallery. Monte joins Associate Curator Anna Zagala to discuss what drew him to art in the first place, the thrills and perils of the improvised unscripted encounters, and his experience living and studying in San Francisco during a tech boom and the tail end of the Occupy Wall Street movement.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan Presley (Marri Ngarr) is a visual artist living on Yugambeh Country (Logan City, QLD). His practice spans painting, printmaking, sculpture, video, installation, and writing, and is marked by a deep engagement with the visual economies of power, memory, and resistance. Commissioned by the University in 2024 to paint a portrait of its Chancellor, the Honorable John Hill, Ryan joins Associate Curator Anna Zagala in the studio to discuss his exhibition Daydreamer, how growing up in Mparntwe/Alice Springs and an early love of drawing shaped his trajectory, and what he hoped to convey of the sitter in the portrait, currently on display at Samstag Museum of Art. The episode concludes with a throw to Samstag and Ryan’s conversation with art historian Dr Andrea Bubenik.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro have been life partners and artistic collaborators for over 25 years. They join Associate Curator Anna Zagala to discuss their new exhibition, Psychopomp, currently on display at Samstag Museum of Art. The outcome of the UniSA Jeffrey Smart Commission, the work is a cacophonous and vibrant moving image work that explores the porous relationship between science and mysticism. In this conversation, they delve into the history of rocket technology and its link to spirituality, contemporary pagan rituals, and why, after leading a peripatetic life, they decided to settle in the Blue Mountains.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Australian artist Louise Haselton was invited by curator Jasmin Stephens to create work in response to North Terrace, the cultural boulevard that runs through Tarntanya / Adelaide, for the exhibition North Terrace: worlds in relief, which recently opened at Samstag Museum of Art. Louise joins Associate Curator Anna Zagala on the podcast to discuss, among other things, how a pamphlet in the University of South Australia’s Architecture Museum caught her eye, what walking North Terrace yielded, and the tactile pleasure of working with Japanese papers. Louise Haselton is a visual artist who employs a range of presentations. Her practice explores the inherent qualities of everyday materials, seeking connections and relationships between seemingly disparate materials and objects gleaned from the world around us. North Terrace: worlds in relief is on at the Samstag Museum of Art, 20 June – 26 September 2025. The exhibition features Andrew Burrell / Allison Chhorn / Louise Haselton / the ArtHitects (Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh) / with poetry by Natalie Harkin ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded 16 June 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of the launch of Samstag Museum of Art’s group exhibition Direct, Directed, Directly, Chinese Australian poet and artist Chunxiao Qu joins Associate Curator Anna Zagala to discuss her art practice. Chunxiao Qu grew up in Qingdao, China, before emigrating to Naarm / Melbourne in 2015 to study at Monash University, where she is now based. She shares why working with language interests her and what it does in her artworks, the impact of one dedicated tutor in shaping her art practice, and what drew her to working with LED neon. Direct, Directed, Directly is on at the Samstag Museum of Art 28 February 2025 – 30 May 2025. The exhibition features Richard Bell / Madison Bycroft / Kuba Dorabialski / Danielle Freakley / Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader / Monte Masi / Chunxiao Qu ON ART is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Solstice Podcasting and produced by Tilly Balding in Tarntanya/Adelaide. The conversation was recorded 18 February 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.