Every day, 10am to 5pm Saturday 24 August to Tuesday 1 July 2025
"The trace is not a presence but is rather the simulacrum of a presence that dislocates, displaces, and refers beyond itself." – Jacques Derrida
Through the hands of five Australian artists from different Chinese diasporic communities, The trace is not a presence… highlights both the active process of making, and the experience of transcending the past towards a present that is not immediately identifiable and complete.
A trace is a materialised passage of time, history, and memory. The exhibition includes historical documents and cultural objects to suggest traces of the past, as well as contemporary artworks by:
Dongwang Fan
Jenna Lee
Cyrus Tang
John Young
Louise Zhang
The paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and prints exhibited illustrate how traces can be fabricated, replicated and threaded into the present.
Here, the process of fabrication and reproduction is a positive act, destabilising staid notions of authenticity. The differences artists create potently distinguish them from being static copies or “doubles” of the so-called origin.