Tyger! Tyger!

Tyger! Tyger! was a series of five exhibitions at West Space Gallery, one of Melbourne's oldest and most prominent artist-run spaces. The project featured work created by five collaborative pairs of artists. It was initiated by first inviting five distinguished Australian contemporary artists who then nominated another artist (or artists) to work with. The project resulted in five exhibitions, each of which was accompanied by a commissioned text that was published in a suite of publications designed by Stuart Geddes of Chase & Gallery, an established graphic artist with a critical interest in print publication design. Tyger! Tyger! was an artistic program of new commissions that enabled a suite of significant new artworks and texts to be created by distinguished Australian artists and writers working in experimental collaborative structures. The project created opportunities for artists to challenge ideas and innovate notions of collaborative practice, as well as to explore critically-engaged and conceptually-focused developments in contemporary art. Rather than employing the 'mentorship' model, Tyger! Tyger!'s innovative 'pairings' of artists enabled collaborations that acknowledged existing synergies; in this way it also illuminated some of the many interesting networks and relationships that crisscross the art community. Tyger! Tyger! was awarded $25K in project funding from the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory board. It also received $6K towards the development of texts, from The Ian Potter Foundation, one of Australia's major and most competitive philanthropic foundations.