Culture Quiz: First Site Gallery

First Site is RMIT’s student gallery, and so is led by a committee of student representatives. The committee is responsible for providing students with opportunities to be creative and learn new skills. Having a position on the committee is a professional development opportunity for the students, as they learn about the operational side of galleries.

The Collective Space, which ran exhibitions and social events including performances, discussion groups and a chess club. In 1996, the gallery moved to its current location in Building 16, Storey Hall, and was renamed First Site. The new name reflected the gallery’s role in providing students with their first opportunity to exhibit.

A loom. Looms can be anything from highly technical computers to objects made from materials found in the everyday environment. For their exhibition titled Loom Journal, the students created DIY looms that reflected the places they visited, functioning as a journal of the everyday.

Image: Meghan Bolger
Loom Journal, 2019
Weaving
20x20cm

The central object represents a human brain that is experiencing dissociation, with the twists in its structure intending to suggest it has been impacted by post-traumatic stress disorder. Goya’s exhibition aimed to raise awareness on the misrepresentation of dissociative identity disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

Image: Adriana Goya
Dissociation, 2019
Melted glass and stoneware

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet presented from the perspective of Ophelia. Audience members were led through the gallery space and invited to interact with characters throughout the performance, experiencing the narrative through the eyes of a female character. Check out this behind the scenes video made during production.

Out of Site. The First Site Committee ran this virtual residency in the mid-year break for RMIT students. Out of Site provided participating students with the opportunity to explore the impact of the pandemic on their creative practice through workshops with industry professionals and collaborating with peers. You can read an interview with participant Rikita Vohra here. You can also visit First Site’s Instagram for more pictures of the artists’ works.

The podcast will explore Asian Australian diasporic narratives. Monica Do, the current First Site Committee Chair, is passionate about increasing the dialogue between Asian diaspora peoples and believes the podcast will serve as an avenue where people can see the diversity within First Site. Keep an eye out on their socials for more information on this exciting project.

Curating the moving image exhibition Tertulia, which is a transnational discussion between artists and writers living in Mexico and Australia. The exhibition was presented at BLINDSIDE Gallery in 2020 and the curators hope to deliver it in Mexico in 2021. We recommend checking out the online program for Tertulia.