Art Works
Art Works
TV ShowReturning Series

Art Works

2021
3 seasons
100 episodes
Documentary

With in-studio segments, behind-the-scenes stories, interviews, playful explainers and deep-dive field reports from locations across Australia, this docuseries puts the spotlight on creativity as an overlooked but inherent part of our everyday lives.

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Cast

Seasons

  • Uncle Jack Charles, Atong Atem & Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran

    1.Uncle Jack Charles, Atong Atem & Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran

    05-05-202127m

    In the very first episode of Art Works, host Namila Benson throws a pot with actor Uncle Jack Charles and interviews artist Atong Atem, while sculptor Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran exp...

  • Race and Representation, Ziggy Ramo & Airi Ingram

    2.Race and Representation, Ziggy Ramo & Airi Ingram

    TBA26m

    Namila Benson has a much-needed conversation about race and representation with Indigenous hip hop artist Ziggy Ramo and attempts to master the garamut drum with Airi Ingram.

  • Opera Australia & Mary Quant

    3.Opera Australia & Mary Quant

    19-05-202128m

    Deni Todorovic looks at the career of fashion designer Mary Quant, developer Siobhan Reddy talks about the storytelling potential of video games and Soprano Natalie Aroyan offers a...

  • Museum of Contemporary Art & ABC Classic 100

    4.Museum of Contemporary Art & ABC Classic 100

    26-05-202127m

    Two perfect strangers go on a blind date to the MCA, Curator Kimberley Moulton and director Bruce Gladwin talk about how collaboration enhances creativity and presenter Alice Keath...

  • Miss First Nation & the Ramsay Art Prize

    5.Miss First Nation & the Ramsay Art Prize

    02-06-202129m

    We head backstage at Miss First Nation, the national competition for Indigenous drag queens. Musician Eric Avery talks about playing the violin for self-expression and we go behind...

  • Archibald Prize & Archie 100

    6.Archibald Prize & Archie 100

    09-06-202130m

    Art Works deep dives into the 2021 Archibald Prize. We meet 1985 Archibald winner and the subject of Peter Wegner's winning entry, Guy Warren - who turns 100 this year, just like t...

  • Kate Just & the Great Woy Woy Tea Cosy Showcase

    7.Kate Just & the Great Woy Woy Tea Cosy Showcase

    16-06-202128m

    Artist Kate Just teaches Namila Benson how to knit while explaining her feminist art practice, before we visit the Great Woy Woy Tea Cosy Showcase. We also head to Bendigo to go lo...

  • Hilma af Klint & Incognito Art Show

    8.Hilma af Klint & Incognito Art Show

    23-06-202131m

    Artist Katy B. Plummer takes us to the Hilma af Klint exhibition where she and co-curators Sue Cramer and Nicholas Chambers explain the Swedish artist's work and influence. We also...

  • Dark Mofo 2021

    9.Dark Mofo 2021

    30-06-202126m

    Art Works heads to Dark Mofo festival to hear from Tasmanian First Nations artists about the Union Flag controversy and how the fallout shaped the 2021 festival.

  • NAIDOC Week 2021

    10.NAIDOC Week 2021

    07-07-202131m

    We meet the creators of documentaries Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra and My Name Is Gulpilil; plus Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists including Megan Cope, Ri...

  • Just Not Australian Touring Exhibition

    11.Just Not Australian Touring Exhibition

    14-07-202128m

    Art Works explores the impact of the film and drama industry moving into Byron Bay. Artists Fiona Foley and Abdul Abdullah speak about the touring exhibition Just Not Australian.

  • Arts Access Victoria Amplify Festival

    12.Arts Access Victoria Amplify Festival

    21-07-202127m

    Street artist Heesco shares the ethos behind the large-scale mural project Heesco Town in regional Victoria; and we meet the musicians and artists from Arts Access Victoria's Ampli...

  • Science Gallery in Melbourne

    13.Science Gallery in Melbourne

    28-07-202128m

    We meet Maree Clarke, the first living Victorian Aboriginal artist to have a solo exhibition at the NGV, before Namila Benson visits the newly opened Science Gallery in Melbourne.

  • Brisbane Comedy Festival

    14.Brisbane Comedy Festival

    04-08-202129m

    Ngugi artist Elisa Jane Carmichael introduces us to the revived traditional art of weaving and Brisbane Comedy Festival continues despite lockdowns and border closures.

  • Malthouse Theatre's Because the Night

    15.Malthouse Theatre's Because the Night

    11-08-202129m

    Namila Benson talks to Yorta Yorta soprano, composer and educator (and national treasure) Deborah Cheetham and we wander through Malthouse Theatre's Because the Night, an ambitious...

  • Mo'Ju, Vipoo Srivilasa & The Wellness Deity Project

    16.Mo'Ju, Vipoo Srivilasa & The Wellness Deity Project

    18-08-202130m

    We meet with award-winning Wiradjuri and Filipino musician Mo'Ju, before going foraging for driftwood with artist Pete Rush. Artist Vipoo Srivilasa turns a design from Namila Benso...

  • Maxine Beneba Clark, New Writers Collective & Alex Lahey

    17.Maxine Beneba Clark, New Writers Collective & Alex Lahey

    25-08-202127m

    We visit writer Maxine Beneba Clarke in her studio; get to know the New Writers Collective for teen women, trans and non-binary playwrights; and meet musician Alex Lahey, whose cal...

  • NATSIAA, Ishmael, Stone Country, Ida Sophia

    18.NATSIAA, Ishmael, Stone Country, Ida Sophia

    01-09-202127m

    We check out the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards; a space-age reimagining of Moby-Dick; wearable art from Lorraine Kabbindi White; and the durational work...

  • Kylie Bracknell, Lucy Irvine, Demolition

    19.Kylie Bracknell, Lucy Irvine, Demolition

    08-09-202127m

    Learn about the first feature film to be dubbed in an Australian Aboriginal language; Canberra-based Scottish sculptor Lucy Irvine; Hobart artist and fundraiser Janelle McMillan; a...

  • Boy Swallows Universe, Murrniny, Ngaiire

    20.Boy Swallows Universe, Murrniny, Ngaiire

    15-09-202128m

    Meet the creators of the theatre adaptation of award-winning novel Boy Swallows Universe, the Yolngu artists from the remote Northern Territory repurposing abandoned metal into art...

  • Daniel Lafferty, The Rivers Sing

    21.Daniel Lafferty, The Rivers Sing

    22-09-202127m

    Daniel Lafferty fires up his kiln for the first time since the 2019/20 bushfires; Deborah Cheetham reflects on The Rivers Sing; Sami Shah speaks about confronting racism; and a mum...

  • Brenton E. McKenna, Mick Turner, Bukjeh

    22.Brenton E. McKenna, Mick Turner, Bukjeh

    29-09-202129m

    Brenton E. McKenna shares his lifelong love of comics; Mick Turner from the Dirty Three talks about the art of the album cover; the migrant community art project Bukjeh; and a virt...

  • Claire McArdle, Voices of Colour

    23.Claire McArdle, Voices of Colour

    06-10-202126m

    Claire McArdle takes jewellery making into the streets; meet the Voices of Colour arts collective; David Moran shows us unconventional ways to play a cello; and head to Adelaide Zo...

  • #KnowMyName

    24.#KnowMyName

    13-10-202130m

    Meet artists Lisa Waup, Sally Rees and Yhonnie Scarce, as well as the artistic directors of some of Australia's most celebrated major performing arts companies, Nicolette Fraillon,...

  • Muster, Terrapin, Dale Woodbridge-Brown

    25.Muster, Terrapin, Dale Woodbridge-Brown

    20-10-202127m

    Watch participatory dance work Muster; marvel at the craftsmanship of Terrapin; meet 13-year-old Bronte as she auditions for Ballet Theatre Queensland; and hear from "Kamilaroi cow...

  • First Nations Fashion and Design

    26.First Nations Fashion and Design

    27-10-202129m

    Strut the catwalk with First Nations Fashion and Design; have a stickybeak inside Sam Leighton-Dore's home; share a cuppa with latte art champ Caleb Cha; and meet a few artists exh...

  • Ausmusic Month

    27.Ausmusic Month

    03-11-202131m

    Art Works celebrates Ausmusic Month by talking to musicians, Bukhu Ganburged, and Vika and Linda Bull; and artist and graphic designer Jonathan Zawada, the creator of a number of i...

  • Art in the Vines, Patricia Piccinini

    28.Art in the Vines, Patricia Piccinini

    10-11-202125m

    Art Works visits the new Art in the Vines sculpture exhibition at a winery in regional Victoria. Also meet artist Patricia Piccinini; musicians Jackie and Dean Newcomb; and the art...

  • OzAsia Festival, Koolbardi wer Wardong

    29.OzAsia Festival, Koolbardi wer Wardong

    17-11-202128m

    Art Works heads to OzAsia Festival in Adelaide; Maclagan Squeezebox Festival in regional Queensland; and to see West Australian Opera's world-first opera in Noongar language. We ch...

  • Neo Teen Takeover, Wendy Mocke, Fiona Lee

    30.Neo Teen Takeover, Wendy Mocke, Fiona Lee

    24-11-202129m

    Teens curate a bimonthly event at AGSA; Papua New Guinean artist Wendy Mocke talks about empowered Black womanhood; how Fiona Lee turned the remnants of her bushfire-ravaged home i...

  • Jazz Money, Tarnanthi, Serwah Attafuah

    31.Jazz Money, Tarnanthi, Serwah Attafuah

    01-12-202128m

    Meet poet/artist Jazz Money and artist Serwah Attafuah and see how the first interrogates colonial spaces, and the latter toys with digital reality. We head to two exhibitions, Tar...

  • Transformation, Time Pass, Baai

    32.Transformation, Time Pass, Baai

    08-12-202129m

    Hear from young people reclaiming their own narratives: by celebrating South Sudanese culture; and creating work by and about the queer and disabled communities. Plus, check out ex...

  • La Mama Theatre, Stella Prize

    33.La Mama Theatre, Stella Prize

    15-12-202132m

    We visit the newly reopened La Mama Theatre in Melbourne; see how Aboriginal artists are using a colonial statue as a canvas in Hobart; meet past winners of the Stella Prize; and t...

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