Arlo Mountford’s installation Revolutions is currently on show at the vitrine space Assembly Point in Southbank, Naarm/Melbourne, in the centre of the city’s Arts Precinct.
Situated firmly within a busy public thoroughfare, this installation comprises a series of mechanical thaumatropes mounted onto wooden trestles. A nineteenth century toy, the thaumatrope presents a paper disk that spins rapidly, creating an optical illusion through which a total image emerges. In Mountford’s work Revolutions, the phrases “It’s time.” and “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!” arise through this accelerated motion, instating a familiar, verbalised text in this unfamiliarised public setting. In this regard, the phrases emerge through an absence of authorship; blurred directives in a busy section of the city which emanate out of a dark vitrine, the works circumvent further context, instead presenting as sinister affirmations that question the present, future and past.
Arlo Mountford Revolutions Assembly Point, Southbank, VIC 28 February – 31 March 2024
Arlo Mountford at the Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo NSW
‘THE FOLLY, THE TRIUMPH & THE LAMENT’ 4th – 26th June 2022 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ From 2009-2011, Mountford produced animations based on paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c1525-1569) and Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), in which he meticulously reproduced the original works with the addition of sound and movement. These works reinvigorate these iconic paintings, becoming new works that explore the act of making, the history of western art and its relationship to contemporary art practice, and how we engage with the past, narrative and myth. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ‘The Folly’ 2009, ‘The Triumph’ 2010, and ‘The Lament’ 2011, are presented together for the very first time. Curated by Kent Buchanan.
‘APT10 Cinema: The Magic Arts, Australian Animation from the 1970s to Now’ 4 December 2021 – 25 April 2022.
GOMA Cinema is screening Mountford’s ‘Stand Up’, 2007, and ‘Galaxy Express NMWA’, 2014, as a part of a curated selection of animation shorts titled ‘Animation Shorts: Lightness in Gravity’. ‘The Magic Arts: Australian Animation from the 1970s to Now’ is a major survey of the last five decades of animation in Australia.
Arlo Mountford’s mid-career survey exhibition, Deep Revolt, is currently on view at Walkway Gallery in Bordertown, South Australia. Developed by Goulburn Regional Art Gallery and with support from Museums and Galleries NSW, the exhibition has been touring nationally since 2018. Deep Revolt continues until Sunday 5 February, 2021.
The national tour of Arlo Mountford’s survey, Deep Revolt, continues at Orange Regional Gallery. The exhibition was developed by Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, with touring support from Museums and Galleries NSW and Australia Council for the Arts.
Arlo Mountford Deep Revolt Orange Regional Gallery 28 September – 1 December, 2019
