act as known
Within Horizon's Urban Gallery, Vernon Ah Kee presents his new work, building upon and extending his long-term project — Dark + Disturbing.
Dark + Disturbing is a curatorial and creative project that explores Aboriginal sensibilities around knowledge, identity, and protest. Dark + Disturbing interrogates power structures and provides a platform for Aboriginal voice.
Dark + Disturbing is a project that transcends a single act of art making. Best known for being presented on shirts, this project is a sum of the labour of creating designs, getting them printed, selling them, and having people wear them.
“Dark + Disturbing is a living, breathing artwork in which hundreds of people participate each year”.
The term ‘act-as-known’ refers to a commonly used clause in Vaudeville contracts wherein promoters engage performers on the proviso that they 'act-as-known' and perform only agreed-upon and familiar routines — limited improvisation, predictable behaviour, and no new or unvetted material.
act as known is a dynamic artwork about entitlement, centring, and power.
Dark + Disturbing is a long-term project that embodies protest and radical hope.
Download the Urban Gallery Map here.
About the Urban Gallery
This work is part of the Festival Precinct, where we invite you to wander and wonder through our Urban Gallery every day of Horizon 2025.
Situated in Ocean St, Maroochydore (Kabi Kabi Country), you’ll find a diverse collection of works nestled into streets, laneways and Big Top Shopping Centre — blurring the lines between physical, artistic and digital realms.
Suitable for all ages, this free-to-enjoy 10-day art-trail will feature inspiring work from visionary Queensland and Australian contemporary artists, including First Nations artists.
Experimenta: curatorial statement
The festival's provocation of radical hope is the inspiration for Experimenta's public art presentation. Radical hope is a transformative framework that challenges us to move beyond passive optimism, instead embracing collective action, shared goals and resilience.
Radical hope is rooted in the belief that social change emerges from community-driven efforts. It calls on diverse groups to coalesce, transcend societal limitations, and actively imagine and walk towards a just and equitable future.
The works featured in this presentation by Experimenta, as part of Horizon 2025, reflect this ethos. These works go beyond a single act of art making; they are part of long-term projects embodying the artists' acts of radical hope.
Creative Team
- Artist – Vernon Ah Kee
- Artist production – Iscariot Media
- Animation & Video Mapping - Brian Keyes
- Experimenta Curator – Lubi Thomas
- Experimenta Creative Producer – Anna Nalpantidis
Vernon Ah Kee
Vernon Ah Kee is a Brisbane-based artist at the forefront of conceptual art practice in Australia.
Vernon Ah Kee is a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji, Yidinyji and Guugu Yimithirr people of north Queensland. He also has kinship connections to the Waanyi people of north-west Queensland.
Vernon Ah Kee is attuned to the politics of representation, and the social and economic implications of unequal cultural exchange in Australia. He draws on ethnographic archives to challenge colonial legacies and to engage audiences with the strong and continuing presence of Aboriginal Australians, their histories, and their cultures. Ah Kee’s conceptual text pieces reposition the Aboriginal in Australia from an ‘othered thing’, anchored in museum and scientific records to a contemporary people inhabiting real and current spaces and time.
Ah Kee’s work is held in major art collections within Australia and overseas including the Tate Modern, London.
Experimenta
Experimenta is Australia’s leading organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and touring contemporary art driven by ideas and shaped by technology.
In the age of technological acceleration, Experimenta’s role is vital to understanding what it is to be human. Their programs, exhibitions, and events encourage the exploration of contemporary issues through visual arts engagement.
Lubi Thomas – Curator for Experimenta
Lubi Thomas is an experienced digital/new media curator whose practice has significantly contributed to the cultural landscape through exhibitions, projects, festivals, residencies, mentorships, and transdisciplinary programming.
With over forty exhibitions — several touring nationally and internationally — Lubi has extensive experience collaborating with a diversity of artists through various programming structures and deliverables. Her curation focus resides at the intersection of ‘Art – Technology – Science – Society’, allowing her to engage with artists who explore cutting-edge art forms, tools, and concepts relevant to the issues of the environment and society. Lubi’s adaptable approach to curation, programming, and presentation has enabled her to successfully showcase projects in both traditional galleries and unconventional spaces.
Lubi’s key curation tenet is that Art is a language of ideas, and through this she aims to present contemporary art that ignites emotional and intellectual responses within the broader community.
Acknowledgements
Vernon Ah Kee's new work is curated by Experimenta and presented by Horizon 2025 as part of the Festival Precinct Urban Gallery supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and Big Top Shopping Centre.
This work is presented outdoors in the evening for a standing audience.
It is suitable for all ages and there are a number of food and beverage options along Ocean Street.
Wheelchair Accessibility
This event is wheelchair accessible.
Level Access
This event will take place in a public place on Ocean St, Maroochydore, where there is level access.
Bathroom Access
This event takes place in a public space. The closest public facilities are available inside the Big Top Shopping Centre, Solbar, Old Soul and other open restaurants along Ocean Street.
Any other access requirements
We welcome all audiences to Horizon and strive to make every event and performance as accessible as possible.
We are always open to discussing your individual requirements to assist wherever possible. If you’d like to speak to someone about your access requirements, please contact us during business hours at (07) 5475 7272 or [email protected].
If you are travelling by car there is free, three-hour parking available at the Big Top Shopping Centre carpark located on Ocean Street. Parking is limited, we advise you use alternative transport, carpool or park and walk.
Solbar is within easy walking distance of the Maroochydore Station Bus Interchange. Plan your journey to festival from the Translink Website.
Car Parking is limited on Ocean Street so ride your bike to the Duporth Ave bike parking hub. You can lock your bike in the Council facility that has 24hr security cameras active.