No one understands what drives an artist as much as another artist. So who better than artists themselves to provide the spaces and opportunities for others to experiment and create fearlessly? This is the principle behind Artist-Run Initiatives. ARIs are projects, organisations, and galleries run by artists, for artists, enabling creatives to experiment with, innovate, develop and present their work in a collaborative environment.
Brisbane is home to many ARIs. Outer Space, Wreckers ArtSpace, The Wandering Room, Diagram and ArtWorld Studio Gallery are all safe havens for artists to express themselves, but Boxcopy is the only ARI in Queensland to be a member of All-Conference, a national coordination network of fifteen artist-led organisations.
Through positive and constructive peer-to-peer networks and diverse and innovative artistic programmes, All-Conference pushes an experimental and cross-disciplinary art agenda throughout Australia. The fifteen member-ARIs often collaborate, building a supportive platform for creative exploration on a large scale and advancing the practices of living artists.
In this vein, Boxcopy strives to provide a platform for experimental and innovative creative practices, with an extensive programme of curated exhibitions by both new and established artists, a diverse range of events, two artistic publications, and discussion forums focused on the role of art in the lives of both artists and audiences. Here, artists are enabled to develop and present new work in a wide range of media, from moving image, to sound, performance, and installations.
The ethos behind Boxcopy has always been one of experimentation, collaboration, and a D.I.Y attitude to contemporary art practices, stemming from its own D.I.Y origins: it was founded as a collaborative project by seven art school graduates, from the basement of their Queenslander in New Farm.
Today, Boxcopy is one of the longest-running ARIs in Brisbane, having been the ARI-in-residence at the Metro Arts Centre, before moving to the historical Watson Brothers Building in Brisbane’s CBD, then Normanby Fiveways, on Petrie Terrace.
This June 8th, Boxcopy’s yearly silent auction, The Annual, is taking on a significant role: Boxcopy has recently moved to a new home! Celebrate their move to 16 Merivale St, South Brisbane, by joining their housewarming auction, and bid silently on artwork donated by a variety of local artists, with the support of both local and national art institutions and galleries.
Join their mailing list here: https://boxcopy.org to receive the catalogue in advance! All proceeds from the sales go directly to paying the artists and writers involved in the upcoming programme.
ARIs are creative communities where artists are enabled to support artists, and promoting and getting involved with these initiatives is the best way to empower the local arts scene. Going direct to the source and helping artists provide for each other means they are indeed being given the space they need to grow their practices and launch themselves into the world, benefitting from the experience of those around them.