Australian Experimental Art Foundation

Wow, why have I not been here before? I am so massively disappointed in myself for not knowing about aeaf earlier. I feel like I have missed out on so much! But, I guess better late than never right?!
This gallery/​bookstore is set up in the Lion Arts Centre next to the Jam Factory. This is totally my kind of gallery. I have always been a fan of contemporary art. Especially the kind of art that breaks the norms, classical techniques and style. When I hear people say, that art is unusual or confronting, I am drawn to it. I have always loved a piece that makes you think or leaves you confused about the thoughts of the artist. Why? Well, it means that an artist really is testing boundaries and expressing their individuality. Also experimenting with different mediums and thoughts of «what is art». If you are into that kind of thing, aeaf is totally for you.
As part of the Art After Dark initiative, we were escorted to this gallery. On display as part of SALA was an exhibition of reproductive pieces made from different materials, stitching and even hair. Each piece was brilliantly presented in the black back gallery room. Highlighted with light and well spaced, giving the observer room to move around the piece and observe.
There is also a bookstore in this gallery at the front. They have a fab selection of artistic, poetry and philosophy books here. However, walking past the building one might mistaken it as only a bookstore. But I would like to spread the word that it is so much more than that.
If this is where all of the experimental artists hang out, I need to be here more! I am very much looking forward to seeing their new exhibition when they set it up.

Looking for an obscure art book that has strong opinions about the way art has changed society? Maybe you’d like to pick up an undisputed bargain from the 50% off table? It could be a case of searching for something inspirational that you don’t have a clue about as of this moment, but once you lock eyes upon it across the crowded room, somehow you’ll know, you’ll know even then, that somehow you’ll read through it again and again. You may not like books, dirty smelly dust collectors that do nothing more than aid in house fires and drop on your head when you’re not looking. You may be a tablet sort of chap or chappet. Only reading ebooks and waiting until Scotty’s great great grand child can beam you up; well for your information the Australian Experimental Art Foundation is more than likely to be where the first ever mention of this brave new world you are living in happened (around here anyways) because in a rather deliberate sort of way they are usually ahead of their time, which, like it or not, is our time as well.
Stop in their exhibition space and you may find something rather unexpected indeed. Last time I was there the exhibit was ejecting cricket balls from one side of the room to the other, and catching them in a big balloonish bouncing hand, so, well… think about that while you wait for C3PO to become available at The Myer Centre or even better Target.
The future is imperfect until it is created. It is a cross stitch more or less hanging on by an imagined thread, and it is facilities and groups such at the EAF who assist in creating it without too many bumps in the road or flaws in the glass. So you may find something quite strange and slightly unreal happening in this odd little spot, which is why I rate it as pretty darn cool if not the best, it’s the testing ground for what can be done in art and a great bookshop for those ideas that are harder and harder to come by. If you fancy yourself to be a bit of an experimental artist you may like to join.

The aEaf was founded in the seventies to support experimental art forms — in particular art that might be experience-​based, ephemeral or concerned with examining the status quo. Sometime during the Dunstan golden age of arts it relocated to the Lion Arts Centre, into purpose-​built premises with studios, a bookshop and a big gallery. At the moment they are looking for a new director, as Domenico de Clario is moving on from the role. During de Clario’s time at the helm there were a few changes: the name was changed from the EAF to the aEaf (adding in ‘australian’ to the already existing name ‘experimental art foundation’), the odradek was founded (a small window space in which young emerging curator/​artists are invited to curate shows), and a series of larger-​scale exhibitions over several venues were undertaken.
The programming here can be up and down — some shows are really excellent, others lack the energy or curatorial focus that would make them memorable. I would love to see the aEaf get a younger director with the know-​how on bringing in new funding sources and getting the best out of exhibiting artists. I’d also love to see some stronger audience engagement and marketing strategies — I want to know about the shows and even I struggle to find out what’s coming up next. Some of the highlight shows I’ve seen here included Ray Harris’s ‘Hold Me Close and Let Me Go’ (featuring videos of the artist rolling around in dough and hugging ice statues plus six walk-​in boxes featuring tiny hand-​crafted worlds), and John Barbour’s ‘Work for Now’ (accompanied by a book about the artist’s work called ‘Hard/​Soft’).
The aEaf is one of the vital national level organisations that show both local and national contemporary art in Adelaide, and so is a centre for local artists who are really serious about carving out new artforms. There is a great studio complex upstairs which hosts some of Adelaide’s more exciting artists including Matthew Bradley, Paul Sloan and Katrina Simmons. The aEaf is also home to Dark Horsey bookshop which has one of the best collections of art books in Adelaide. Plus, anything you want that they haven’t got, they will often order in for you. Ken Bolton — who runs the store — also puts on the occasional artist talk or seminar on art/​philosophy/​other-​esoteric-​stuff. Bolton also writes a great review of local shows every few months, which is published on the aEaf’s website.
I would recommend coming along to this place if you want to find out more about where contemporary art is coming from, who makes it and why.