Save the dates: Departure 2015 at the Art Gallery of South Australia

DEPARTURE at the Art Gallery of South Australia has been a special treat for art lovers, wine drinkers and event-goers for quite some time – and the fun will continue into 2015. AGSA has released a sneak peek into the future, with next year’s dates and topics. Friday 20 March – Bill Viola: Selected Works Friday 8 May –Trent Parke: The Black Rose Friday 28 August – Treasure Ships: Art in the age of spices Friday 13 November – Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Video artist Bill Viola is first off the ranks next year, with DEPARTURE closing out the festival season with a party. Viola is appearing as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts next year, presenting works across the Art Gallery of South Australia, Queen’s Theatre and St Peter’s Cathedral. Viola will be followed by Trent Parke, Adelaide-based photographer extraordinaire. Outside his work as a photojournalist for The Australian, Parke is renowned internationally, winning the World Press Photo award four times among other accolades. The winter session will draw on the story of spice – and all the nastiness involved. Slave trade, shipwrecks and piracy interweave with delicate Chinese porcelain, astonishing Indian textiles and artefacts retrieved from the sunken ships Batavia and Gilt Dragon. Through 250 works of art from the 15th to the 19th centuries, Treasure Ships will plot the trade of exotic goods across Asia, Europe and America. The final DEPARTURE will celebrate the inaugural Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. The multi-institution exhibition will feature more new works from Indigenous artists than have ever been shown at one time. AGSA will also be holding an art fair so interested viewers can purchase works directly from their creators. Header image: Bill Viola, 2000, Ascension, screenshot from Bill Viola: l’exposition.