The Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA), formerly Contemporary Art Society (CAS), was an
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...
and
art space
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...
located in the
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
suburb of
Parkside, in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. In late 2016 it merged with the Australian Experimental Art Foundation to form
ACE Open.
The quarterly art journal ''Broadsheet'' was published by the CAS from 1954. This became ''Broadsheet: A Journal of Contemporary Art'' when the organisation changed its name and constitution in 1986, and later changed again to ''Contemporary Visual Arts and Culture: Broadsheet'' and, from 2007, ''Contemporary Visual Art + Culture: Broadsheet''. ACE Open continued to publish the journal until September 2017.
History
A network of independent organisations across Australia each known as
Contemporary Art Society
The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...
were created following the founding of the Contemporary Art Society of Victoria in July 1938.
CACSA was the third of these, established in 1942 as the Contemporary Art Society as a breakaway from the
Royal Society of Arts.
It was run by volunteers,
[ with Max Harris as president and secretary, and ]Ivor Francis
Ivor Francis (October 26, 1918 – October 22, 1986) was a Canadian-American character actor and acting teacher. He is the father of television soap opera actress Genie Francis.
Life and career
Francis was born in Toronto and began his acting c ...
as vice-president. Dorrit Black was an active member of the society until her death in 1951.South Australian Society of Arts
The South Australian Society of Arts was a society for artists in South Australia, later with a royal warrant renamed The Royal South Australian Society of Arts in 1935.
History
A meeting of persons interested in the formation of a society for the ...
gallery in October 1943, though an anti- Fascist exhibition had been held in Adelaide by the older branches (Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
) in January that year.
In 1964 the Contemporary Art Society moved into a bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:
* basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand
* dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge)
* fe ...
residence in Porter Street, Parkside, which was used for exhibiting its members' work, which, by the time of its closure in 2016, had become the longest-running contemporary art space in the country.[
In 1974, a new organisation named the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF) was created by members breaking away from CACSA, with the intention of focusing on "more radical, multi-disciplinary and performance work".][
In 1986 the organisation became incorporated, was renamed the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, and became a publicly-funded organisation which ran nationally and internationally significant exhibitions.][ It was one of Australia's most prominent contemporary art organisations, with its mission to "promote, develop and support contemporary art practice and critical thinking through South Australian, national and international exhibitions, publications, debate and associated activities".]Australia Council
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...
in the federal government budgets of 2014/15 and 2015/16. Arts SA provided funding for the two organisations to cover operational costs for 2017, which enabled planning for the merger, which was named ACE Open.
Publications
The CAS published the quarterly art journal known as ''Broadsheet'' from 1954.
Exhibitions
CACSA undertook regular large scale survey and multi-sited surveys of contemporary South Australian art as part of the CACSA Contemporary series, including CACSA Contemporary 2010: THE NEW NEW, CACSA CONTEMPORARY 2012: NEW SA ART + IBIDEM: PUBLIC ART PROJECT and CACSA Contemporary 2015. CASCA also provided a space to predominantly emerging and experimental arts practice as part of the Project Space exhibition program.
References
{{authority control
1942 establishments in Australia
Art museums established in 1942
Arts in Adelaide