West Space Studio

West Space provides a fully subsidised studio above our gallery and office, alongside the intergenerational community of artists in Collingwood Yards.

Established in 2023, our Studio Program offers mentorship from our team and opportunities to present work, meet curators and collaborators.

Now

Aarti Jadu & Claire de Carteret

From a background of group devotional singing and folk tradition, Aarti Jadu seeks to integrate participatory work into contemporary composition and interactive works of art. Claire de Carteret is a ceramicist exploring clay chemistry, technologies, and resonating sculptural form.

Aarti and Claire are using the Studio to collaborate. Their practices converge in sound and ceramics, experimenting with the ways these materials work together to cultivate intimacy, subjective interpretation and reflection.

Their residency culminates with a new body of work presented across The place we do not know is the place we are looking for and the West Space Project Room at the Melbourne Art Fair, 20 → 23 February 2025.

Previous

Andrea Illés

Andrea Illés was awarded a residency as part of our partnership with the Victorian College of the Arts.

Across performance, text, sound, and video, her auto portraits explore the relational chasm between self and other, stemming from the agony and the euphoria she feels being perceived.

From her studio, Andrea participated in Stranger than fiction with a performance viewable in person and live-streamed in the gallery and on our personal devices.

Tintin Cooper

Tintin Cooper was on residency at West Space as part of Creative Australia's international program, the Debra Porch Visual Arts Residency.

Based between Bangkok, Thailand and Berlin, Germany, Tintin has shown across the Tate Britain and the Sydney and Bangkok Biennales. Across video, painting and sculpture, Tintin uses humour to explore sport, nationhood, internet culture, and pseudo-spirituality.

Tintin presented Black Magic (screensaver edition) in the West Space Window and an artist talk on meme culture as it appears in her practice.

"The West Space residency was one of the best professional experiences I’ve had.

The team went above and beyond in their support. They introduced me to galleries, artists, academics, and curators, and provided a space to create and show work in an intellectually and artistically stimulating environment. They cared deeply not just for me as an artist, but for the local community, wider society, and the issues facing them.

The insights and relationships I gained at West Space will shape my future creative projects, and grow connections between Thailand and Australia." — Tintin Cooper

Melissa Nguyen

Melissa Nguyen was the inaugural West Space artist in residence, awarded a studio in partnership with Melbourne University's Victorian College of the Arts Honours Program.

Working in painting and print-based media, Melissa explores translation and artifice as creative methodology.

Melissa's residency culminated with the presentation of a new new the West Space Window, Water Street by Night, accompanied by an essay by West Space Volunteer Annabel Brown.

Who is in the Collingwood Yards studios? Meet them here.