In 2024 PICA inaugurated two new studio programs. The Company-in-Residence program is a three-year residency for a WA arts company and invites solidarity and sector collaboration by sharing resources, ideas and spaces.

While the Hyper Local program is a six-month residency for a WA artist that shares space and resources to allow for the development and realisation of major projects or new bodies of work. 

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Tonight you can hear from both artists in residence. Open Studio is an event where you can meet current Company-in-Residence, pvi collective and current Hyper Local studio artist, JC.

They will be in conversation with OUTinPerth co-editor Graeme Watson. pvi and JC will discuss their current projects and processes, they’ll be food and drinks, and it’s an opportunity to celebrate PICA’s growing arts ecology, bringing together artists from all disciplines to explore new ideas and experiment with their practice. 

pvi collective is an experimental art group who create darkly playful participatory artworks and interventions. They are currently working on an immersive roleplaying adventure about the future of activism titled ‘booster.’

‘booster’ invites audiences to take to the streets and time travel their way across global social movements throughout history, experiencing moments of rupture and refusal that went on to change the world as we know it. ‘booster’ aims to empower audiences to speculate on the future we want to have and collectivise a pathway towards it. 

JC’s project uses augmented reality (AR) technologies that presence queer histories in Perth’s public spaces. Drawing on the WestPride Archives (formerly GALAWA, the Gay And Lesbian Archive of Western Australia) and oral histories of their elders and peers, they will develop virtual sculptures (including avatars) placed around select locations in Perth that are significant to its queer community. 

The Studios and galleries will be open from 5pm, and the artists talks will take place at 6pm, with the whole event wrapping up at 7.30pm.

It’s a great chance to check out PICA’s current exhibitions L’ombre de ton ombre (The shadow of your shadow) by Paul Knight, and Heavy Grit by Jack Ball. Both are connected to the LGBTIQA+ communities.

Get all the details.

Graeme Watson has previously been an employee of pvi collective.