Michael Stevenson

Fine Arts, Sydney is presenting an exhibition of new and recent work by Michael Stevenson.

Michael Stevenson’s sculptures, paintings, films, and installations are storytelling in material form. Stevenson’s numerous bodies of work over the past four decades have tended to each focus on narratives that speak to particular sets of ideologies and worldviews. Stepping back and considering the whole of his practice, one may observe Stevenson’s consistent and persistent approach to contemporary art as a visual repository for the stories we believe and tell ourselves, and each other.

Often Stevenson takes us to the topics of charity and philanthropy. He has explored these topics within the context of the arts economy widely, but here in the body of work comprising ‘Mind’s Eye’ he brings focus to a quantitative perspective that is more indifferent to the arts. A prominent contemporary example of this is ‘Effective Altruism’ (EA for short).

Australians Peter Singer and Toby Ord, along with Nick Bostrom, Will MacAskill and the late Derek Parfit count amongst the philosophers who have most shaped Effective Altruism. EA has built a 21st century movement in academia and, more recently, within a wider community of influential individuals and organisations in the tech sector. Proponents describe EA as a lifestyle, a reasoned approach to figuring out how to benefit others as much as possible: maximising happiness, minimising suffering or, more catchily, ‘doing good better’. EA is a broad church - some projects address immediate public health concerns, some advocate for animal rights while others strongly embrace existential risk and the long-term survival of the human species. Thought experiments - imaginary events that take place in the mind’s eye - appear throughout EA material as guiding stories, they enshrine and reinforce their evolving principles, beliefs, and values.

This new exhibition at Fine Arts, Sydney comprises paintings and sculptures. In form and subject these artworks appear as milestones, curious turning points in the evolution of Effective Altruism, and a contemporary reflection on faith, hope, and charity.

There are six new paintings. These began life in the mind’s eye as thought experiments popularised on EA forums. The paintings are made by etching figurative linear compositions into the surface of stretched fabric. In their didactic yet effective and economic compositional style they owe a debt to the influential theological illustrations of Annie Vallotton. For this exhibition they are displayed in array on a six-screen monitor stand.

Stevenson’s sculptures are a number of soft malleable objects or ‘beanbags’, each a cubic metre in size. Their fabric covers are etched with graphic and language content lifted from the cached website of recently-defunct EA-aligned philanthropic organisation, ‘Future Fund’. The invitation is to sit – recline – re-shape the words and re-form the stories in a haptic experience on the gallery floor.

Michael Stevenson has exhibited extensively in Australasia, Europe, and North America since the 1980s. Solo exhibitions dedicated to surveying Stevenson’s work have been held at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin in 2021 and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney in 2011. Stevenson represented New Zealand at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. His work is held by esteemed museum collections worldwide. Stevenson has lived and worked in Berlin, Germany since 2000. He lived and worked in Australia throughout the 1990s, before which he was based in New Zealand. He is professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nürnberg, Germany.

This is Michael Stevenson’s third exhibition with Fine Arts, Sydney.

Please contact the gallery directly for further information.