ACAB attempt to rethink human actions and impulses: for instance, rather than attempting control over our environmental fate, the human hand could choose to act as a catalyst for change. An environmental crisis for one organism might be the next big break for another (as an asteroid was for the dinosaurs). Their practice uses material exploration to contextualise these changes and is an attempt towards a crucible for positive change. Through synthesis of accumulated materials and the play of light; our works aim to activate this change in perception.
ACAB collective is Zinzi Kennedy & Ben Johanson, both graduates from Monash University who are based in Melbourne. ACAB produce installations and sculptures that manipulate light whilst reinventing locally sourced materials. ACAB was recently showcased in SafARI Festival, Sydney and in the odradekAEAF, Adelaide. ACAB were awarded the People’s Choice Award as part of the Substation Art Prize in 2012; 2nd Place in Sculpture in the Vineyards 2014; and the Cooks River Alliance Small Sculpture Award as part of the Greenway Art Prize in 2015.
2017:
- Untitled solo show (confirmed) - Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia Project Space, Parkside, SA
2016:
- IS THIS ART? At 'Create or Die' (Marrickville) as part of the Spectrum Now Festival - dLux MediaArts, NSW
2015:
- GreenWay Art Prize curated by Christiane Keys-Statham - Art Est. Art School & Gallery Leichhardt, NSW
- Sculpture in the Vineyards - Wollombi Wines Hunter Vallery, NSW
- Hefty Fab curated by Christiane Keys-Statham - Cessnock Regional Art Gallery & Old Fire Station Hunter Valley, NSW
2014:
- Neon Playground Strawberry Fields - Festival Tocumwal, NSW
- Sculpture in the Vineyards - Undercliffe Winery Hunter Valley, NSW
- Artists Emerge @ WTC curated by Andy Dinan - World Trade Centre in association with Mars Gallery Melbourne CBD, VIC
- Entry Exit Points curated by Matthew Perkins - Glen Eira Council Gallery Glen Eira, VIC
- All At Once, All Of The Time curated by Stacy Jewell, Elysheva Elsass, Nick Rebstadt - RMIT Design Hub Carlton, VIC
- safARI Festival curated by Liz Nowell & Christiane Keys-Statham - Conductors Project Musum & St. James Station, SYD
- In + Out curated by Project QUAD - Brightspace St Kilda, VIC
2013:
- Modern Ruin curated by Aaron Martin & Michael Brennan - The Substation Newport, VIC
- Fruitless Archeology - Five Walls Footscray, VIC
- New Pyramids - New Low Carlton, VIC
2012:
- GastroPorn - NG Art Gallery Chippendale, NSW
- Beams Arts Festival - NG Gallery Chippendale, NSW
- The Substation Contemporary Art Prize - The Substation Newport, VIC
- Brisbane Festival's Under the Radar program Metro Arts - Brisbane CBD, QLD
- Thoroughfare Platform Public Contemporary Art Spaces - Melbourne CBD, VIC
- The Rave Cave with live performance at the Vanishing Point Contemporary Art Inc - Newtown, NSW
- exURBAN Screens Festival curated by Matthew Perkins - Frankston City Council, Frankston CBD, VIC
- No thing after another - Trocadero Art Space Footscray, VIC
Publications:
2014:
- safARI 2014 Catalogue, Liz Nowell & Christiane Keys-Statham
- Arkin Magazine, #2, 'ACAB Collective' feauture piece on New Pyramids
2013:
- Modern Ruin Catalogue, Aaron Martin & Michael Brennan
- Central Highlands Art Atlas, 'Collaboration in the Visual Arts' Willson, Kent
2012:
- Acclaim Issue 27, 'ACAB Collective: Inanimate Intimacy' Miralles, Christine
