Regional Arts Triennial – Radical Futures
The Regional Arts Triennial is a statewide program of exhibitions and creative events showcasing artists, stories and cultural voices from regional Western Australia. Held every three years, it celebrates local identity while building connection, visibility and opportunity for regional arts communities.
The third iteration of the Regional Arts Triennial, Radical Futures, explores the role of the arts as a catalyst for change in times of collapse. Focusing on collective imagination and drawing upon the concept of aesthetic force, Radical Futures reveals aspirations for tomorrow, across what is now known as regional Western Australia.
In order to envision a collective future, we must first engage with our understanding of the past and present. Building upon the legacy of the Triennials’ past iterations— The Alternative Archive, which explored historical cultural capital, and Open Borders, which interrogated contemporary barriers— Radical Futures continues this trajectory, looking beyond the present to create aspirational visions for the future of the regions.
Free from claustrophobic high-rises, traffic jams and suburban sprawl, regional artists have the unique ability to finely attune to the world around them. With lived experience of nuanced challenges and a deep understanding of community aspirations, no one is better equipped to envision a local future that transcends current limitations. This attunement provides a solid foundation upon which to build imaginative infrastructure (Oldham, 2021).
Through the visionary works presented within Radical Futures, regional artists engage in collaboration and collective imagining of more equitable, sustainable futures. Their creations highlight the potential for transformation within ourselves and our communities, with each artform serving as an invitation to reflect deeply on the future—and perhaps choose an alternative path forward(Lewis, 2014).
In these unprecedented times that researcher Otto Scharmer describes as extravagantly incongruent to sustainable futures; the arts play a crucial role in both recognising ancient ways of being and inspiring necessary shifts of change for future survival. For those far removed from their ancestral wisdom, the future may seem as unprecedented as the present. For those who against all odds, maintain ancient practice as a way of being; an aspirational future may seem familiar and natural.
A returning.
In this poem by Kirli Saunders (2023), we are reminded of the cyclical, grounding nature of returning to ancestral wisdom—a practice that informs many of the works in Radical Futures, which engage directly with the past, present, and future in a continuous dialogue:
Old Ways,
Kin,
Country,
Community,
and through them —
back to me.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition Open: 18 September – 6 December 2026
Supported By: Regional Arts Triennial
Header Image: John Curtin Gallery, Open Borders 2023, image Brad Coleman
