Nadia Odlum was a finalist for the 2023 NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging), an initiative of Artspace and Create NSW, hosted at Carriageworks. As part of the program, six finalists – Maddison Gibbs, Morgan Hogg, Nadia Odlum, EJ Son, Natalie Quan Yau Tso and Min Wong – exhibited recent work in a group exhibition. The recipient of the fellowship prize was Morgan Hogg.
The works in this exhibition form part of Nadia Odlum’s exploration of the potential of ‘play’ to create moments of rupture that loosen the restrictions of urban space. In 2022 Odlum's investigation of historical examples of playable sculpture led them to the work of Isamu Noguchi, and his Playscape in Atlanta, USA. Over a period of three days Odlum observed public engagement with Noguchi’s ‘Play Cubes’, documenting play cycles and social interactions in a series of drawings and paintings. Presented amidst a sculptural installation this work becomes a prompt and a record of the ways art can enable playful exploration of urban space.
