Tess Maunder

Tess Maunder is a curator, author, and publishing executive. Based in Melbourne, Australia; Maunder has championed projects, relationships, and strategic plans between Australia and the US, China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. She is invested in bridging intellectual differences; highlighting the beauty of multiplicity and holding the industry accountable for producing quality work. She currently works as Executive Manager for Art Ink Publishing and Vault art and culture magazine; where she is spearheading a new imprint for delivery in late 2020. Maunder believes that the curatorial cannot ignore the financial liquidity that supports it, and she argues for greater economic transparency in curatorial ventures. She is also a believer that 'the curatorial' is an attitude, a political position, and personal rhetoric. The curatorial is not defined by form; i.e. exhibitions, but rather should be approached as a greater philosophical scope on life; where artists are integrated into a wide spectrum of activity. Prior to her current publishing role; she held a range of institutional and guest invitational positions. In 2016-2017 she worked as a Curatorial Collegiate for the 11th Shanghai Biennale curatorial team, led by Chief Curators: Raqs Media Collective. The biennale is called Why Not Ask Again? ran from 11 November 2016 – 12 March 2017 at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, China. In 2016, Maunder was awarded the prestigious MPavilion / Art Monthly Australasia Writing Award, where she will be presenting and publishing writing about Australian Indigenous artist Archie Moore. She is a founding Co-Director of the trans-national editorial initiative: Approximating, between New Delhi, Yogyakarta, Manila and Brisbane. Her recent independent curatorial projects include the Curator of Anywhere Elsewhere at Jan Murphy Gallery, (2015) Brisbane, Co-Curator of the exhibition: Herding Islands session: Intervention, Reaction and Violence, conceived by Renan Laru-an at the University of the Philippines, (2015) Manila, and the Curator of the Subtropic Complex at the Institute of Modern Art (2014), Brisbane. Recent curatorial workshops, training, and conferences that she has participated in include Para Site’s workshop for young professionals (2016) in Hong Kong, The Australia India Youth Dialogue (2016) in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mohali, 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art’s Curators Intensive (2014) Sydney, the 5th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course with Maria Lind (2013) in Gwangju and the Independent Curators International (ICI) Curatorial Intensive: What Does It Mean To Be International? held at Mori Art Museum (2013) in Tokyo. Prior to joining the Shanghai Biennale Curatorial team, Maunder worked in a programming capacity at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. In 2017, Maunder undertook curatorial research during a funded residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York.