Duty of Care unpacks and explores ideas of care. Care is a murky notion. It is entangled with ugly feelings of obligation and burden, exhaustion and sacrifice. It is sometimes a mask for coercion and control. It has also been co-opted by commerce as a marketing tool, rebranded and repackaged as wellness and self care. Curated by Stephanie Berlangieri, Angela Goddard, and Robert Leonard, Duty of Care is a joint project by Griffith University Art Museum and the Institute of Modern Art, consisting of two exhibitions and a one-day symposium.

The symposium’s key speaker is Catherine Liu, Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class (2021). Her presentation will explore the rise of public caring and self-presentation in the age of austerity and social media, examining how the aestheticisation of private life has shaped the role of artists and public culture. It will also address trauma and the role of art in forging social bonds through mediated forms of confession. Other speakers include Tara Heffernan, Joel Sherwood Spring, Charla Strelan, and Cassie Thornton.

The symposium will be followed by the official opening of Duty of Care: Part Two at Griffith University Art Museum, at 3.30pm.

9:30am
Registration opens

10am
Welcome to Country
Dr Robert Anderson OAM

10:15am
Introduction to Duty of Care
Stephanie Berlangieri, Angela Goddard, and Robert Leonard

10:30am
Trauma Culture: Public Spheres and Aesthetic Production in an Age of Managed Care
Catherine Liu

11:30am
The Hologram: Mutual Aid Practice for Producing Energy and Stability in Apocalyptic Times
Cassie Thornton (online)

12:00pm
Lunch catered by Ma Pa Me
Launch of Un Magazine 18.1: The Badaud, guest editor Tara Heffernan

1pm
Ten Treasures from the Marks-Hirschfeld Museum of Medical History
Charla Strelan, Curator, Marks-Hirschfeld Museum of Medical History

1:30pm
Settled
Joel Sherwood Spring

2pm
Badaud Culture and the False Promise of Accessibility
Tara Heffernan

2:30pm
Break

2:45pm
Plenary Discussion
Chaired by Samid Suliman 

3.30–5pm
Opening celebrations
Duty of Care: Part Two
Griffith University Art Museum