About
Ben Taranto’s practice is driven by his interest (and grief) in the accelerated engineering and fabrication of the planet’s environments. His practice is a conversation between art and geosciences, asking the viewer to consider the human condition with built, natural, and virtual environments. His sculpture and installation practice is embedded in environmental, political, and social activism.
In conversation with Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Land Art/Earth Works, he uses sculpture and installations of steel, concrete, glass, and moving images to respond to human activity above and below the land and waterways in an attempt to understand how we perceive, relate, and connect to our constructed habitats.
Taranto is additionally the Director and Founder of Fyreside Arts (based in Coffs Harbour) and Melbourne Art Assist, which draw reference from his experience with installation, fabrication and public art.
Taranto recognises his practice as existing within the Anthropocene and Colonial/Capitalist eras when modern humans improperly care for people and country - the land, oceans, and waterways. He acknowledges our heavy alteration of the land, our endless accumulation of waste, the shifting of large amounts of earth, the clearing of whole forests, the drying up of entire river systems, and the rapid disappearance of species from oceans, seas, and rivers globally. He draws hesitant inspiration from our monumental impacts on local species, climates, and ecosystems.
BEN TARANTO
Born in Darug County/Sydney in 1979 Ben lives and works across Gumbaynggirr Country and Naarm/Melbourne on Wurundjeri Country, Eastern Kulin Nation
Education
2010 Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art (Sculpture), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
Public Art and Commissions
2018 T I M E L A P S E D # 1, MoreArt Public Arts Festival, Moreland Area, Brunswick, Australia
2017 Memory Palace, Campbell Arcade Art Space, Melbourne, Australia. Curated by Jake Treacy
2015 The Art of Repurposing, MoreArt Public Arts Festival, Moreland Area, Melbourne, Australia
2011 Urban Matter, with Cherie Winter, Gilligan Grant Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2010 Victoria Harbour Young Artists Initiative, Docklands, Melbourne, Australia.
2009 Sample Window, Platform Artist Group, Campbells Arcade, Melbourne, Australia
2009 Victoria Harbour Young Artists Initiative, Docklands, Melbourne, Australia.
Projection Art
2020 MicroGalleries Global Projection Festival, Amman, Jordan. Curated by Kat Roma Greer
2016 Gertrude Street Projection Festival, City of Yarra, Melbourne, Australia
2016 MicroGalleries Global Projection Festival, Graz, Austria. Curated by Kat Roma Greer
2016 Water Level, Frankston Art Centre, Frankston, Melbourne, Australia
2015 Greville St Projection Festival, Prahan, Melbourne, Vic, Australia. Curated by Kym Ortenburg
2015 Sea Inside Me, The Black Gallery, Vaasa, Finland. With Mirva Vittaniemi and Mathias Nystrand
2015 Paradise Cinema, Paradise Festival, Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, Australia
2015 MicroGalleries Global Projection Festival, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Curated by Kat Roma Greer
2014 Gertrude Street Projection Festival, City of Yarra, Melbourne, Australia. Curated by Kym Ortenburg
2013 Gertrude Street Projection Festival, City of Yarra, Melbourne, Australia. Curated by Kym Ortenburg
2013 Blue Space V, Seventh Gallery Night Screen, Melbourne, Australia
Grants | Awards | Prizes
2021 Creative Victoria, Creative Learning Partnerships, Australia
2020 Creative Victoria, Sustaining Creative Workers, Australia
2017 Public Art Grant, MoreArt Festival, Moreland City Council, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Shortlisted, $750K public sculpture commissioned by Mirvac and City of Melbourne, Australia
2010 Fresh! Graduate Exhibition Award, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2010 Yarra City Community Arts Grant, Melbourne, Australia
2010 Ironside Emerging Artist Studio Award, Ironside Studios, Melbourne, Australia
2010 Graduate Award for Sculpture, VCA, School of Art, Australia
2010 Wallara Travelling Scholarship $10K Prize, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Publications
2021 | notfair | 2021, Audio, visual and printed guide: Audio Visual Guide 2021
2017 Centre for the Projection Art: www.centreforprojectionart.com.au
2016 Kent Wilson, The Image and the Imagination, Imagined Worlds catalogue, Hawthorn, Australia
2016 Tamara Heath, Glass art reflects the world, Moreland Leader, Melbourne, Australia, June 27th
2015 Peter Reynolds, Turning trash into treasured art pieces, Moreland Leader, Melbourne, Nov 6th
2014 Dan Rule, Exhibitions trace human footprint, Arts, The Age, Melbourne, Australia, August 29th
2014 Coverage I exhibition catalogue, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Carmen Reid, Social Resonance exhibition catalogue, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Australia
2012 Simone Slee (ed), Rising: Victoria Harbour Young Artist Initiative, School of Art, VCA, Australia
Exhibitions
2022 Coffs Coast Art Prize, Coffs Harbour, Australia
2022 Shaped, Craft Victoria, Australia, Curator Sarah Weston
2021 | notfair | An alternate Art Fair, Former Kardinia Church, Windsor, Australia
2019 28 Beasts, Art event and exhibition, Brunswick East, Australia. Co-curated with Jake Treacy
2017 Noel Counihan Commemorative Art Award, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2016 Expanded Gaze, with Betra Fraval, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne, Australia
2016 Stratum, c3 Contemporary Gallery, Abbottsford Convent, Abbottsford, Melbourne, Australia
2016 Imagined Worlds, The Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Australia
2014 Art Award 2014: Art Concerning Environment, Scope Galleries, Warrnambool, Australia
2013 Resonant Residents with Dominic and Leo Kavanagh, Conduit Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Closing Season Exhibition, Sa Taronja Cultural Association, Andratx, Majorca, Spain
Solo Exhibitions
2016 Expanding Australia, Frankston Art Centre, Frankston, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Coverage II, Brunswick Arts, Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Coverage I, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Curated by Debbie Pryor
2014 Resonance, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia. Curated by Victor Griss
Arts Industry Contributions
2022 – present Founded FYRESIDE ARTS, Artspace and Art Services: www.fyresidearts.com
2015 – present Founded Melbourne Art Assist, Art Services: www.melbourneartassist.com
2014 – 2022 Installation Technician, Craft Victoria
2014 – 2020 Installation Technician, National Exhibition Touring Support (NETS)
2016 – 2020 Installation Technician, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA)
2014 – 2017 Installation Technician National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)
Residencies
