Thumbnail and Banner Image: After Walter Hopps, 2024, Ben Hoffman
AFTER WALTER HOPPS 2025
SAT 11 OCT—THU 11 DEC
Installation: WED 8 OCT–FRI 10 OCT | 9.00AM–9.00PM [Aim to submit your work before 8.30PM to allow time for installation]
Installation Workshop: WED 8 OCT | 10.30AM–1.00PM with Lucy Allinson & Amber Smith
Opening event: Geelong’s ROAM festival on SAT 11 OCT, 4.00PM—10.00PM
FREE TO ATTEND
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Standard hours:
Monday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Tuesday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Wednesday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Thursday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm
Saturday 10.00am - 3.00pm
Sunday closed
Note: there are special hours for accompanying events. Please see each event webpage.
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Platform Arts is wheelchair-accessible via our Gheringhap St entrance. Unlocked, accessible bathrooms are available on both ground and first floors.
For accessibility enquiries, please directly contact us at hello@platformarts.org.au
‘I'm not just interested in artists who are deservedly famous,’ [or] the gallery's ‘right person.’ ‘Some people I've shown will never be; that doesn't make their art less interesting to me.’ — Walter Hopps
This October—December, Platform Arts hands over creative control of its curated gallery program with After Walter Hopps. Over three days, anyone can bring in new or existing works to be installed on a first-come, first-served basis in a fast-paced curatorial experiment. An open-call exhibition, After Walter Hopps’ overall aim is to fill the gallery from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, in a show that takes shape cumulatively, expansively, and with community at its center.
This exhibition is inspired by Walter Hopps' 36 Hours project, held in 1978 at the Museum of Temporary Art (MOTA) in Washington, USA. In this seminal curatorial experiment, Hopps accepted—and hung—all work delivered to the gallery by local people within a 36-hour window.
A renowned agitator, non-conformist, and maverick curator, Hopps radically removed restrictions enforced in institutional settings, opening it up for civic reclamation. Platform Arts will accept any artworks that can fit through the gallery doors* and aims to create a local and expanded arts environment that encourages experimentation, creative risk, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and constructive chaos.
Operating in reverse from the standard exhibition format of fixed works and a preview, After Walter Hopps will open with an empty gallery space, and will culminate in a conclusive hang and opening party as part of Geelong’s ROAM festival on Saturday 11 October, 4.00pm to 10.00pm.
Platform Arts Senior Curator, Amber Smith, and installer, Lucy Allinson, will be in the gallery installing the works from 9.00am to 9.00pm, Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 October.
*For more details on installation requirements please see the tab below or download the pdf.
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Wednesday Oct 8, 2025
Platform Arts opens 9.00 AM-9.00 PM
Installation Workshop: 10.30 AM-1.00 PM with Lucy Allinson & Amber Smith
Gallery Staff accepting submissions from 9.00 AM - 8.30 PM
Aim to be in the gallery by 8.00 PM to allow ample time for processing
Thursday Oct 9, 2025
Platform Arts open 9.00 AM-9.00 PM
Gallery Staff accepting submissions from 9.00 AM-8.30 PM
Aim to be in the gallery by 8.00 PM to allow ample time for processing
Friday Oct 10, 2025
Platform Arts open 9.00 AM-9.00 PM
Gallery Staff accepting submissions from 9.00 AM - 8.30 PM
Aim to be in the gallery by 8.00 PM to allow ample time for processing
Saturday Oct 11, 2025
After Walter Hopps opens as part of ROAM Geelong: 4.00 PM-10.00 PM
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This is an open call exhibition. Artworks will be accepted on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. To ensure your work is included, please submit as early as possible within the three-day window. Artworks will be installed in Gallery One, located on the bottom level of Platform Arts. Platform Arts is located in the Old Courthouse building, on the corner of Gheringhap and Little Malop Street, Geelong.
Ensure you arrive at the gallery with your artwork during our 36-hour installation period, spread across 3 x 12-hour days: Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th, and Friday 10th October, from 9.00 AM—9.00 PM each day.
Please aim to be at the gallery by 8.30pm latest to allow for processing and installation.
Artwork Specifications:
Each artist is allowed one submission
Accepted artwork submissions:
Wall-mounted works: We recommend a single work that is approximately 1.5m2 maximum or a single collection of 2-6 small works. Platform Arts reserves the right to advise of what there is space for at the time of submission
Sculpture: Please contact us prior to installation if larger than .05m2 via curator@platformarts.org.au
Sizing: Please be considerate that this is a group exhibition. Please refrain from bringing in multiple large-scale works, as this increases the chance that your work will not be accepted due to space limitations
Multiple Artwork Submissions: Only one artwork submission will be accepted. If an artwork is part of a series, artists must select one work. If an artwork is a diptych, or triptych, etc, it is best to liaise with the curator when submitting the work
Materials: Artworks must not contain dangerous and/or hazardous materials or present a tripping hazard. Please run through this with our curator and installer, and provide a materials list on your artwork label when submitting
Submission Requirements:
Your artwork must be install-ready to be considered ‘finished’, which means being able to hang or install the work without the need for additional tools or hardware.
Preparation of work:
Artwork Labelling: Artist name, artwork title, date of creation, material/s used, and price must be clearly labelled on the back. Unlabeled works may be excluded at the gallery's discretion
For paintings and 2D works, you must have d-rings and/or wire already on the artwork. You can find these at your local hardware store. See here and here.* Due to logistics, we will reject work that is not install-ready
3D works must be stable enough to be installed on a plinth or flat surface, or have an installation mechanism/support supplied by the artist
Exception: If your work is unframed and/or on paper, the gallery has ‘magnarts’ available. Alternatively, you can opt to have these pinned or nailed — please pre-install tabs on the corners of your work if you would like us to use these
Other types of works must be discussed with our staff prior to installation
All artwork must not be wet or unfinished
Content Restrictions: Platform Arts reserves the right to refuse works that are offensive, defamatory, or discriminatory
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Delivery and Installation
Bringing your finished artwork into Gallery One, Platform Arts:
Artists will be asked to fill out a digital form to identify their work, set their sale price (if selling their work), and provide contact details
Artists can communicate their installation needs to Platform Arts staff
Staff will be installing the works by order of receipt as a 'salon hang'
If artists have a large piece of artwork preapproved, it is advised that they arrive on Wednesday to ensure that there is space to hang it. Due to the ad hoc nature of this curatorial experiment, we cannot guarantee at any time that there will be an appropriately sized space for your work
Due to the dynamic and ever-changing gallery environment, artists are encouraged to be flexible and open-minded about how their work is installed
Sculptural work will be installed on our selection of gallery plinths
Works will be installed around those already installed in the space. The installation staff will take care not to obscure, cover, or damage another person's artwork
If you have a particularly complex hang or you want to discuss installation requirements for your work, please contact our Senior Curator: curator@platformarts.org.au
Due to the volume of expected entries, please be prepared to wait in line. We cannot guarantee a wait time, so please be flexible with this
Media files:
If you are submitting a media work, please bring it in on a USB as an MP4 or H.264 file
Media works are capped at 5 minutes duration and 2GB in size. These will be strictly adhered to**
You will need to leave your USB with us for the duration of the exhibition, and you can collect it at the conclusion of the exhibition
Video works will be played in the Performance Space on the opening night, and then on our Foyer TV for the duration of the exhibition
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Sale of works:
Artists can choose to list their works for sale
To keep the submission process free, Platform Arts will take a 30% commission on all artwork sales. This is to contribute to the installation staffing costs, marketing, party activities, and administration costs
GST Responsibility: Artists are responsible for managing and remitting their own GST where applicable
The artist indemnifies Platform Arts against any damage that may occur during the exhibition of their works and understands that Platform takes all possible precautions to ensure the safety of all exhibited pieces
Purchasing works:
Works will not be reserved until payment is made via Platform Arts
For works priced over $1000, we require a 50% deposit to reserve the work, which is non-refundable
Balance must be paid within two weeks, or the artwork will be returned to the artist. These terms are not negotiable and are in place to encourage legitimate purchases and protect artists from forfeited reservations of their work
Purchased works will be immediately labelled with a sold sticker, but must remain installed for the exhibition's duration
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Walter "Chico" Hopps (May 3, 1932 – March 20, 2005) was an influential American curator, gallerist, and museum director known for his groundbreaking work in contemporary art. He played a key role in elevating postwar Los Angeles artists in the 1960s and later transformed curatorial and exhibition practices on a global scale. As noted by Roberta Smith in The New York Times, he was instrumental in establishing “the museum as a place to show new art.”
