ADELAIDE.- Adelaide Contemporary Experimental announced Kaspar Schmidt Mumm as the recipient of the 2023 Porter Street Commission.

Now in its third year, the Porter Street Commission annually awards $20,000 to a South Australian artist at any stage of their career to create an ambitious new work to be presented as a solo exhibition at ACE in the following year.

Born in Germany and raised in Adelaide with Colombian, Pakistani and Canadian heritage, Kaspar Schmidt Mumm is a third generation immigrant whose motivation to make art stems from his experience of displacement and desire to develop an artistic language that crosses cultural borders. Through collaborative action, Schmidt Mumm looks to construct systems for exploring the complexity of multiculturalism, presenting events that blur the lines of protest, community gathering and ceremony. Interested in both traditional and obscure venues, Schmidt Mumm has exhibited in galleries, streets, abandoned buildings, theatres and clubs around the world, including Dark MOFO (Hobart), Darwin Festival and The Lab (Adelaide), as well as delivering workshops with the Gunbalanya community in Arnhem Land.

The Porter Street Commission will see Schmidt Mumm combine puppetry, papier mâché, woodwork, upholstery, singing, improvisation and social theatre to deliver a large-scale participatory sculpture; the fourth and most fantastic iteration of his large-scale puppet heads. The new work will be presented as a keynote solo exhibition in ACE’s 2023 artistic program.

“I am incredibly proud to receive the Porter Street Commission, and the proposed work is my most ambitious yet. As someone who has been keenly involved in Adelaide's contemporary arts, I have imagined myself exhibiting in Adelaide Contemporary Experimental for over a decade,” says Kaspar.

Applications for the 2023 Porter Street Commission were considered by a selection panel composed of ACE’s Artistic Director Patrice Sharkey; Daria de Beauvais (Senior Curator at Palais de Tokyo, Paris); and Micheal Do (Curator, contemporary art at the Sydney Opera House, Australia; curator of Projects at Auckland Art Fair, New Zealand; and Curator of 'Primavera: Young Australian Artists 2022' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia).

2023 Porter Street Commission Selection Panel Statement: “We welcomed the opportunity to engage with a range of South Australian practitioners, noting the significant number of proposals that prioritised a thoughtfulness about our relationship to others.

We were especially taken by Kaspar's absurdist, comical approach to art making, widely drawing connections to the art of puppetry, human rituals and the online world of Tik Tok. Centered around participatory sculpture, Kaspar's new work provides a distinct and exciting opportunity to bring live art programming into the ACE gallery.