SEEDFUND Residency – Alycia Bennett & Tara Pattenden
Interactive media, instrument-making, sound and performance, Bennett and Pattenden meet here for the first time.
In collaboration with Metro Arts and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) Gallery, this SEEDFUND residency connects Adelaide-based artist Alycia Bennett and Brisbane-based artist Tara Pattenden, offering time, space, resourcing and curatorial support to develop new ideas through process-led experimentation.
This also marks the beginning of an ongoing collaboration between Metro Arts (Brisbane) and ACE (Adelaide), building a shared platform for artists to develop ambitious, experimental work across contexts.
The first phase of the residency takes place at Metro Arts and will culminate in an open studio presentation of works in progress, with the residency continuing later in 2026 in Adelaide at ACE Gallery.
OPEN STUDiO
During their creative residency, Alycia Bennett and Tara Pattenden are holding an open studio on Thursday, 9 April, inviting the community in for a charged, live showing of works-in-progress, as they share the first steps of their collaboration and experimentation.
Find out more and RSVP on the event page here.
SEEDFUND RESIDENCY
SEED Residencies are a new program for Metro Arts in 2026. Developed in response to artist consultation and shifts within the broader arts ecosystem, the program offers low-stakes, short-term support, giving artists the freedom to pursue more grassroots, experimental, smaller-scale creative explorations that don’t have the expectation of full performance or exhibition seasons.
These residencies provide space, stipends, and a materials/event budget, alongside access to Metro Arts’ Creative Leadership team for consultation and conversation. Artists will also be supported to share small-scale public outcomes as part of the residency.
Some of our SEED residencies are being delivered in partnership with arts organisations that are equally committed to the creative development of artists, offering collaborative future pathways for works that show further potential.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alycia Bennett & Tara Pattenden’s SEEDFUND Residency is a collaboration between Metro Arts and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE).
Image Credits:
Banner image: Left – Alycia Bennett. Photo by Christopher Arblaster. Right – Tara Pattenden. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Tara Pattenden Headshot: Courtesy of the Artist.
Alycia Bennett Headshot: Courtesy of the Artist.
Alycia Bennett
Alycia Bennett (aka Anoname) is a multi-displinary artist based on Kaurna Land. Bennett is a graduate of Adelaide Central School of Art with Honours 2017. Their works spans across social practice, relational performance, tapestries, installation, sculpture, video and sound. Bennett’s practice investigates ideas surrounding commodification of bodies, surveillance, public and private space, and re-distribution of class and power. Their practice is informed by ideas of autonomy, self-sustaining communities and non-institutional learning. Bennett has exhibited locally/internationally; Guildhouse ARTWORKS, Art Informal (Philippines), ACE, Sister Gallery, Holy Rollers, FELTSpace, Format, Floating Goose, Incinerator Gallery, Watch This Space, and co-facilitated a number of activities in non-traditional spaces, and is Co-director of Adelaide ARI Sharehouse.
Tara Pattenden
Tara Pattenden is an artist and creative technologist working with tactile electronic instruments, programming, time based media and performance. She is the founder of Cyber Palace, a studio for creative technology workshops and Cyber Bunker, a project space for experimental practice in Meanjin. Tara is a PhD candidate at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, her project combines wearables with participatory practices to discover how costume-based, audience-worn instruments – with visually impactful and intuitive electronic interfaces – can enhance engagement and expression for coauthored audience engagement during participatory sound works.