John Gillies is one of Australia’s leading video artists — creating works for installation, screening and live events. His work has been shown extensively in national and international galleries, museums and festivals. His relationship with Performance Space spans almost 30 years ranging from audience member to board member to teacher/facilitator and from live musician to video installation artist.

As a practicing artist and as a teacher at the College of Fine Arts, John appreciates the importance of understanding and connecting lineages of practice. He sees Performance Space’s work in bringing together different generations of artists in production and presentation as key to building culture, which is why he is keen to participate at all levels of the organisation – practically and strategically.

“I got angry when we almost lost Performance Space in the late 90’s… I felt that if I turned around, I might look back and it’d be gone. I believe people need to have a sense of the role of arts organisations in the culture of the city. So I was happy to join the Board – it’s enjoyable, productive and important to participate in.”