TCB Art Inc. is an artist-run gallery in Melbourne, Australia, dedicated to providing a space where young, emerging and established artists alike have the artistic freedom to explore, experiment and take risks within their practices.
The gallery was established in 1998 by artists Blair Trethowan, Sharon Goodwin and Thomas Deverall, who identified a vital need for a non-commercial, not-for-profit space in Melbourne’s CBD, which exposed the work of young and emerging artists to a wide audience. What has developed over twenty-four years of operation is a lo-fi, high-energy project which remains entirely volunteer-run. So far, TCB has been a platform and support to over seven hundred artists — from Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and internationally — many of whom presented their first solo exhibitions at the gallery.
In 2001, TCB moved from its original home in the Port Philip Arcade to Waratah Place in Chinatown. This space was shared with Uplands Gallery, a commercial space, an arrangement which saw the development of a unique relationship between the two modes of operation. During this time, TCB further consolidated its position within the community and gained invaluable experience in running the gallery.
In 2006, Uplands Gallery relocated to Prahran, allowing TCB the opportunity to occupy the entire Waratah Place site. This dramatic increase in floorspace provided much more flexibility for artists in terms of experimenting with scale, as well as creating the means for the gallery to present two exhibitions concurrently. In the mid-2010s, the gallery initiated a program of volunteer exhibition sitters.
2018 saw the gallery rent-hiked out from Melbourne’s CBD and move north, finding a new home in Wilkinson Street, Brunswick. After over a year of searching for a suitable, wheelchair-accessible building, TCB was able to secure a site with two exhibition spaces and eight independently operating studios. Despite several location shifts and a continually evolving collective of committee members and volunteer sitters, TCB has remained dedicated to providing a platform and support for emerging artists and curators, whilst continuing to run independently.
The gallery maintains environmentally sustainable practices throughout its operations and exists in part through the continuing support of its past members and supporters, who it would like to acknowledge and deeply thank.
TCB Art Inc. acknowledges the people of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which the gallery sits and operates, recognising their enduring connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to their Elders; past, present and emerging. We also acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.
TCB is run by a collective of volunteers who are all practicing artists, curators, writers and arts administrators.
Current TCB Board Members are:
Gabriella D’Costa, Camille Thomas, Ronen Jafari, Chris Madden, Michael Sandford, Joon Youn, Brigit Ryan, Isabella Hone-Saunders, Madeleine Minack, Luyuan Zhang, David Borg, and Alex Hobba.
Past Members:
Blair Trethowan, Sharon Goodwin, Thomas Deverall, Amanda Marburg, James Lynch, Karyn Lindner, Jarrod Kennedy, Fergus Binns, Kain Picken, Meg Hale, Warwick Edwards, Emma Dodd, Rob McHaffie, Pat Foster, Olivia Barrett, Rob McLeish, Amita Kirpalani, Kate Smith, Liang Luscombe, Simon McGlinn, Matthew Greaves, Lisa Radford, Patrice Sharkey, Noriko Nakamura, Anna Higgins, Debris Facility, Georgina Criddle, Lucina Lane, Ry Haskings, Christo Crocker, Lucreccia Quintanilla, Charles O’Loughlin, Casey Jeffery, Tamsen Hopkinson, James Cooper, Amy May Stuart, Kalinda Vary, Jen Mathews, Briony Galligan, Erin Crouch, Moorina Bonini, Oliviah Koh, Brooke Babington, Kate Meakin, Spencer Lai, Skye Baker, Tyson Campbell, Brighid Fitzgerald, Jordan Halsall, Lei Lei Kung, Bas van de Kraats
Volunteers:
Ella Howells, Luyuan Zhang, Natasha Manners, Yasmin Hopkins, Anna Fiedler and Bronte Stolz.
Past Volunteers:
Amy Jane Parker, Lalita Sherwell, Emily Rose, Josephine Franklyn, Lila O’Rourke, Ed Dean, Erin Crouch, Nick Ryrie, Emily Rose, Michael Famularo, Charlotte Taylor, Jennifer Mathews, Jemi Gale, Casey Jeffrey, Clare Longley, Brighid Fitzgerald, Marcus Carne, Sam Eisen, Matt Trobbiani, Anna Cunningham, Yusi Zang, Nicholas Mullaly and Jasper Jordan Lang
Supporters:
The Foreigner Brewery Co, Sophie Brown, Julia Cox, Katherine Englund, Jan Bryant, Kim Brockett, Ed Service, Taree McKenzie, Bill Vary, John Maloney, Spiros Panigirakis, Woody, Daniel Argyle, Lisa Radford, Karyn Lindner, Jacinta Lewin, Brenda Walsh, Sam Eisen, Hells Kitchen, Fiona Morgan (website), Kate Meakin (past photographer), Emily Taylor (past photographer), Catherine Evans (past photographer), Matthew Davis (Archiving)
TCB Sponsors:
