We caught up with Elisa Trifunoski, Director of Egg & Dart, ahead of Sydney Contemporary 2025 to talk about the gallery’s organic beginnings, its strong connection to place, and what’s in store for this year’s presentation. From a humble window-front in Thirroul to a fully programmed space in Wollongong, Egg & Dart has become a platform defined by material sensitivity, nuance, and an openness to the unexpected.
___
Can you tell us about how Egg & Dart came into existence?
Egg & Dart was formed somewhat coincidentally, exhibiting artworks in the window shopfront of a framing studio in the coastal town of Thirroul, NSW. What began as a small window gallery gradually expanded until it eventually took over the entire studio and became an exclusively programmed gallery.
Image:Henry Jock Walker, GJB, 2025.
Your gallery is located in Wollongong, how does the community and neighbourhood around you inform the gallery?
Wollongong has a deep, and sometimes unexpected, creative undercurrent. There’s a rawness and honesty here that aligns with what we do at Egg & Dart. We’re surrounded by the ocean and the escarpment, a landscape that both absorbs and supports our community. And yet we’re so close to Sydney, which gives us access to the broader art scene while providing space for autonomy and experimentation. These are the qualities we aim to reflect in the gallery’s program.
Image: Frank Nowlan, Hay carting
Which artists are you presenting at Sydney Contemporary and why?
For Sydney Contemporary 2025, we’re presenting a group exhibition that embraces the unusual, the layered, and the intimate. It features new works by Hannah Barclay, Lee Bethel, Aaron Fell-Fracasso, Erin Mison, Darren Munce, Frank Nowlan, and Henry Jock Walker – artists working across textiles, ceramics, paper, and painting. What connects these artists is a sensitivity to material and a quiet complexity in their processes. Rather than focusing on a single theme, we wanted to bring together practices that resist easy classification. The exhibition is about nuance, experimentation, and the unexpected.
Image: Darren Munce Architectures (study), 2025
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the next 10 years of Egg & Dart?
I suspect the art world will change quite a bit over the next ten years. But we’ll be doing exactly what we do now – holding space for artists, staying responsive, and continuing to build something generous, sustainable, and and meaningful. I want to keep having fun along the way, too, that’s absolutely key.
______
Egg&Dart will present work by at Sydney Contemporary 2025. Tickets to Sydney Contemporary are on sale now.
Cover portrait image by T W Baker.
