My brat summer
For the divas, the disruptors, and the chronically online.
My brat summer assembles the art world’s culturally omnivorous agents of change—those rewriting the rules with irony, intellect, and high-gloss bravado. Think pop star Charli XCX meets historian and critic Claire Bishop: they’re unserious about seriousness, allergic to legacy, and fluent in critical theory.
Coby Edgar | Speaker
Toby Chapman | Speaker
Elias Redstone | Speaker
Tim Riley Walsh | Speaker
Jazz Money | Moderator
Coby Ann Edgar is a queer multi-racial (Gulumoerrigin (Larrakia)/Jingili/Filipino/Chinese/Irish/Scottish/English) First Nations curator, writer and presenter living and working on unceded Gadigal land in Redfern, Sydney. With over 15 years’ experience in government positions across education, galleries, and museums, Coby has recently transitioned to independent work and is currently focussing on building her consultancy company Driftwood Consultancy which was incorporated earlier this year.
Toby Chapman is Director, Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, where he leads the strategic and artistic programming. He is interested in cultural forms and expressions that often sit outside of a gallery context, and how institutions can serve as valued space to bring new audiences and conversations together. This often manifests through community or socially-engaged artistic programs. He has curated projects for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia; 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art; Arts & Cultural Exchange, Parramatta; Sydney Festival; the 9th Shanghai Biennale; and the 13th Jakarta Biennale. He currently sits on the Arts and Cultural Advisory Board, Bradfield City Centre; Western Sydney University’s Western Sydney Creative Advisory Board and regularly advises on public art projects across Western Sydney. He is a diehard Penrith Panthers supporter and collector of their merchandise.
Jazz Money is a Wiradjuri poet and artist whose practice is centred around poetics to produce works that encompass installation, performance, film and print. Their writing has been widely published nationally and internationally, and performed on stages around the world. Jazz’s first poetry collection, the best-selling how to make a basket (UQP, 2021) was the 2020 winner of the David Unaipon Award. Their second collection mark the dawn (UQP, 2024) is the 2024 recipient of the UQP Quentin Bryce Award. Trained as a filmmaker, Jazz’s first feature film is WINHANGANHA (2023), commissioned by the National Film and Sound Archive.
Elias Redstone is the Founder and Artistic Director of PHOTO Australia and PHOTO International Festival of Photography in Melbourne, a biennial event that has been viewed by over a half a million people across its first three editions (PHOTO 2021, 2022, and 2024). Elias has initiated international partnerships to connect Australian photography with global audiences, including collaborations with The Photographers’ Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He is co-curating On Country: Photography from Australia for the Rencontres d’Arles 2025 — the first major focus on Australia at the festival — featuring 17 Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and collectives. He also oversaw the curation of Trent Mitchell: Australian Lustre, currently on view at the Australian Embassy in Paris until October 2025. Prior to launching PHOTO Australia, Elias curated Constructing Worlds at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, and authored Shooting Space: Architecture in Contemporary Photography, published by Phaidon.
Tim Riley Walsh is Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney. His current MCA curatorial projects include Primavera: Young Australian Artists (2025, curator); Data Dreams: Contemporary Art in the Age of AI (2025, co-curator); and MCA Collection: Artists in Focus (2025, curatorium). Outside of the MCA, Tim’s recent projects include Unbecoming at La Trobe Art Institute, Djaara/Bendigo (2025, curator); You Are Here Too at the Institute of Modern Art, Magandjin/Brisbane (2025, co-curator); and Gordon Bennett: This World Is Not My Home at Sutton Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne (2023, curator). Tim is also a founding member of Kink, a collective writing a history of queer Australian art. Tim has previously held curatorial and related roles at Gertrude and MADA Gallery, Monash University, Naarm/Melbourne; Camden Art Centre, London; and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Magandjin/Brisbane.
Curated by Micheal Do
A valid ticket to Sydney Contemporary 2025 is required for entry to this talk. We recommend arriving 10 minutes before the talk’s start time. Buy tickets now.
Image Credit: brat Album cover, Charli XCX.
