What John Berger Saw

About the exhibition
What John Berger Saw served as a tribute to art critic, artist and writer John Berger’s lasting impact on visual culture and critical theory, staged nearly three decades after his groundbreaking television series Ways of Seeing first aired. Curated by Merryn Gates, the exhibition brought together works by thirteen Australian artists that engaged with Berger's key ideas—art as property, technologies of reproduction and sexual politics—and featured a wide range of media, including paintings, photography, film and sculpture.

A particularly significant inclusion was Colour Project 1997–99—a collaborative work made by Berger and John Christie in which the two artists explored the subjectivity and emotional power of colour in correspondence comprising letters and cards.

The exhibition was accompanied by a collection of essays first presented as part of a conference at the National Gallery of Australia in September 1999 and edited by Australian sociologist Nikos Papastergiadis. Contributors to the collection included cultural critics, media theorists and philosophers, reflecting the diverse and far-reaching influence of Berger’s work across multiple disciplines.

Acknowledgements
This exhibition was supported by ANU, Canberra School of Art Gallery, Visions of Australia, Gordon Darling Foundation, The British Council and HRC.

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^{Image: Catalogue cover (detail) showing John Berger and John Christie, Birthday Card to John Berger, from Colour Project 1997–99, correspondences, mixed media. Courtesy of the artists}