Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: “Monster Theatres”

n the depths of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) a lone figure in the audience looked out onto an empty stage, teetering on the edge of his seat in a moment of anticipation—his lack of company eerily prophetic of the pandemicenforced isolation rippling across the globe. On closer inspection, Abdul Abdullah’s (2020) had the face of an endangered snub-nosed monkey. This “monstrous” figure was one of many conjured by the 25 artists included in the 30th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, “Monster Theatres.” The exhibition provoked us to question how we individually and collectively define “monsters,” a construct that we use to perceive, label, and distinguish others from ourselves. The theater