X Keulemans: an exhibition that works against the throw-away society

Guy Keulemans, Bolaji Teniola and Melvn Josy, Repaired Red Blue Chair, 2026. Photo: Connor Patterson

X Keulemans is the third in the biennial series of exhibitions presented by JamFactory in partnership with Adelaide University which seeks to highlight research outcomes of key members of the creative faculty. This year’s exhibition offers a focus on the collaborative practice of artist, designer and academic Guy Keuelmans.

In a world facing environmental crisis Guy Keulemans seeks to make a difference. Through his academic research and creative work he encourages us to rethink our relationship to what we consume and what we throw away. He asks, when resources are finite, why do we throw things away? In reconsidering the value of material objects and the labour to make them, Keulemans proposes that object repair is a radical and hopeful act.  The exhibition demonstrates his commitment to reuse and repair by taking broken and discarded objects and materials and transforming meaning and value through the act of creative repair.

Artist Guy Keulemans remarks, “my works are intended to activate imagination, and open new ways to think about the manufactured world and the changes possible to sustain the planet.”

X Keulemans reflects Guy Keulemans’ longstanding interest in collaborative practice, with many of the works on display having been created with some of Australia’s foremost craftspeople, designers and artists, including many JamFactory and Adelaide University alumni.

Guy Keuleman’s collaborators include current and former JamFactory and Adelaide University alumni: Peta Kruger, Christian Hall, Stephen Soeffky, Chris Boha, Achintya Chaudhary, Chris Boha, Stephen Soeffky, Kyoko Hashimoto, Bolaji Teniola, and Melvin Josy.

Keulemans exhibits internationally, and has works in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of South Australia. He is represented by Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert in Sydney with regular collaborator Kyoko Hashimoto. Together they were named Top 100 Game Changers in Design by Architectural Digest Italia in 2021 and won the South Australian Museum’s Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize in 2022.

Detail of Repaired Red Blue Chair by Guy Keulemans, Bolaji Teniola and Melvn Josy, 2026. Photo: Connor Patterson

Launching alongside X Keulemans is Power Surge / Into the Grid, featuring lighting designs created by JamFactory's Associates working across glass, metal, timber and ceramics. The works highlight the depth of talent within the Associate program, revealing playfulness, experimentation and innovation as central to product design and production. These exhibitions are presented as part of Adelaide Design Week.

Learn more about JamFactory at www.jamfactory.com.au