Remixing the Archives is an exhibition created by Robert O’Connor during his Creative Fellowship at State Library and Archives of Tasmania. Throughout 2025, O’Connor dug deep into the ephemera collection to remix new work from its fragments.
Ephemera is the stuff that wasn’t meant to last. Yet these often overlooked materials can reveal just as much about a place and its people as any official record.
The ephemera collection is a sprawling archive of posters, fliers, advertisements, newsletters and other paper traces of everyday life.
The contents resist neat classification and are loosely grouped into broad categories such as religion, philosophy, education and the arts. Forgotten subcultures, odd enthusiasms and local half-histories turn up here.
Remixing the Archives reveals something of our enduring impulse to copy, preserve and make fresh meaning from old things. Equally, the exhibition conveys the pleasure of discovery that accompanies archival research.
Robert has exhibited internationally in Paris, New York and Chile. He won the Glover Prize in 2020.
Events
A free program of talks and tours will explore the ephemera in the collection, culminating with a Zine Fair in February. Book on Eventbrite.
The State Library and Archives of Tasmania Creative Fellowship
The Creative Fellowship program supports artists and creatives to explore and reinterpret collection material in innovative ways.
The program helps bring new stories to life and demonstrates how archival collections continue to inspire creative practice today.
The 2027 Creative Fellowship opportunity will be advertised again in December 2026.
Free exhibition
7 November 2026 to 14 February 2027
State Library and Archives of Tasmania
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
Ground Floor, 91 Murray Street
Hobart, Tasmania
- Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
- Saturday 9:30 am to 2:00 pm
- Sunday 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
- Closed public holidays
Free entry, no bookings required.
