Vernon Ah Kee
act as known
Dark + Disturbing is a curatorial and creative project that explores Aboriginal sensibilities around knowledge, identity, and protest. Dark & Disturbing interrogates power structures and provides a platform for Aboriginal voice.
About
Vernon Ah Kee, act as known, 2025, Curated by Experimenta in partnership with Horizon Festival.
Discover how to visit ‘act as known’ at Horizon Festival here
Vernon Ah Kee is creating a new work, act as known, that builds upon and is part of his long-term project Dark & Disturbing.
Dark + Disturbing is a curatorial and creative project that explores Aboriginal sensibilities around knowledge, identity, and protest. Dark & Disturbing interrogates power structures and provides a platform for Aboriginal voice.
Dark + Disturbing is a project that transcends a single act of art making. Best known for being presented on shirts, this project is a sum of the labour of creating designs, getting them printed, selling them, and having people wear them.
“Dark + Disturbing is a living, breathing artwork in which hundreds of people participate each year”.
The term ‘act-as-known’ refers to a commonly used clause in Vaudeville contracts wherein promoters engage performers on the proviso that they ‘act-as-known’ and perform only agreed-upon and familiar routines—limited improvisation, predictable behaviour, and no new or unvetted material.
act as known is a dynamic artwork about entitlement, centring, and power.
Dark + Disturbing is a long-term project that embodies protest and radical hope.
Artist – Vernon Ah Kee
Artist production – Iscariot Media
Animation & Projection – Möbius
Experimenta Curator – Lubi Thomas
Experimenta Creative Producer – Anna Nalpantidis
The Artist
Vernon Ah Kee
Vernon Ah Kee is a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji, Yidinyji and Guugu Yimithirr people of north Queensland. He also has kinship connections to the Waanyi people of north-west Queensland.