Barossa Biedermeier

Presented annually at JamFactory Seppeltsfield, this exhibition period is devoted to exploring contemporary South Australian artists’ responses to an aspect of the rich food and wine culture, history and natural landscape of the Barossa.

In Barossa Biedermeier, seven JamFactory Alumni and Associates working in furniture and ceramics explore Biedermeier, a style of making that German and Prussian migrants brought to the Barossa in the early nineteenth century. The Biedermeier style significantly influenced the manufacture and design of furniture and domestic objects in the region, with many fine examples held within private, local and state collections. Isolated from its origins in Germany, the Barossa Biedermeier style flourished and evolved, taking cues from the Australian surroundings and the needs of the migrant settler community to develop unique characteristics in its own right. In focusing on the Biedermeier and asking artists to develop responsive new works, Barossa Biedermeier celebrates the significant contributions that German migrants made to the cultural and material heritage of the region through a distinctly contemporary lens.