Theo Koning: Object Syntax

Theo Koning: Object Syntax presents a focused display of works from the State Art Collection by Theo Koning (1950-2022), one of Western Australia’s leading-edge figures working in installation and process-oriented art.

Centred around his influential 1974 installation The hot chook shop, the exhibition is timed to run alongside the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre’s retrospective exhibition Objet d’Art: Theo Koning and his Creative Self, which explores the artist’s five-decade career.

Koning’s practice emerged from an intentionally local perspective, recognising broad international influences while focusing on the physical and social aspects of his immediate landscape, community and personal experiences. The hot chook shop operates in this local/global nexus, as “sort of a poke at the Kentucky Fried outfit,” as Koning commented in 1976.

Exhibited alongside The hot chook shop is a selection of Koning’s works from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. This includes pieces from his 1978 Object D’art series, as well as drawings and prints from the mid-1980s. Through these works, Koning examined the meanings attributed to objects when designated as art, exploring how their significance can shift through intervention, reinterpretation, or the introduction of alternative contextual language.

Compelled by the act of making and grounded in a tactile, hands-on approach, Koning had a distinct ability to produce works that were at once bold and delicate, perplexing and charming, amusing and serious. Though Theo Koning: Object Syntax highlights a concentrated yet significant early period of his work, he sustained a prolific arts practice over five decades, continuing to make work until his passing in 2022. He leaves behind a rich legacy that is attentive to the nuance and intimacy of objecthood.

20 December 2025 – 10 May 2026
FREE

curated by

Isobel Wise
AGWA Associate Curator Contemporary Art

Now showing at AGWA, 30 years since its last exhibition and over 50 years since its creation, The hot chook shop retains its rickety feel and informal nod to the peculiar familiarity of working-class communities. Its witty critique of contemporary social structures and ethical concerns remains strikingly relevant, now understood within the context of the current era.

Isobel Wise

AGWA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art

Theo Koning.

About Theo Koning

Born in Avenhorn, Netherlands, in 1950, Koning moved to Australia with his family in 1953. During the late 1960s, he apprenticed in wood machining and joinery, then began attending part-time art classes starting in 1968. He later studied art full-time at Claremont Technical College from 1971 to 1974, earning a Diploma of Fine Art. In late 1974, Koning was a founding member of PRAXIS, an independent arts organisation established by a group of artists at the forefront of contemporary art in Perth. Over time, PRAXIS operated from Murray Mews in Perth and later at a venue in Fremantle before eventually moving into the Old Perth Boys School on James Street in 1988. There, PRAXIS merged with the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) and in 1991, The hot chook shop was included in PICA’s inaugural exhibition Backward Glance: A survey of Western Australian Sculpture.

Koning exhibited consistently between 1972 and 2022, with works included in key exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, The Dill Hall Gallery at the Australian National University in Canberra, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at the University of Western Australia, and Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre amongst many others. His work is included in many prestigious public, corporate and private collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Artbank, BankWest, Parliament House Canberra, University of Western Australia, Murdoch University of Technology, Curtin University, Janet Holmes à Court Collection and Wesfarmers Arts.