Explore our calendar of exhibitions and events highlighting significant art and materials from across the University’s Indigenous collections.
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art
Comprising over 400 works from across time, language groups, regions and art movements, 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art will relaunch the Ian Potter Museum of Art in 2025 after significant renovation and an extended period of closure.
The momentous and courageous exhibition is curated by distinguished Indigenous academic Professor Marcia Langton AO, together with Senior Curator Judith Ryan AM and Curator Shanysa McConville. It examines the relatively recent rise to prominence of Indigenous art in Australia and proclaims the importance of Indigenous knowledge and agency.
The exhibition’s ironic and provocative title refers to the belated and reluctant acceptance of Indigenous art into the fine art canon by Australian curators, collectors, art critics and historians in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
By engaging with the complex philosophy and powerful aesthetic of the only art and culture that are unique to this continent, the exhibition will invite contemplation about Australia’s unsettling history, including the ugly pseudo-science of eugenics and the international trade in human remains that was practised at the University of Melbourne.
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art will bring to public attention cultural objects from the University’s collections that have rarely seen the light of day and will awaken us to the power of them.
MADAYIN: Eight decades of Australian Aboriginal bark painting from Yirrkala
Maḏayin is the result of a seven-year collaboration between Kluge-Ruhe and Indigenous knowledge holders from the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre in northern Australia. It chronicles the rise of a globally significant art movement as told from the perspective of the Yolŋu people. Maḏayin presents more than 90 iconic paintings on eucalyptus bark, including 5 on loan from the Universities of Melbourne’s Collection. Audiences across the USA are invited to discover these exceptional artworks and their inspiring story.
The exhibition opened at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth in September 2022 and is currently touring the United States.
