Melbourne Art Fair 2025—Full Curated Program Revealed

Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) has announced the full artistic program for its 18th edition, taking place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) from 20 – 23 February.

Under the helm of new Fair Director Melissa Loughnan, and following its move to an annual summer model, the 2025 program is entirely female-led, and places First Peoples and traditionally overlooked artists at the forefront, inviting visitors into an unprecedented celebration of boundary-pushing contemporary art. Over 100 interdisciplinary artists will transform the 9,000sqm space into a vibrant hub of innovation, spanning moving-image, installation, large-scale sculpture and activations, to be presented by 70 leading galleries and Indigenous owned art centres.

Including 3 large-scale installations and 2 major new commissions, this year’s curated program reflects a commitment to showcasing new and exciting work from peripheral artists alongside their established counterparts. Additionally, audiences can unlock their own creativity at a series of programmed workshops, providing opportunities for visitors of all ages and abilities to collaborate with exhibiting artists.

MAF’s VIDEO and BEYOND sectors have been programmed by two outstanding female curators, Rachel Ciesla and Anna Briers. There will be dynamic projects from West Space (Naarm/Melbourne) and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (Tarntanya/Adelaide), both led by female directors.

This year, the Young Galleries sector has doubled in size, with 19 galleries participating. Championed by Loughnan, a former young gallerist herself, the sector provides a subsidy to support the next generation of galleries, intermixing them with established galleries and given equal weight.

“I am thrilled to be leading the 18th iteration of Melbourne Art Fair, an edition that is not only resolutely female-led but also a celebration of First Peoples artistic practice,” said Melissa Loughnan. “This year’s curated sectors exemplify the transformative power of contemporary art. From the groundbreaking VIDEO program curated by Rachel Ciesla to Anna Briers’ immersive BEYOND installations, and the innovative experimentation in the PROJECT ROOMS, this year’s fair highlights the immense potential of contemporary art. With my own background as a young independent gallerist, I’m also especially proud of the expanded Young Galleries sector, which highlights emerging talent and promises a bright future for contemporary Australian art. As we look to the future, Melbourne Art Fair continues to be instrumental in shaping the cultural and creative identity of the region.”

CHAMPIONING FIRST PEOPLES ARTISTS

Melbourne Art Fair 2025 is proud to celebrate First Peoples artists at an unprecedented scale.

The William Mora Indigenous Art Centre Program supports the participation of Indigenous-owned art centres, funded by the Australian Government through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS) initiative, and generously supported by Morgans Financial Ltd. This program recognises the vital role art centres play in sustaining First Peoples arts and communities, and in sharing the stories of Indigenous Australians. In 2025 Melbourne Art Fair will again welcome MOA Arts (Mua Lag/Moa Island), Munupi Arts & Crafts Association, (Pirlangimpi/Garden Point), Papunya Tjupi Arts (Warumpi/Papunya), and Wik & Kugu Arts Centre (Aurukun/Cape York Peninsula), with their second year of participation focused on consolidating the opportunities initially developed at the 2024 fair.

The 2025 fair is delighted to welcome the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair (VFPADF) Showcase Exhibition, offering audiences a rare opportunity to connect deeply with the stories and creative expressions of 38 Victorian First Peoples artists and designers. Led by Co-Curators Janina Harding (Meriam Mir) and Dr Jessica Clark (palawa/pallawah), this will be the first exhibition of this scale dedicated to celebrating the rich cultural and creative diversity of Victorian First Peoples contemporary art and design. An initiative of the Victorian Government’s Creative State 2025 strategy, the VFPADF is driven by the First Peoples Directions Circle – a group of esteemed First Peoples creative leaders who guide the work of Creative Victoria. The inaugural fair will be co-timed with Melbourne Art Fair 2027.

Elsewhere in the program, more than 40 First Peoples artists will be participating across the PROJECT ROOMS, VIDEO, BEYOND and CONVERSATIONS sectors as well as GALLERY presentations.

COMMISSION

Under the Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 COMMISSION program, two ambitious new works will be presented at Melbourne Art Fair.

In partnership with Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Dawn Ng represented by Sullivan+Strumpf (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney, Singapore) will create a new moving-image work exploring the passage and experience of time through the disintegration of frozen blocks of coloured pigment. Ng’s presentation at the 2025 Melbourne Art Fair is supported by The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne.

Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland-based artist Yona Lee, represented by Fine Arts, Sydney (Gadigal Country/Sydney) and in partnership with the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre (Aotearoa), will develop a work that will unfold as a sculptural gesture, calling into question what it means to make sculpture comprised of found objects in the networked digital age. Lee’s commission at the 2025 Melbourne Art Fair is supported by Artwork Transport.

The two major commissions will be gifted to the permanent collections of the respective partnering institutions, and this is the first time that Melbourne Art Fair has partnered with an international institution.

VIDEO

Curated by Rachel Ciesla, Curator for the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art (Boorloo/Perth), VIDEO offers a dynamic presentation of thought-provoking and highly collectible contemporary moving-image works.

Focusing on video art created over the past two decades by emerging and established artists from around the world, the sector explores the emotional resonance of images through works that revisit, reanimate and review them, alongside the sensory experience of video as an artistic medium.

Works include the late trailblazing First Peoples artist, Destiny Deacon (KuKu and Erub/Mer) and Erin Hefferon’s No Place Like Home, 1999, presented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney); Sara Cwynar’s Red Film, 2018, presented by Cooper Cole (Toronto); Untitled, 2014, by Oliver Laric presented by Tanya Leighton (Berlin, Los Angeles); Tong Wenmin’s Wave, 2019, presented by White Space (Beijing) in association with Videotage (Hong Kong); and Ceal Floyer’s Plughole, 2017, presented by Esther Schipper (Berlin, Hong Kong).

BEYOND

BEYOND is curated by Anna Briers, Curator, Len Lye & Contemporary Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (Aotearoa) and will present three large-scale installations and spatial interventions.

Installations include Paul Yore‘s bejewelled hearse presented by STATION (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney) and Hugo Michell (Tarntanya/Adelaide), a large-scale suspended painting from Jahnne Pasco-White presented by STATION (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney), and an installation of sculptural weavings by Kim Ah Sam (Kuku Yalanji, Kalkadoon) presented by Vivien Anderson Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne).

PROJECT ROOMS

Presented by Alpha60, PROJECT ROOMS provides a non-commercial platform for artistic experimentation through research-driven presentations.

West Space (Naarm/Melbourne) will present Attending To, a sound and installation work by Aarti Jadu and Claire de Carteret, who have been experimenting with sound and ceramics, and the ways these materials work together. Attending To unfolds the artists’ interest in how listening rather than hearing cultivates intimacy, subjective interpretation and reflection.

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) (Tarntanya/Adelaide) will present EARTHING, introducing three contemporary South Australian artists, Carly Tarkari Dodd (Kaurna, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri), Oakey and Mark Valenzuela, whose works create different contact points for the energies that connect, control and move through us, unseen but knowable.

CONVERSATIONS

A platform for critical discourse and the sharing of ideas, CONVERSATIONS brings together cultural communities and thinkers from across the creative spectrum. Presented by the Guardian Australia, the program aims to address the future of art and its relationship to interdisciplinary practices and the contemporary world through a series of talks and panels featuring artists, gallerists, curators, collectors, critics and cultural luminaries.

Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 Commission artist Yona Lee will be in conversation with Anna Briers as they discuss the development of her monumental site-specific work UNTITLED and its inclusion in the 2025 exhibition Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound a major group exhibition as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Len Lye Centre.

Celebrated Singaporean artist Dawn Ng speaks with Curator Reuben Keehan, Queensland Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art about her Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 Commission The Earth is an hourglass, 2024 which is an extension of her practice that explores time, memory and the ephemeral.

Two CONVERSATIONS will be presented in collaboration with Melbourne Art Fair Cultural Partners; Asia TOPA, Australia’s major triennial of Asia-Pacific performance, and ACMI. In the first, celebrated choreographer Melanie Lane discusses her newly commissioned work Paulu (Island) in response to the National Gallery of Victoria’s Kusama exhibition with Jeff Khan, Creative Director, Asia TOPA and Amita Kirpalani, Curator, International Art, National Gallery of Victoria. In the second, Serwah Attafuah – recipient of the Mordant Family Moving Image Commission for Young Australian Artists – will be joined by ACMI Executive Director of Programming Keri Elmsly and ACMI Curator Amanda Haskard to delve into Serwah’s multi-disciplinary practice and new screen-based work The Darkness Between the Stars, which will be exhibited at Australia’s museum of screen culture in 2025. Amanda will also discuss The Future & Other Fictions, ACMI’s major summer exhibition, where visions of the future play a central role in contemporary art practice, resonating deeply with Serwah’s own work.

Hear from curators Rachel Ciesla, Senior Curator for the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art, Melanie Oliver, Acting Senior Curator Monash University Museum of Art, and Curator, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Ane Tonga, Curator of Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki on working across Australia and Aotearoa to collaborate with artists across the Asia Pacific region.

The CONVERSATIONS program will also feature three panel discussions presented by the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair (VFPADF).

In Treaty, Art and Culture, Kim Kruger (Murroona/Djiru), representative of the First Peoples Directions Circle who guide the work of Creative Victoria, will lead a discussion with VFPADF showcase feature artist Kelly Koumalatsos (Wergaia, Wemba Wemba), as well as community and Treaty Assembly representatives, that will highlight the importance of First Peoples art and culture in Treaty conversations.

Arts writer, artist and Aboriginal affairs advocate Jack Wilkie-Jans (Waanyi, Teppathiggi, Tjungundji) is joined by Creative Victoria’s First Peoples Directions Circle Chair Dr. Vicki Couzens (Gunditjmara), artist and curator Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta, Boonwurrung, Mutti Mutti, Wemba Wemba, Trawoolway), and VFPADF Senior Project Manager Janina Harding (Meriam Mir) for No Dots Down Here, a conversation focused on the significance of Victorian First Peoples art and design. This conversation will explore the development and growth of First Peoples creative and cultural practice in Victoria, and the struggle for recognition in national and international contexts.

Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair 2025 sees moderator Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta), curator and writer, joined by VFPADF exhibiting artists Ray Thomas (Gunnai), Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri), and Trina Dalton-Oogjes (Wadawurrung/Wathaurung, Gunditjmara) to highlight the rich cultural and creative diversity of Victorian First Peoples contemporary art and design. This discussion will also centre the significance of the VFPADF for Victorian First Peoples artists and communities and their aspirations to grow the sector.

VICTORIAN FIRST PEOPLES ART AND DESIGN FAIR SHOWCASE EXHIBITION

In 2025 MAF welcomes the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair Showcase Exhibition, a preview of the upcoming Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair, which will officially launch in 2027.

An Opening Ceremony creatively produced by Jason Tamiru (Yorta Yorta) and Nathan Lovett-Murray (Wamba Wamba, Dhudhuroa, Baraparapa, Dja Dja Wurrung, Yupagalk, Wergaia, Yorta Yorta, and Wiradjeri) will officially mark the start of the VFPADF Showcase Exhibition and feature a historical narrative, smoking ceremony and cultural dance performances.

The exhibition showcases the rich cultural and creative diversity of Victorian First Peoples contemporary art and design, and features new and recent work by twenty independent Victorian First Peoples artists and designers: Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri, Wiradjuri), Lorraine Brigdale (Yorta Yorta), Janet Bromley (Yorta Yorta), Bradley Brown (Bidwal, Gunditjmara), Glennys Briggs (Tunguwurung, Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri), Trina Dalton-Oogjes (Wadawurrung/Wathaurung, Gunditjmara), Talgium Edwards (Taungurong), Deanne Gilson (Wadawurrung), Tammy Gilson (Wadawurrung), Gail Harradine (Wotjobaluk, Djubagalk, Jadawadjali), ENOKi (Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta), Zeta Thomson (Wurundjeri, Yorta Yorta), Kelly Koumalatsos (Wergaia, Wemba Wemba), Tarryn Love (Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong), Ray Thomas (Gunnai), Lisa Waup (Gunditjmara, Torres Strait), Peter Waples-Crowe (Ngarigo), Kim Wandin (Wurundjeri), Lewis Wandin-Bursill (Wurundjeri), and Glenda Nicholls (Waddi Waddi, Ngarrindjeri, Yorta Yorta).

In addition, seventeen artists and designers are represented by Victorian First Peoples art centres. Baluk Arts, from Mt Eliza will exhibit Adam Magennis (Bunurong) and Iluka Sax-Williams (Taungurung); Kaiela Arts, from Shepparton will exhibit Jack Anselmi (Yorta Yorta), Ally Knight (Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Kamilaroi),  Norm Stewart (Kwat Kwat, Wurundjeri, Yalaba Yalaba, Moira) along with a Ceramics presentation by Cynthia Hardie, Laurel Robinson, Amy Briggs, Rochelle Patten, Lyn Thorpe, and Melinda Solomon; Perridak Arts, from Ballarat will exhibit Donna Blackall (Yorta Yorta, Taungurung) and Adrian Rigney (Wotjobaluk, Ngarrindjeri); and The Torch, from Naarm will exhibit Alfred Carter (Gunaikurnai), Stacey Edwards (Taungurung, Boon Wurrung), Ash Thomas (Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri), and Robby Wirramanda (Wergaia, Wotjobaluk).

Co-curators Janina Harding and Dr Jessica Clark said, “The Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair Showcase Exhibition will be a first glimpse as we build up to a full-scale presentation of the event in 2027. We are working closely with twenty independent First Peoples artists and four arts centres whose artwork and culture are unique to the South East, and we’re so excited to share and profile their incredible talent with Melbourne Art Fair collectors, buyers and the sector more broadly.”

Additionally, the inaugural VFPADF Commission has been awarded to Mitch Mahoney (Boon Wurrung, Barkindji) and will premiere as part of the Melbourne Art Fair COMMISSION program.

Alongside the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair Showcase Exhibition, the public program offers opportunities to connect with and hear directly from Victorian First Peoples artists through daily tours, artist talks, weaving workshops and panel discussions.

The VFAPDF exhibition celebrates the incredible breadth of creative and cultural practice by Victorian First Peoples artists and designers while providing a unique opportunity to meet, connect with, and hear directly from them. Collectively representing more than twenty Victorian First Peoples language groups from across all regions of the state, the artists attest to the strength, resilience and continuity of culture in Victoria.

WORKSHOPS

Unleash your creativity with hands-on workshops for all ages, from digital drawing to playful sculpture-making. Whether you’re a seasoned artist or a curious beginner, there’s something for everyone.

Arts Project Australia (Naarm/Melbourne) presents Open Studio, a series of workshops and demonstrations led by APA artists taking place in the heart of the fair and supported by a City of Melbourne Arts Grant. Participants of all ages and abilities are encouraged to get involved and try their hand at digital drawing with Kate Knight and James MacSporran, rock out with Danny Lyons or stitch a small soft sculpture car with Chris O’Brien. James Dawes invites you to a listening and drawing party whilst Adrian Lazzaro will imbue your soft toys with a new life through a process of zombification. Join Jordan Dymke to explore self-portraiture through a watercolour painting session and be guided by The Northcote Penguins as you reinterpret your senses into visual art.

Turn art into an adventure with treasure hunts, vibrant workshops, and imaginative play at the WORKSHOP space, home to leading artist, designer and maker Beci Orpin. The fair’s smallest visitors can collect a treasure hunt that will guide them around the fair seeking some of its most playful and imaginative works. Children are invited to return to the workshop space to colour in their maps, and visit the Info Desk as they leave the fair to collect a sticker prize pack. The treasure hunt will be available Friday – Sunday during the fair. Additionally, Orpin will host a making workshop for children on the Saturday and Sunday of the fair.

PARTNER ACTIVATIONS

Alongside the curatorial program, an array of partner activations champions artistic practice through bold new commissions and immersive environments. Alpha60, the presenting partner of PROJECT ROOMS commissions artist Kathy Temin to craft a capsule collection that bridges fashion and art.

Thursday’s Vernissage will feature a rousing fanfare by brass musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) to mark the opening of the Melbourne Art Fair, followed by a special guest artist DJ.

Friday evening program highlights include a Young Galleries tour in partnership with Stomping Ground, and a DJ set from music personality and label founder Michael Kucyk.

The Ministry of Clouds Wine Bar & Bistro, designed and furnished by Dann Event Hire, will feature a selection of sought after wines from McLaren Vale based winery Ministry of Clouds, reflecting their distinguished vineyard sites, minimal intervention, and layers of complexity derived from many small batch ferments.

Oigåll Projects’ bold and playful design for this year’s VIP Lounge Design Commission offers an intimate luxury space fusing contemporary art and design with works by Brud Studia, Eduardo Wolfe-Alegria, Huseyin Sami, James Lemon, BMDO, Cordon Salon, Lauren Dunn, and Adam Cornish . The second iteration by Oigåll Projects continues to push boundaries, providing fair visitors and VIPs with the opportunity to experience a VIP Lounge unlike any other.

The Art Guide Bookstore presents a carefully curated selection of the best Australian art publications being made today. The store is designed to appeal to artists, collectors, curators, and those who love to visit galleries and immerse themselves in art, with publications available for purchase throughout the fair’s duration.

A discussion will be presented by Polestar, around design for a sustainable future with artists Emily Medbury, Jessie French and Dr Peta Clancy (Yorta Yorta), held within the Melbourne Art Fair VIP Lounge.

Alongside the 2025 program, highlights from the gallery presentations include Reko Rennie’s latest direction in figurative painting and Harriette Bryant’s painted found objects exploring the atomic testing of nuclear weapons by the British at Maralinga (Ames Yavuz, Gadigal Country/Sydney, Singapore); South Korean-born New York-based Jane Yang D’Haene’s experimental stoneware vessels and Puuni Brown Nungarrayi (Luritja)’s reimaginings of her mother’s Kapi Tjukurrpa (Water Dreaming) (COMA, Gadigal Country/Sydney); Iranian refugee Ali Sharabdar’s figurative watercolours exploring Persian history and other cultural influences (Daine Singer, Naarm/Melbourne); and the irreverent sculpture and neon works of Chunxiao Qu (FUTURES, Naarm/Melbourne).

For those who can’t make it to the Fair in person, MAF Virtual is a dedicated online platform that runs from 20 February – 6 March, connecting leading galleries with a global network of collectors and art lovers.

Explore the full program and gallery list at melbourneartfair.com.au