The 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 2025.
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 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,” said Loughnan.
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. 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 also welcomes 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.
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.
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.
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
Curated by Anna Briers, Curator, Len Lye & Contemporary Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (Aotearoa), BEYOND 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. 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.
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.
MAF VIRTUAL
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.
The 18th edition of the Melbourne Art Fair takes place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) from 20 – 23 February 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.melbourneartfair.com.au for details.
Images: Burchill/McCamley, Installation view at Neon Parc Brunswick, 2016 | Mark Valenzuela (supplied) | Lisa Waup – photo by Fred Kroh | Dawn Ng – photo by Paulius Staniunas, All Is Amazing | Sarah Cywnar’s Red Film (still) | Jahnne Pasco-White, large-scale hanging paintings, installation view at ACCA – photo by Samantha Lynch, courtesy the artist and STATION, Australia