Potter Museum reopens in 2025 with exhibition and resources on 65,000 years of Australian art

The Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne’s Carlton Campus will reopen to the public during Reconciliation Week on 30 May 2025, after undergoing extensive redevelopment by Wood Marsh Architects, the studio also behind the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA).

Upgraded features include a new entrance on the University’s campus and new and improved spaces for the Museum’s collection-based learning programs.

The Potter will kick off with an exhibition celebrating First Nations art, titled 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art. With over 400 artworks, the show includes new commissions alongside public and private loans, curated by Associate Provost Professor Marcia Langton AO, Judith Ryan AM and Shanysa McConville in consultation with Indigenous custodians.

Langton says, “The ironic title of this exhibition refers to the belated and reluctant acceptance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art into the fine art canon by Australian curators, collectors, art critics and historians in the last quarter of the 20th century.

“65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art celebrates Indigenous art as it is increasingly recognised in galleries and collections around the world – as the greatest single revolution in Australian art.”

This is the first time that works of art, cultural objects and records from the University’s Indigenous collections will be exhibited together.

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The exhibition will be accompanied by a new educational initiative developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne’s Ngarrngga Project to create resources for school and tertiary students and teachers. The Project seeks to build a deeper understanding of Indigenous art, history and culture and is led by Professor Melitta Hogarth, Associate Dean (Indigenous) in the Faculty of Education, in conjunction with Professor Marcia Langton AO, Professor Aaron Corn, Director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and Professor Jim Watterston, Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Further details about the program will be announced in early 2025.