A landmark exhibition celebrating the longevity and brilliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art will mark the reopening of the Potter Museum of Art (The Potter) in May 2025. According to the University of Melbourne, its revitalised flagship art museum will reopen to the public during Reconciliation Week on 30 May 2025.

Titled ‘65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art’, the exhibition is curated by associate provost Professor Marcia Langton along with Judith Ryan and Shanysa McConville in consultation with Indigenous custodians, and will feature more than 400 artworks, including important public and private loans, and new commissions.

Led by Wood Marsh Architects, the redevelopment of The Potter includes an impressive new entrance on the University’s campus, as well as new and improved spaces for the museum’s leading collection-based learning programs made possible by the generous support of The Ian Potter Foundation and Lady Primrose Potter.

Under the ambitious artistic vision of director of art museums Charlotte Day, the revitalised museum will present exhibitions, programs and learning initiatives, which explore key issues and cultural debates, inspired by the University of Melbourne’s art collection.

Delving deep into the heart of Australia’s art history, the exhibition examines the rise to prominence of Indigenous art in Australia and the importance of Indigenous cultural and design traditions, knowledge and agency. Seven major new artistic commissions by leading contemporary First Nations artists will also be unveiled as part of the exhibition.

“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,” Professor Langton said.

“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.”

Professor Duncan Maskell, vice-chancellor at the University of Melbourne, said: “Alongside the recently released Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, this program is an important exercise in truth-telling for the University, including histories of scientific racism, and the collecting of ancestral remains.”

“It will provide a vital platform for Indigenous storytelling and encourage dialogue about the importance of Indigenous culture, history and art,” he added.

According to Day, The Potter is uniquely positioned to realise such an exhibition at an important time in Australia’s history. “Since 1853, the University has collected works of art, cultural objects and records that form a profoundly important archive, and for the first time these Indigenous collections will be exhibited together and interpreted by authoritative Indigenous scholars and other leading experts.”

A significant new educational initiative that will create resources for students and teachers to build a deeper understanding of Indigenous art, history and culture will also be launched during the exhibition. This initiative is developed in partnership with the University of Melbourne’s signature Ngarrngga Project, which builds innovative curriculum resources in collaboration with Indigenous Knowledge Experts.

This month, Thames & Hudson will also release a comprehensive publication titled ‘65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art’, featuring new writing by 25 leading thinkers across generations and disciplines. This publication further examines the extraordinary body of artwork in the exhibition across media, time periods, regions and language groups.

Image: Architectural render of the Potter Museum of Art redeveloped by Wood Marsh Architects

Branko Miletic

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