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MELBOURNE ART FAIR ANNOUNCES 2025 GALLERY LINE UP, MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMMISSIONS, AND WELCOMES THE VICTORIAN FIRST PEOPLES ART AND DESIGN FAIR SHOWCASE, UNDER THE NEW DIRECTORSHIP OF MELISSA LOUGHNAN

Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne Art Fair – Australasia’s leading forum for contemporary art and ideas – has announced 60 of the region’s top galleries and Indigenous art centres for its 2025 summer fair, along with two major international commissions and key program highlights. The 2025 edition will feature works of significance and scale from both emerging and established artists, marking both the first fair under new Fair Director Melissa Loughnan and the first since its transition to an annual model.

From 20 – 23 February 2025, Australasia’s premier contemporary art fair will span 10,000sqm of the Denton Corker Marshall-designed Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to showcase solo and tightly curated presentations from more than 100 contemporary artists, continuing its lead role in the region for fostering new audiences for contemporary art. Gallery and art centre presentations will take place alongside a broader program of large-scale installations, video works, performance, conversations, and exhibition of the 2025 Melbourne Art Foundation Commissions. In 2025, Melbourne Art Fair will also welcome the showcase exhibition of the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair, which will officially launch in 2027, co-timed with Melbourne Art Fair.

Launching the 2025 Fair in her new role as Fair Director, Melissa Loughnan said, “Melbourne Art Fair continues to hold an essential role in growing the Australian art market, representing the most comprehensive and considered overview of the region’s thriving contemporary art scene for 36 years,” Loughnan continued. “The now-annual fair remains an exceptional showcase of Australia and its neighbouring regions’ most significant galleries and, since 2022, Indigenous-owned art centres, as a progressive forum for contemporary art and ideas. We look forward to welcoming collectors, industry and the art loving public to the 18th edition of Melbourne Art Fair as the cultural event of the Australian summer and the official launch of Melbourne’s annual arts calendar.”

Under the Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 commission program, two ambitious new works from leading international artists will be presented at Melbourne Art Fair. In partnership with Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) celebrated Singaporean multi-disciplinary artist Dawn Ng, represented by Sullivan+Strumpf (Gadigal Country/Sydney, Naarm/Melbourne), will exhibit a new moving image work exploring the tenor and trajectory of time via a hypnotic cascade of falling colour. Ng’s presentation at the 2025 Melbourne Art Fair is supported by The Ritz-Carlton Melbourne.

Additionally, in partnership with the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, Auckland-based artist Yona Lee, represented by Fine Arts, Sydney (Gadigal Country/Sydney), will develop a large scale installation, 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 new works will be gifted to the permanent collections of the respective partnering institutions.

Reuben Keehan, Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery Modern Art (QAGOMA) commented: “Dawn Ng’s mesmerising video The Earth is an hourglass 2024 is the central component of her striking installation in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial. It is also a significant work for Ng, marking the first time that she has experimented with a deep black ground, adding cosmic and metaphorical scope to her evocations of the elasticity of time. With Melbourne Art Foundation’s generous support and collaboration, it will join QAGOMA’s deep and wide-ranging collection of work from across Asia and the Pacific as an enduring document of strength and diversity of art from the region, and of this edition of the Triennial.”

Dr. Zara Stanhope, Director of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, shared her enthusiasm for the collaboration: “This is a significant event as the first collaboratively supported artist commission between an institution in Aotearoa and one of the most important art fairs in the region, and an opportunity for South Korean, Aotearoa-based artist Yona Lee to reveal new developments in her creative practice. Internationally known for her large-scale installations blending public and domestic spaces, this commission provides the chance for Lee to take creative risks and engage audiences in new ways.”

Subsequent to the Melbourne installation, Lee’s work will enter the Govett-Brewster Collection and be exhibited as part of Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound, a major group exhibition as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Len Lye Centre.

Melbourne Art Fair 2025 commissioned artist Yona Lee Exhibition view at Fine Arts, Sydney February March, 2023, courtesy of the artist and Fine Arts, Sydney.

Galleries presenting at Melbourne Art Fair in 2025 include: 1301SW/Starkwhite (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Tāhuna/Queenstown), Alcaston Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), Ames Yavuz (Gadigal Country/Sydney, Singapore),  Arc One (Naarm/Melbourne), Art Collective WA (Boorloo/Perth), Arthouse Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Arts Projects Australia (Naarm/Melbourne), Australian Galleries (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney), BAProjects (Naarm/Melbourne), cbOne (Naarm/Melbourne), CHALK HORSE (Gadigal Country/Sydney), D’Lan Contemporary (Naarm/Melbourne, USA), Daine Singer (Naarm/Melbourne), Dominik Mersch Gallery (Gadigal Country /Sydney), Egg & Dart (Dharawal Country/Wollongong), Fox Jensen & Fox Jensen McCrory (Gadigal Country/Sydney, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland), GALLERY 9 (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Hugo Michell Gallery (Tarntanya/Adelaide), James Makin Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), Jan Murphy Gallery (Meanjin/Brisbane), MARS Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), Martin Browne Contemporary (Gadigal Country/Sydney), MOORE CONTEMPORARY (Boorloo/Perth), Nanda\Hobbs (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Neon Parc (Naarm/Melbourne), Niagara Galleries (Naarm/Melbourne), Nicholas Thompson Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Sabbia (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Sophie Gannon Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), STATION (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney), Sullivan+Strumpf (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney, Singapore), Tolarno Galleries (Naarm/Melbourne), and Vivien Anderson Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne).

Committed to creating a platform that supports the next generation of artistic practice, the Fair also welcomes 17 young galleries established after 2017 with space subsidised by the Melbourne Art Foundation: Animal House Fine Arts (Naarm/Melbourne), APY Art Centre Collective (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country /Sydney, Tarntanya/Adelaide), C. Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), COMA (Gadigal Country/Sydney), day01. (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Fine Arts, Sydney (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Five Walls (Naarm/Melbourne), FUTURES (Naarm/Melbourne), Haydens (Naarm/Melbourne), Jennings Kerr (Gundungurra Country/Robertson ), LON Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), MAGMA Galleries (Naarm/Melbourne), N.Smith Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Nasha Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney), Redbase Art Gallery (Gadigal Country/Sydney), The Renshaws’ (Meanjin/Brisbane), and Void_Melbourne (Naarm/Melbourne).

Supported  through the William Mora Indigenous Art Centre program the 2025 Fair will host four Indigenous arts centres:  MOA Arts (Mua, Mualgal Country/Moa Island); Munupi Arts & Crafts Association, (Pirlangimpi Community/Melville Island); Papunya Tjupi Arts (Papunya), and Wik & Kugu Arts Centre (Aurukun), this will be their second year of participation, focused on consolidating the opportunities initially developed at the 2024 Fair.

Established in 2022, the William Mora Indigenous Art Centre program initiative supports the participation of Indigenous-owned art centres within a fair of national significance, funded by the Australian Government through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS) program, and generously supported by Morgans Financial Ltd. This program recognises the vital role art centres play in sustaining First Nations arts and communities, and in sharing the stories of Indigenous Australians.

Umatji Tjapalyi, Ngayuku Ngunytjunku Tjukurpa, 2023 courtesy BAProjects

“Melbourne Art Fair continues to set the benchmark for artistic excellence across Australasia, bringing together the region’s leading contemporary galleries and Indigenous art centres,” said Melbourne Art Foundation Chair Peter Jopling AM KC. ”Owned by the Melbourne Art Foundation, a non-profit arts organisation dedicated to supporting living artists, we are thrilled to build on the Fair’s robust commissions and grants program, facilitating two major commissions, fully-funded presentations from four Indigenous-owned art centres, and subsidising the participation of 17 young galleries to present alongside the nation’s most esteemed art dealers. We extend our thanks to the gallery sector for their unwavering support since the Fair’s inception in 1988, and to our Government Partners, Creative Australia and Creative Victoria, for their ongoing partnership. Furthermore in 2025, we are thrilled to welcome a showcase exhibition by the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair, ahead of the Fair’s launch in 2027 co-timed with Melbourne Art Fair. Melbourne Art Foundation is honoured to be working with the Creative Victoria First Peoples Directions Circle to realise this critically important event.”

In 2025 Melbourne Art Fair welcomes the showcase exhibition of the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair, featuring the work of 20 unrepresented Victorian First Peoples artists, along with Kaiela Arts, Baluk ArtsPerridak Arts and The Torch.  An initiative of the Victorian Government’s Creative State strategy and driven by the Creative Victoria First Peoples Directions Circle, the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair aims to promote and build the market for the extraordinary work of Victoria’s First People creatives. The event will officially launch in 2027 and will be timed to coincide with the Melbourne Art Fair. The event will shine a light on the diverse and rich creative practices and culture of First Peoples throughout Victoria, while engaging the broader Victorian community and delivering economic benefits to First Peoples creatives, enabling the artists and designers to expand their business practices, platform new ideas and bold new works, and strengthen the First Peoples creative industries here in Victoria.

Vicki Couzens, Chair of the Creative Victoria First Peoples Directions Circle said, “The 2025 Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair showcase is going to celebrate First Peoples artists and designers from across the state – and it’s the first time we’ve had a showcase survey of artworks in the one space. We’re excited to see this important initiative make its debut at Melbourne Art Fair, and for it to grow in years to come.”

Janina Harding, Senior Project Manager, Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair said, “Next year’s showcase exhibition will be a first glimpse as we build up to a full-scale presentation of the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair in 2027. We are working closely with First Peoples artists and organisations 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.”

The broader Melbourne Art Fair 2025 Artistic Program will present works through four distinct platforms – VIDEO, BEYOND, CONVERSATIONS and PROJECT ROOMS.

VIDEO offers a program dedicated to the presentation of moving-image art from new and iconic contemporary artists at the fore of digital works, presented by local and international galleries. VIDEO is curated by Rachel Ciesla, Senior Curator for The Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art in Boorloo (Perth).

BEYOND will harness the monumental exhibition spaces within MCEC to present three large-scale installations and spatial interventions, curated by Anna Briers, Curator Len Lye & Contemporary Art, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre.

PROJECT ROOMS, presented by Alpha60, is a non-commercial platform for experimentation, welcoming West Space (Naarm/Melbourne) and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) (Tarntanya/Adelaide) with the presentation of multi-disciplinary artists that span installation, sculpture, sound and performance.

Presented by Guardian Australia, CONVERSATIONS offers a platform for critical discourse and the sharing of ideas, bringing together cultural communities and thinkers from across the creative spectrum. The aim: 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, architects, critics, and cultural luminaries.

The full 2025 program with exhibiting artists will be announced in January 2025.

Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 1 October at 9:00am, with First Release ticket prices available until midnight 31 October. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.melbourneartfair.com.au/tickets.