PreviewBiennials & festivals
Sydney Biennale puts climate emergency and Indigenous struggle front and centre
Show’s 22nd edition aims to be as much a conversation as an exhibition, with hundreds of public events including bushwalks with aboriginal elders and campfire talks
NewsAustralia
Officials turn down plans to transform Sydney's Cockatoo Island into an art-filled tourist attraction
Private consortium offered $80m to turn former industrial area into Australia’s answer to Naoshima art island in Japan
NewsAustralia
Street art auction in aid of Australian bushfire clean-up includes works by Banksy and Shepard Fairey
The Bushfire Relief Auction in Melbourne has been organised by the collectors Sandra Powell and Andrew King and prices start at £200
NewsAboriginal art
Emily Kame Kngwarreye show in New York highlights spike in interest for Australian indigenous art
The exhibition brings together museum-quality pieces, most consigned by US collectors
NewsDisasters & destruction
National Gallery of Australia closes due to bushfire smoke around Canberra
Director says that decision was taken to protect public and works
NewsPublic art
Image mocking Australian Prime Minister's Hawaiian holiday raises A$50,000 for fire service
Scott Marsh’s mural on a wall in Sydney was painted over
NewsRestitution
Germany returns indigenous remains of 45 ancestors to Australia in 'long overdue step'
Saxon government acknowledges “years of disregard for their dignity and importance to their communities of origin”
NewsRepatriation
'A major step forward for Britain’s colonial museums': Manchester Museum returns objects to Indigenous Australians
Move might pave the way for repatriation of sacred artefacts from other UK institutions
NewsAustralia
Can Australia support two new Aboriginal art museums?
Proposals for Alice Springs and Adelaide have political support but concerns have been raised over competing projects and lack of Indigenous involvement
ReviewBook Shorts
The first book on official Australian art and artists in the First World War explains how the national collection was made
The aim of Australian government’s war art scheme was to prioritise first-hand representations of the conflict
NewsCommercial galleries
Australia's only gallery dedicated to female artists to open in Melbourne
Founder of Finkelstein Gallery aims to counter the low representation of women in the Australian art world
NewsYoko Ono
Just a 'well-known celebrity': Australian tourism chief doubted Yoko Ono's ability to draw crowds
Letter reveals that 2013 exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art was offered AU$500,000 of state money despite reservations
NewsArt market
Australia has underrated Sidney Nolan, expert says, as artist's widow's estate comes up for sale
Mark Fraser makes the remarks as a group of works by the Australian artist is about to be offered at Bonhams in Sydney with a combined estimate of AUS$1.3m-$1.8m
PreviewExhibitions
Canary in the coal mine: Simon Denny on his new show about mining data and minerals
Exhibition by New Zealand-born, Berlin-based artist opens at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart
NewsControversies
Artist defends controversial mural of New Zealand prime minister embracing Muslim woman
Loretta Lizzio's memorial image of Jacinda Ardern unveiled in Melbourne divides public opinion
PreviewSydney Biennale
Indigenous and First Nation artists to take centre stage at next Biennale of Sydney
Artistic director Brook Andrew aims to counter the dominance of Northern American and European narratives
NewsRestitution
Indigenous human remains returned to Australia by five German institutions
Australia is pursuing further repatriations from Germany, ambassador says
AnalysisMuseums & Heritage
Topping a million visitors: how MCA Australia broadened the appeal of contemporary art
With more than a million people through the doors annually since 2015, the museum is a case study in how to expand audiences
CommentObituaries
Remembering Edmund Capon, longest-serving director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
He shook up a moribund institution by abolishing entry fees and staging lively exhibitions
ReviewExhibitions
Ben Quilty: an artist on the frontline
As the Australian artist's major retrospective opens in Adelaide, we speak to him about his time as a war artist in Afghanistan and his campaign against the death penalty
NewsCollectors
Tasmanian museum expands with £230m luxury hotel that includes a Marina Abramović-designed spa
Collector David Walsh plans to build new Motown complex alongside his Museum of Old and New Art
NewsArt market
Bark painting comes out of the woodwork at Sydney Contemporary
Work by the indigenous artist John Mawurndjul sold for $140,000 at the fair, where organisers estimate AUD$21m of sales were made
News
$890m Sydney museum move could be most expensive gallery relocation in history
Critics fear that plan will lead to parts of the Powerhouse Museum’s collection being sold off
NewsChina
Uranium glass chandeliers banned from Shanghai exhibition
Chinese authorities did not explain why Ken and Julia Yonetani’s four works will not be part of Powerlong Art Museum group show
NewsExhibitions
Australian artists and inmates collaborate to make videos about the reality of life behind bars
Works are on show as part of Dark Mofo, a festival organised by the Museum of Old and New Art just north of Hobart
NewsBiennials & festivals
Sydney biennial appoints its first indigenous Australian artistic director
Artist Brook Andrew’s work deals with notions of history, identity and race
NewsBuilding projects
Australia's largest contemporary art gallery to be built in Melbourne
New space will help National Gallery of Victoria to capitalise on blockbuster exhibitions
BlogIn the frame
Couples lock lips and make sweet music in Sydney
NewsPhotography
Bill Henson unveils new works in Melbourne
Show will be first commercial viewing of controversial photographer’s latest works
PreviewExhibitions
The many faces of Australia’s colonial legacy unveiled across two shows
National Gallery of Victoria’s mega-shows range from art by convicts to contemporary indigenous work
AnalysisArt's Most Popular
The world's most popular exhibition? Ancient sculptures in Tokyo versus Modern masters in Paris
Plus record crowds in US, UK and Australia
CommentVenice Biennale
Risk is the key to success at the Venice Biennale
Museum founder David Walsh on Australia's controversial new artist-selection process
NewsBiennials & festivals
Top Australian donors pull funding from Venice Biennale
Funders are furious about plans to exclude them from selecting the artist to represent the country
CommentVenice Biennale
Why I’m no longer funding Australia at the Venice Biennale
The financier and philanthropist Simon Mordant says the proposed restructure is 'not in Australia or the artists’ best interests'
NewsArt market
Emily Kame Kngwarreye painting sells for $1.6m, breaking record for an Australian female artist
Aboriginal work, Earth’s Creation I, was shown at the 2015 Venice Biennale
CommentYoko Ono
Yoko Ono controversy | Government agencies cannot dictate museum programming
The revelation that New South Wales's tourism chief questioned the Sydney MCA's inclusion of a Yoko Ono show crosses a dangerous line
John McDonald