2025 CONVERSATIONS
A platform for critical discourse and the sharing of ideas, CONVERSATIONS brings 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, scholars and cultural luminaries.
In 2025, CONVERSATIONS is presented by Guardian Australia. For those who wish to revisit this year’s discussions, or were unable to attend, all talks are available below.
COMMISSION | Yona Lee with Anna Briers
Join Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 Commission artist Yona Lee in conversation with Anna Briers, Curator, as they discuss the development of her monumental site-specific work Smart Sculpture and its inclusion in the 2025 exhibition, Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound, a major group exhibition as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Len Lye Centre.
Yona Lee is represented by Fine Arts, Sydney (Gadigal Country/Sydney).
COMMISSION | Dawn Ng with Reuben Keehan
Join Melbourne Art Foundation commission artist Dawn Ng in conversation with QAGOMA curator Reuben Keehan about her film installation The Earth is an hourglass 2024 that explores the passage and experience of time through filmed and photographed stages of the disintegration of frozen blocks of coloured pigment.
Dawn Ng is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf (Naarm/Melbourne, Gadigal Country/Sydney, Singapore).
VFPADF | Treaty, Art and Culture
Kim Kruger (Murroona/Djiru) leads a discussion with VFPADF showcase feature artist Kelly Koumalatsos (Wergaia, Wemba Wemba), First Peoples Treaty Assembly of Victoria representatives Brian Stevens (Gunnai), Alice Pepper (Gunnai, Yorta Yorta, Mutti Mutti, Gunditjmara, Arrernte) and Belinda Briggs (Yorta Yorta,Wamba Wamba), highlighting the importance of First Peoples art and culture in Treaty conversations.
Presented by the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair.
Polestar | Design for a Sustainable Future
Join Editor, Writer and Director at Værnis Amy Woodroffe as she leads a conversation between artists Emily Medbury and Dr. Peta Clancy (Yorta Yorta) with Polestar’s Head of Colour and Material Design Maria Uggla on designing for a sustainable future – how sustainability drives innovation within their practice and shapes the industry at large.
Presented in partnership with Polestar.
How I Collect
Collectors Konfir Kabo and Lindsay Clement-Meehan join Eleni Arbus as she moderates a discussion around building private collections.
What Art Means to Me
Join Sian Cain, Deputy Culture Editor for Guardian Australia, as she moderates a discussion around how art infiltrates the professional and personal lives of interior designer Pascale Gomes-McNabb, Fred Mora of Long Prawn and fashion stylist, presenter and commentator Elliot Garnaut.
Melanie Lane with Jeff Khan and Amita Kirpalani
Dive into the relationship between visual art and contemporary dance in this conversation between celebrated choreographer Melanie Lane, Jeff Khan (Creative Director, Asia TOPA) and Amita Kirpalani (Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria). On the occasion of the third Asia Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA) and the NGV’s Yayoi Kusama survey exhibition, the two organisations joined forces and commissioned Lane to create a choreographic response to Kusama’s iconic body of work. Find out how Lane researched and responded to Kusama’s vast archive, and how this archive fueled the creation of a new contemporary dance work.
Presented in partnership with Asia TOPA.
VFPADF | No Dots Down Here
Arts writer, artist and Aboriginal affairs advocate Jack Wilkie-Jans (Waanyi, Teppathiggi, Tjungundji) is joined by Creative Victoria’s First Peoples Directions Circle Chair Dr. Vicki Couzens (Gunditjmara), artist and curator Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta, Boonwurrung, Mutti Mutti, Wemba Wemba, Trawoolway), and VFPADF Senior Project Manager Janina Harding (Meriam Mir) for No Dots Down Here. This conversation will explore the development and growth of First Peoples creative and cultural practice in Victoria, and the struggle for recognition in national and international contexts.
Presented by the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair.
Serwah Attafuah with Amanda Haskard and Keri Elmsly
Serwah Attafuah – recipient of the Mordant Family Moving Image Commission for Young Australian Artists – will be joined by ACMI Executive Director of Programming Keri Elmsly and ACMI Curator Amanda Haskard (Tatungalung, Brabralung) to delve into Serwah’s multi-disciplinary practice and new screen-based work The Darkness Between the Stars, which will be exhibited at Australia’s museum of screen culture in 2025. Amanda will also discuss The Future & Other Fictions, ACMI’s major summer exhibition, where visions of the future play a central role in contemporary art practice, resonating deeply with Serwah’s own work.
Presented in partnership with ACMI.
Curating across the region
Hear from curators Rachel Ciesla, Curator for the AGWA’s Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art and curator of VIDEO 2025, Melanie Oliver, Acting Senior Curator Monash University Museum of Art, and Curator, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Ane Tonga, Curator of Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki on working across Australia and Aotearoa to collaborate with artists across the Asia Pacific region. Moderated by curator, writer, art historian, and podcast host Bianca Winataputri.
Victoria First Peoples Art and Design Fair 2025
Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta) curator and writer, will be joined by VFPADF exhibiting artists Ray Thomas (Gunnai), Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri), Trina Dalton-Oogjes (Wadawurrung/Wathaurung, Gunditjmara) and Deanne Gilson (Wadawurrung) to highlight the rich cultural and creative diversity of Victorian First Peoples contemporary art and design. This discussion will also centre the significance of the VFPADF for Victorian First Peoples artists and communities and their aspirations to grow the sector.
Presented by the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair.
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