Fair Program
Experience a fair that is instrumental in shaping the future of art in the region, a progressive forum for contemporary art and ideas. The program will include four days of the very best in contemporary art, public events, talks and performance that provide opportunities to engage with the Australasian art scene.
Commission
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, 'Double-faced avatar with blue figure', 2021, bronze, fibreglass, concrete, neon, acrylic. Collection, HOTA Gallery. Commissioned by Melbourne Art Foundation and HOTA for the Gallery opening 2021.
Established in 2006, the Melbourne Art Foundation Commission program provides a living artist with a rare opportunity to realise a large-scale work for unveiling at Melbourne Art Fair, which is later gifted to a prominent Australian institution. In 2022 Melbourne Art Foundation will partner with Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, to commission a major new video work by an Australian First Nations artist.
Previous partners in the program have include HOTA Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, NGV, QAGOMA, the University of Queensland Art Museum, MCA, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia; and artists Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Ronnie van Hout, Michael Parekowhai, David Griggs, Peter Hennessey, Jon Campbell, Ian Burns, and Mikala Dwyer.
Beyond
Ronnie van Hout, 'Surrender', 2018 (Commission by Bendigo Art Gallery in partnership with the Melbourne Art Foundation and supported by Artwork Transport) Installation view, Melbourne Art Fair 2018
Making its debut at Melbourne Art Fair in 2022, Beyond harnesses the monumental exhibition spaces within the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to present works of scale and significance. Carefully curated spatial interventions, performance, and sculptural works will fill the epic spaces contributing to greater conversations and presenting opportunities for artists far beyond the art fair stand.
Melbourne Art Foundation supports the inaugural sector by providing a monetary grant to participating Beyond galleries.
Video
Making its debut at Melbourne Art Fair in 2022, Video is dedicated to the presentation of video and moving image art from new and iconic international artists.
Sriwhana Spong, 'This Creature', 2016 Single-channel HD video with audio 14 minutes, 55 seconds. Artist represented by Michael Lett, Auckland. Melbourne Art Fair 2018.
Project Rooms
Providing a platform for experimentation, Project Rooms showcase the work of artists that push the boundaries of art practice through performance and multimedia works from independent and non-collecting contemporary art organisations.
Melbourne Art Fair 2018 Project Room: IMA (Brisbane). Ryan Presley, Infinite Dollar Note – Dundalli Commemorative, 2017. Watercolour, 60.5 x 145.5cm.
Conversations
Conversations is a platform for dialogue 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 the contemporary world through a series of talks and panels featuring artists, gallerists, curators, collectors, architects, critics, and cultural luminaries.
