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
Commissioned by HOTA Gallery in partnership with the Melbourne Art Foundation and supported by Artwork Transport, the $70,000 2021 MAF Commission has been awarded to Sri Lankan-born, Sydney-based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran. For the second time in partnership with a regional Australian collecting institution, the monumental site-specific work will be unveiled at Melbourne Art Fair 2021 before moving to its permanent home at Home of the Arts, Gold Coast.
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. Previous partners in the program include the Bendigo Art Gallery, NGV, QAGOMA, the University of Queensland Art Museum, MCA, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia; and artists Ronnie van Hout, Michael Parekowhai, David Griggs, Peter Hennessey, Jon Campbell, Ian Burns, and Mikala Dwyer.
Installation shot, False Gods, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney. Photograph: Aaron Anderson
Beyond
Making its debut at Melbourne Art Fair in 2021, Beyond harnesses the monumental exhibition spaces within the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Carefully curated installations and spatial interventions 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.
Beyond Galleries & Artists
Hugo Michell Gallery, in collaboration with the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre | Garawan Wanambi and Manini Gumana
Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin | Dr Christian Thompson AO
Murray White Room | Constanze Zikos
Neon Parc | Taree MacKenzie
Sutton Gallery | David Rosetzky
The Commercial | Archie Moore
David Rosetszky, Composite Acts, 2019, Film Still | Courtesy the Artist & Sutton Gallery. This project is supported by the City of Melbourne arts grants program.
Project Rooms
Providing a platform for experimentation, Project Rooms showcases the work of artists that push the boundaries of art practice through performance and multimedia works. This year, discover new works from Gertrude Contemporary and LAST Collective.
Gertrude Contemporary is a non-commercial and independent space based in Melbourne, Australia, offering artists freedom for risk-taking, innovation and ambition. The artistic program is unique with its equal emphasis on the production and presentation of contemporary art, supporting artists to explore new ideas and present risk-taking work at pivotal points in their careers.
LAST Collective Light and Air and Space and Time (LAST) is an artist collective based in Melbourne, Australia. Founding members Beth Arnold, Melanie Irwin, Katie Lee, Clare Rae and Hanna Tai have come together with shared affinities among their practices and a firm belief that independent artists don’t have to work alone.
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.
