Description

Since its founding in 1972, the Potter Museum of Art has been located across a number of sites on the University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus. The current Swanston Street building was designed by Katsalidis Architects and first opened to the public in 1998. After a period of closure between 2018–2024, the Potter reopens in 2025 with an extension designed by Wood Marsh Architects featuring state-of-the-art teaching and learning studios and upgraded social, events and associated amenities—all of which are accessible through a new, distinctive arched entry on campus. 

The Potter is one of the homes of the University of Melbourne Art Collection, with work spanning antiquity to contemporary practice. While the principal focus of the Collection is Australian art, a range of international works include gifts from distinguished alumni and teaching collections that demonstrate the strong connections between the University’s cultural collections and its academic programs. Notable for its breadth, the Collection—now numbering some 18,000 works—is uniquely connected to the University’s history while also responding to our evolving cultural landscape.

What's On

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art celebrates the brilliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art while confronting the dark heart of Australia’s colonial history and proclaims the importance of Indigenous knowledge and agency. The exhibition features more than 450 works, including rarely-seen artworks and cultural objects from the University of Melbourne’s collections, 193 important loans from 77 private and public lenders and six new commissions.

Curated by Associate Provost and Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton AO, Senior Curator Judith Ryan AM, and Associate Curator Shanysa McConville—in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and custodians of art traditions—the exhibition explores the recognition of Indigenous art and its rise to prominence globally.