Description

Buxton Contemporary was initiated in 2014 with a landmark act of philanthropy through the Michael and Janet Buxton Foundation. Along with the donation of their significant collection of contemporary Australian art to the University of Melbourne, the Buxtons provided funds to build this public art gallery on the university’s Victorian College of the Arts Southbank campus, designed by Fender Katsalidis.

Opening its doors in 2018, Buxton Contemporary continues the ethos of Michael and Janet Buxton’s approach to collecting by supporting contemporary artists and engaging with the development of artistic practice.

Buxton Contemporary’s dynamic program of solo and thematic exhibitions, artist commissions and publishing and learning initiatives connects contemporary art to new audiences, and demonstrates the transformative potential of creative thinking and art-led exchanges of ideas in an educational context.

What's On

A new group exhibition The Same Crowd Never Gathers Twice tests the limits of the ‘arena’— the setting where we come together to collectively witness and participate in public life—with works spanning moving image, sound installation, sculptural intervention and performance.

Together, these works consider the social and structural architecture that binds spaces of public life, and, by extension, the elastic natures of performance and reality, and the audience and participant. While the exhibition is on, the gallery becomes an active site for critical discussion and performance responses. 

Participating artists include Cate Consandine, Angela Goh, Riana Head-Toussaint, Laresa Kosloff, Yona Lee and Taryn Simon.