Public Art Melbourne

As we reflect during National Reconciliation Week, we’d like to share a bold new artwork by Lisa Waup and recognise the power of art in truth-telling, connection and collective healing.

Waup's artwork, presented on an 83-metre-long hoarding, holds space for the upcoming immersive public artwork in development for University Square. The artwork at this site will be an expression of First Peoples cultural continuity, storytelling and enduring connection to Country. It’s envisioned as a shared place, one that holds memory and movement, and encourages us to consider our collective presence and future together.

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Lisa Waup is a mixed-cultural First Nations artist and curator based in narrm (Melbourne). Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses weaving, experimental printmaking, sculpture, fashion, body adornment and public art. Possessing a keen sensitivity to the symbolic and cultural significance of materials, Waup’s practice is informed by personal experience, family history, Country, and broader historical and social narratives.

delivers the Creative Hoardings program. Visit bit.ly/3YFcmCA for more information.

waup

Test Sites 2026 is off to an excellent start with the first of two initial workshops kicking off the program last weekend.

We welcomed artists Rachel Hanlon , Rachel Lewindon , Sara Tuell .art Tom Richards and Diego Faivre

Head of Creative Urban Places John Cunningham and Lynda Roberts of .assembly led enlightening and engaging sessions, all expertly facilitated by Arie Rain Glorie

Congratulations to all of our artists!

We’re looking forward to seeing the projects' development and testing over the course of the program.

Expressions of Interest are now open for a large-scale public mural on the exterior of the new Kensington Community Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

We're seeking an artist or artist team to create a work that responds to the public realm, nature and the local community, strengthening the connection between the building and its context.

Open to Victoria‑based artists.

Paid concept stage for shortlisted artists.

No designs required at this stage.

EOI closes 18 May 2026.

Details via www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/kensington-recreation-centre-mural

Calling all artists! Grants of up to $25,000 are now available to bring bold, one-off arts projects to life in our city in 2027.

The Annual Arts Grants program supports artists to deliver impactful creative outcomes in our city.

Individual artists and small to medium arts organisations across all disciplines including performance art, music, dance, theatre, and visual art are encouraged to apply.

Apply now melbourne.vic.gov.au/annual-arts-grants

Applications close 11.59pm, Wednesday 6 May 2026.

Image: Solar Cells, Mat Watson 2023. 📷: Yunis

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating women artists who challenge, reshape and expand the world around us – as beautifully illustrated by Emily Floyd’s relief etching: 'A Little Community'.

Part of ’s Art & Heritage Collection, this work showcases Floyd’s skill as a critically and historically engaged printmaker. Drawing on Germaine Greer’s 1970 manifesto 'The Female Eu**ch', it critiques the limiting effects of sexual reductionism and determinism.

Straddling literary, graphic and leftist traditions, 'A Little Community' reflects concrete poetry, poster design and the graphic potential of typography in form, and community activism and social politics in content.

Expressions of Interest are now open for Test Sites 2026.

If you're an artist new to working in the public realm, we want to hear from you. We're looking for public art ideas that:
🔸are bold, compelling and clearly articulated.
🔸aim to activate the city in interesting and engaging ways.
🔸are site specific and consider and relate to the proposed site.

Still not sure whether your idea is suitable?

Register for our online information session to learn more about the Test Sites program, what kind of projects we’re looking for and how to prepare a strong application.

Wednesday 4 March at 6.30pm.

Register at bit.ly/3OFUfcV to reserve your place.

BIG congratulations to Test Sites 2025 artist Chris Nichols .sarap!

Chris took out the Ashlyn Crawford prize at for his responsive audio-visual installation 'Daloy'.

A series of flexible LED screens, accompanied by an ambient soundscape, flow through the space like digital vines, forming a luminous structure woven into the surrounding architecture.

At its core 'Daloy' performs as a rift, a rupture in the everyday logic of the environment that introduces an alternate layer of perception.

Installed at this year’s NotFair, the work contrasts sharply with its former corporate office setting. It inserts a living, responsive stream of visuals, softening, interrupting, and reanimating the architecture.

You can see Chris’ artwork at NotFair Art Fair LUST FOR LIFE
until 23 February
83 High Street, Prahran
11am - 5pm

📷: Matto Lucas, provided by NotFair Art Fair

Join curator Angela Bailey for a guided viewing of the City Gallery exhibition 'You Are Here: Melbourne Memory-scapes', followed by a q***r history walk around the nearby city streets presented as a part of .

'You Are Here' engages with a collection of black-and-white aerial photographs of Melbourne/Naarm from the 1960s. Originally used in mapping and surveying, in this context these photographs invite the viewer to explore the nuances of memory, place and connection, to locate themselves and establish their sense of belonging. We trace our memories to find ourselves here.

The striking photographs are in conversation with other items from the Art and Heritage Collection. Most notably, they are in happy tension with commissioned text works by Wergaia/Wemba poet Susie Anderson
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Angela Bailey is a curator, photographer and creative producer, and vice president of the Australian Q***r Archives. She has curated numerous exhibitions at galleries and museums across Australia, most recently the blockbuster Rennie Ellis exhibition ‘Melbourne Out Loud’ at State Library Victoria.

'You Are Here'
Curator Floor talk & walking tour with Angela Bailey
Saturday 31 January 2026
2pm to 3:30pm

Free but booking required for Walking Tour

Book your spot via 🔗 in bio or visit bit.ly/4aW9xmO