Join curator and art historian Lisa Slade and explore how collections shape Australian art history. From bark painting to ceramics, Australian art takes many forms and has many faces. Uncover how contemporary works of art collected at Sydney Contemporary since 2013 are indebted to Australian art history, and in turn learn how these works of art and their makers are playing a critical role in shaping new histories.
About the Speaker
Professor Lisa Slade is the Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Between 2015 and 2024 she was Assistant Director, Artistic Programs at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Lisa has curated major exhibitions including Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour, the 2019 Venice Biennale presentation of James Darling and Lesley Forwood’s Living rocks: a fragment of the universe, the 14th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Magic Object, the national touring exhibitions Quilty and the Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art’s Kungka Kunpu (Strong Women).
Both have witnessed the shrinking of arts coverage in Australian media and the changing role of the critic. What is lost when there are fewer independent voices willing to make difficult judgments? And what happens when those who remain feel the pressure to be everyone’s good friend?
John McDonald has been one of Australia’s most widely read art critics for more than four decades. He served three separate stints as senior art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, beginning at just 23 years of age, was Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, and is the author of The Art of Australia: Exploration to Federation. Since the Herald ended his column in 2024, he has continued writing independently, demonstrating that a critic can outlast the masthead.
Michael Reid OAM spent a decade as weekly art market columnist for The Australian before writing a weekly column for six years in the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Good Weekend. He is Chairman of Michael Reid Galleries, with spaces across Sydney, Berlin, regional Australia, and a space expected to open in Los Angeles in late 2026. Reid remains one of the country’s most recognisable voices on the Australian art market.
Be prepared for a kind but frank conversation about criticism, the changing media landscape, the art market, and why independent opinions, in this time of mass validation, still matter.
This talk will be held in the Collector Lounge, Sydney Contemporary
