The University of Melbourne has announced the new group exhibition, The same crowd never gathers twice, presented at Buxton Contemporary from 10 May – 13 October 2024. The exhibition features new work by Cate Consandine, Riana Head-Toussaint and Yona Lee, alongside significant projects by Taryn Simon, Angela Goh and Laresa Kosloff.

Spanning moving image, sound, sculptural intervention and performance, the exhibition tests the limits of the ‘arena’— the setting where people come together to collectively witness and participate in public life. Works consider the social and structural architectures that bind these spaces, and by extension, the elastic nature of performance and reality, audience and participant.

The same crowd never gathers twice invites audiences to consider their own presence and agency inside the gallery: their role as passive spectators versus the potential for a more active form of engagement. Annika Aitken, Curator, Art Museums at the University of Melbourne said: “Throughout the exhibition’s duration, the physical gallery is offered as an active site for discussions, new work and performance responses.

Two major art projects by multidisciplinary artists Lauren Brincat and Rochelle Haley are set to enliven Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct in April and June as part of a new Laneway Art Program.

The leading Australian artists have been commissioned by Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct and supported by Transport for NSW’s Safer Cities program, with an aim to improve the night-time connectivity and comfort in the precinct through performance-based and site-specific artwork.

Heide Museum of Modern Art announces a new exhibition that will explore the complex significance of hair in contemporary culture through a selection of Australian and international works of art. Presented from 4 May to 6 October 2024, the exhibition titled Hair Pieces brings together historic and recent works encompassing a wide array of media such as painting, photography, video, installation, sculpture and recorded live performance.

The 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, opens to the public this weekend. Over 400 artworks by 96 artists and collectives, alongside a dynamic public program, will be presented across the city from 9 March to 10 June 2024.

A major international art festival and the largest contemporary art event of its kind in Australia, the 24th Biennale of Sydney is presented at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artspace, Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney Opera House, UNSW Galleries and at the iconic and recently restored White Bay Power Station, which opens its doors to the public for the first time in over 100 years.

With the artistic direction led by Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, the 24th Biennale of Sydney proposes celebration as both a method and a source of joy, inspired by legacies of collective resistance and coming together to thrive in the face of injustice. With an exhibition of contemporary art at its core, the event draws from multiple histories, voices and perspectives.

Image caption: Installation view, Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennale of Sydney 2024, Art Gallery of New South Wales, featuring art by Pacific Sisters (foreground) and Robert Gabris (wall) photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Christopher Snee.