22 Jul 2025

Sydney Contemporary announces lineup for curated programs alongside exhibitor presentation highlights

Sydney, Australia: Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with Principal Partner MA Financial Group, today announced the lineup for its curated programs, Installation, Performance, Kid Contemporary and Talks, alongside exhibitor presentation highlights. Presented from 11 - 14 September 2025 at Carriageworks the longstanding Presenting Partner of the fair, the ninth edition is the largest to date, featuring 114 exhibitors, more than 500 artists, and the debut of new sector Photo Sydney.

INSTALLATION AND PERFORMANCE CONTEMPORARY

Curated by Director of UNSW Galleries José da Silva, the 2025 program for Installation and Performance Contemporary showcases works that extend beyond the traditional booth presentation, providing an opportunity to experience innovative, site-specific, and interactive installations and live performance within the unique architecture and atmosphere of Carriageworks.

From the spectacular to the intimate, the program features a special performance by Dr Christian Thompson AO, and nine showstopping installations by artists from Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand that expand the fields of painting and sculpture, activate sound, performance, and kinetic form, and respond to everyday materials and vernacular design.

Artists and artworks include:

• Dr Christian Thompson AO will give two live performances of his work Recital on the opening night, Art Night, of the Fair on Thursday 11 September. Building on 25 years of engagement with recorded sound and the revival of his family’s endangered Bidjara language, Thompson enacts a powerful reclamation through vocalization. His performances offer an immersive experience, transforming contemporary art spaces into living sites for the resurgence of language. Presented by Michael Reid, Sydney + Berlin.
• Award-winning Aotearoa New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana CNZM presents a new site-specific kinetic sculpture created specifically for Sydney Contemporary 2025, located on the exterior of the Carriageworks building. The work references a waharoa—the traditional Maori gateway in front of a marae—and a pare, or door lintel, that serves as a boundary marker, separating the outside world from the sacred space within. Thousands of shimmering discs designed to reflect sunlight animate the building’s entrance, transforming it into a living tapestry that responds to wind and light, creating an architectural blessing for all who pass under as they embark on their journey inside Sydney Contemporary. Presented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert.
• Kalisolaite 'Uhila presents Kelekele Mo’ui (Living Soil), a day-long endurance performance that sees the artist sitting still while buried up to his neck in a pile of soil within the Fair on Saturday 13 September. Exploring the relationship between land, labour, and life, the work contrasts moments of intense physical exertion with the stillness of maumau-taimi—a concept translated as “wasting time”—to question the value systems shaping our understanding of productivity, gender, and the body. Presented by Michael Lett Gallery with support by UNSW Galleries.
• Jonny Niesche presents a major new work that builds on recent collaborations with Mark Pritchard, using low-frequency sound and vibration to subtly activate the body and space, creating a synesthetic encounter with Niesche’s paintings. Drawing on the atmospheric qualities of colour field painting, psychedelia, and spiritual abstraction, these works invite a contemplative, almost meditative engagement with the sensorial present. Presented by 1301SW|STARKWHITE.
• Zac Langdon-Pole presents Memory Garden, a suite of five 1:1 marble replica of iconic sculptures from antiquity and modernity, from Michelangelo’s David (1504) to Rodin’s The Kiss (1882), reproduced with their human figures removed. What remains—the rocks, foliage, and stumps—are elevated from supporting detail to central subject, inviting quiet contemplation of absence, presence, and the ghostly persistence of collective memory. Presented by STATION.
• Aboriginal artist collective Tennant Creek Brio presents UAP: Unidentified (Ab)original Phenomenon, a sculpture that takes the form of an Australian gothic guardian angel or “petrochemical effigy”. The work exemplifies Tennant Creek Brio’s method of collage, assemblage, and creative creolisation with found objects and materials. Presented by CASSANDRA BIRD.
• Helen Calder presents Stacked, continuing her practice of folding and layering paint skins atop everyday objects such as stools, playfully investigating ideas of balance, compression, and the performative relationship between structure and support. Calder builds chromatic complexity through multiple translucent layers, inviting viewers to consider painting as a pliable, dynamic form that resists containment. Presented by Two Rooms.
• Augusta Vinall Richardson presents an ambitious new sculptural work crafted from stainless steel that navigates repetition and variation, verticality, and unpredictability. Each modular element has its own visionary artist Jonny Niesche whose commissioned collaboration with Gucci has been emblazoned across SoHo, New York.
• Designing Spaces for an Artful Life | 12 September, 1.30pm
  Hotels, galleries and offices can optimise the emotional impact of art and design to create highly desirable environments beyond the home. This session brings together Charlotte Wilson, the interior designer of Sydney’s chicest new hotel The Eve; William Smart, designer of some of the best houses in Australia; Architect Kerstin Thompson, designer of some of NSW’s major cultural destinations, and gallerist Kitty Clark of Saint Cloche, renowned for parlaying artists into chic hospitality and workplace settings. A prominent art consultant, Mark Hughes jumps into the fray, weighing in on how art can transform even the most commercial spaces.
• My brat summer | 12 September, 3pm
  For the divas, the disruptors, and the chronically online. My brat summer assembles the art world’s culturally omnivorous agents of change—those rewriting the rules with irony, intellect, and high-gloss bravado. Think pop star Charli XCX meets historian and critic Claire Bishop: they’re unserious about seriousness, allergic to legacy, and fluent in critical theory. Moderated by artist Jazz Money, speakers include Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tim Riley Walsh, First Nations curator Coby Edgar, Founder and Artistic Director of PHOTO Australia and PHOTO International Festival of Photography in Melbourne Elias Redstone and Director, Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery Toby Chapman.
• True Believers | 12 September, 5pm
  From those who still care, paying attention, asking what’s next? True Believers brings together artists and organisers who’ve stayed in the art world – through its shifts, its challengers and its contradictions. Join them as they talk about belief, burnout, soft power, and what it takes to keep going with care and imagination. Speakers include artist, writer and curator Glenn Barkley, Artistic Director and CEO of ACCA, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Myles Russel Cook, artworld veteran Richard Perram OAM and artist and curator Talia Smith.
• Design Made to Collect: The Art of the Object | 13 September, 12pm
  This panel is a deep dive into the increasingly lucrative field of collectible design and asks how both art and design together can enhance the experience of our interiors. Lineup includes: Don Cameron, a designer of exquisite furniture and lighting; Jillian Dinkel, an ex-American Vogue photo production whizz turned award-winning Sydney-based interior designer; Adam Goodrum, an industrial designer whose limited-edition work fetches upward of $200,000; and Brisbane gallerist Danielle Renshaw, who is refining that city’s art focus ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

Talks is supported by The Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.
 

KID CONTEMPORARY

Celebrated Australian artist Glenn Barkley, known for his bold and colourful ceramic works, presents “Positive! Affirmation! Workshop!”, a hands-on creative space for kids at the Fair. This playful, joy-fuelled installation invites young visitors into a world of self-expression, collage and colour. One wall is wallpapered in Barkley’s signature artwork, while a series of interactive stations let kids cut out fun shapes from paper - pots, shells, faces, tokens - and turn them into wearable pieces including necklaces, badges and stickers, with punchy, motivational slogans like “You’re the greatest!” and “There are no losers in contemporary art!”.

Glenn Barkley is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf. Materials are supported by Standish & Co., and Kid Contemporary is supported by The Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.

BOOTH HIGHLIGHTS

Across the four sectors, Galleries, Future, Works on Paper and Photo Sydney, highlight presentations include:
 

• Michael Lett presents a solo exhibition by Mike Hewson, with a new series of unique sculptures sold in a grocery store model priced by weight and packaged with the ease of a cash and carry style transaction in a custom designed-for-life tote bag that buyers can take home. Titled GeoPets, these sculptures reconfigure vitrified construction bricks with crystals, rare gems and homewares.
• Neon Parc presents a bold group exhibition, featuring Colleen Ahern, Hugo Blomley, Dale Frank, Maria Kozic, and Rob McLeish. Exploring themes of desire, glamour, death, and decay, the presentation underscores the gallery’s commitment to artists who challenge conventions. Highlights include Maria Kozic’s iconic T.I.T.S (1991); new sculptures by Hugo Blomley; Dale Frank’s reflective work Beach 30s (2015); Rob McLeish’s investigations into visual culture and entropy; and Colleen Ahern’s new copper-plate paintings, merging pop and devotional imagery.
• Niagara Galleries presents Julia Ciccarone’s first solo exhibition in Sydney, unveiling a new series of paintings that explore our complex relationship with nature, memory, and responsibility. Winner of the 2024 Len Fox and 2021 Archibald ANZ People’s Choice Awards, Ciccarone blends figurative and dreamlike imagery, often drawn from storyboards, personal objects, and lived experience. Her cinematic approach - shaped by collaborations with filmmaker Kasimir Burgess - imbues each work with narrative depth and emotional resonance.
• Ames Yavuz presents a dynamic booth featuring new works by Abdul Abdullah, Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Billy Bain, Emily Floyd, Vincent Namatjira, Reko Rennie and Caroline Rothwell, with an immersive solo installation by Harriette Bryant. The presentation explores themes of identity, history, and cultural memory through diverse practices—ranging from satirical posters and sculptural installations to feminist typography and bold iconography. Harriette Bryant’s powerful installation transforms everyday domestic objects into vessels of personal and communal history, reclaiming narratives of displacement and resilience.
• Justin Miller Art presents a selection of work, including a major painting by Emily Kam Kngwarreye, following her acclaimed retrospective at Tate Modern - offering a rare chance to experience the scale and power of her work. Also debuting is a previously unseen 1974 self-portrait by Brett Whiteley, an intimate and revealing piece from a pivotal moment in his career. The presentation reflects the gallery’s ongoing commitment to showcasing seminal works by leading 20th and 21st century artists.
• OLSEN Gallery presents two exhibitions, one in the main Galleries sector and another in Photo Sydney. In the main sector, a solo presentation of new paintings and sculpture by artist and designer Louise Olsen of Designer Designs is presented alongside a smaller room promoting blue chip secondary market works by John Olsen, Fred Williams, Nicholas Harding, Emily Kam Kngwarreye among others. In Photo Sydney, a solo exhibition of new works by US-based Australian photographer George Byrne from his Synthetica series, marks the first time this group of works will be exhibited together.
• Jonathan Smart Gallery | Emily Gardener Projects presents an artist-led immersive installation by Julia Morison, featuring a full set of 78 illustrated tarot cards designed by the artist, with tarot readings offered to visitors onsite at the gallery booth. The work expands on Morison’s investigation into ancient systems of knowledge, spiritual symbolism and the collective unconscious.
• Paul Blackmore presents his recent photographic series The Distance Between, a journey through the heart of Australia marked by hardship and beauty and softened by time. It is a portrait of resilience, found in quiet moments and vast landscapes alike. (Photo Sydney)
• EG Projects presents a powerful lineup of five powerhouse mid-career Indigenous women artists from Western Australia. Featuring works by female artists aged between 40 and 80, including Amanda Bell, Doreen Chapman, May Chapman, Wendy Warry and Leah Umbagai, the presentation includes painting on canvas, acrylic, bark and ochre works; offering a dynamic range of mediums grounded in cultural knowledge, personal narrative, identity and political consciousness.
• Hugo Michell Gallery presents four contemporary Australian painters who bring global experience to their medium. Paintings on stringy bark and Larrakitj by Garawan Wa.ambi sit opposite large-scale paintings by Georgia Spain, exploring painted mark making, text and abstraction. Richard Lewer paints verso onto unprimed canvas, fighting with the limits of the medium, and William Mackinnon grapples with belonging in large scale oil paintings merging his two homes; Australia and Spain.
• New exhibitor, Los Angeles based La Loma is pleased to present a dual exhibition of intimately scaled paintings by Rebecca Partridge and Skylar Hughes. Hughes’ layered, textured works evoke meditative landscapes where nature and memory intersect, while Partridge’s Sky Paintings, inspired by time spent in the Mojave Desert, explore ecology and atmosphere through a restrained palette and cinematic depth. Together, their works create a dialogue between materiality and meaning, tracing personal and collective memory through abstracted natural forms.
• Redbase Art presents Chinese artist Shen Shaomin’s Chinese Carp installation of 2000 mechanical carps that illustrate the consequences of human desire and artificiality. These mechanical carps confront the duality of artificial creation and natural creatures, and act as a reminder of man’s impact on nature. Visitors can purchase a canned carp from the installation.
• The National Art School returns to the fair to present the next wave of emerging artists at Sydney Contemporary. This dynamic group of nine recent NAS graduates showcases work across the school’s six major disciplines: Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Ceramics, Photomedia, and Drawing. Featured artists include Jake Bartley and Harrison Chao (Painting), Lewis Doherty (Sculpture), Isabella Kennedy and Taylor Steel (Printmaking), Christian Bonett and Megan McKenzie (Ceramics), Joanna Ng (Photomedia), and Rachel Mackay (Drawing). Together, their diverse practices reflect the strength and breadth of contemporary artmaking at NAS.
• Nasha Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new paintings and small sculptures by Mark Maurangi Carrol, reflecting on questions of scale, movement, and representation from a diasporic Pacific perspective. Titled Islands not to scale (ueata) - Act III, the exhibition takes inspiration from his mother’s birthplace of the Cook Island, interrogating misrepresentations of Pacific geography and culture. (Future)
• Sydney-based photographer Toby Burrows new series of photographic works exploring rich landscapes, interrupted by the presence of ornate mirrors. Mirrors have always held an intrigue for the artist whilst presenting instances of conflicting interpretation. Whether for self-observation or as a metaphor, the mirrors in each scene seem to suggest a portal to elsewhere. (Photo Sydney)
• 16albermarle Project Space & Project Eleven presents five young and mid-career Indonesian artists—Agnes Christina, Dias Prabu, Kuncir Sathya Viku, Made Suarimbawa Dalbo, and Theresia Agustina Sitompul - each offering unique perspectives shaped by diverse regions and cultural backgrounds across the archipelago. The presentation explores identity, history, and tradition through labor-intensive practicesincluding batik-inspired techniques, cyanotype, drawing, and sculptural works on paper. Anchored by returning artists Agnes Christina and Dias Prabu, and introducing three new voices, the booth continues the gallery’s focus on cross-cultural dialogue, material experimentation, and connecting Australian audiences with Southeast Asian contemporary art. (Works on Paper)
   

Sydney Contemporary Fair Director Zoe Paulsen said: “This year’s Sydney Contemporary is bigger and bolder than ever. We’re welcoming more exhibitors, more artists, and launching exciting new initiatives like Photo Sydney. Whether you're a seasoned collector or just curious about contemporary art, there’s something here for everyone. It’s a chance to experience boundary-pushing installations, live performance, and thought-provoking conversations, all under one roof at Carriageworks at Australasia’s premier art fair. We can’t wait to share it with you.”

Tickets to Sydney Contemporary are available to purchase here.

Sydney Contemporary is supported proudly by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

Ends

MEDIA CONTACTS: To request interviews, further information or imagery please contact:
Jasmine Hersee, jasmine@articulateadvisory.com, 0451 087 196
Siân Davies, sian@articulateadvisory.com, 0402 728 462

IMAGES: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wKExjRPOHpvpxgYeQNv3z2skfdYfM865?usp=sharing