Step into a garden of knowledge guided by three familiar figures from nature, each carrying symbolic and metaphorical weight that encourages us to reimagine what intelligence means.
Our new exhibition A velvet ant, a flower and a bird opens 19 February 2026 at the Potter Museum of Art.
🐜🌷🦉
Ingela Ihrman emerges from a sculptural costume of a flower made from paper-mache, textiles and handcrafted skins as part of our latest exhibition.
See A velvet ant, a flower and a bird Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
🐜🌸🕊️
A ginormous thank you to everyone who joined us for the eighth iteration of the Interdisciplinary forum.
Repair. Time. Consent. Machine. Care. Language. Water.
And now, Intelligence.
Inspired by our current exhibition A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, this one-day forum on Saturday 9 May brought together artists and researchers across disciplines for a dynamic discussion considering the scope of intelligence.
Convened by Dr Kyla McFarlane, Academic Engagement Fellow and Isabella Hone-Saunders, Assistant Curator, Art Museums. With thanks to our line-up of panellists and presenters, as well as the University of Melbourne's Burnley campus and the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation.
〰️
Photos by Darren Gill.
Step into the mind of one of the most influential figures in the contemporary art world.
Italian-American curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is visiting Australia for a series of public lectures, discussions and master classes. Here, she will share insights into platforming curatorial practice as a form of care, and as a vital tool for thinking, listening and responding to our shared historical moment.
This series is presented in partnership with The University of Queensland Art Museum, The University of Melbourne with support from the Potter Museum of Art, Art + Australia and the Dr Harold Schenberg Bequest, Australian Institute of Art History and the Macgeorge Bequest and Chau Chak Wing Museum, The University of Sydney and supported by Milani Gallery.
🔗 Read more at the link in bio.
See @uqartmuseum@ccwm_sydney@pottermusuem for local program details.
〰️
Image: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, 2026. Photo by Rainer Hosch. Courtesy of the speaker.
Join our reading group at the Potter Museum of Art! 🐛📖🐛📖🐛📖
Across three 90-minute sessions, we’ll explore what intelligence means through the intersecting lenses of curating, art-making and biosciences.
No prep needed. All readings provided. We’ll work through key texts together in a relaxed and conversational setting.
📆 Saturday 23 May, 30 May and 6 June
🕚 11am to 12.30pm
🔗 Express your interest at the link in our bio
We’re delighted to share that our 2025 exhibition 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art is the recipient of the Victorian Museums and Galleries Award for Large Project of the Year. 💙
Curated by Associate Provost and Distinguished Professor Marcia Langton AO, Senior Curator Judith Ryan AM, and Associate Curator Shanysa McConville, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and custodians, this exhibition revealed the importance and brilliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and knowledge while confronting the brutality of Australia’s colonial history.
Over 50,000 people joined us at the Potter Museum of Art to see this exhibition and to you, our visitors, we say thank you!
🔗 Learn more at the link in our bio.
〰️
Image 1: Janty Blair with Judith Ryan and Shanysa McConville from Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne, winner of Large Project of the Year. Photo: Peter Casamento.
Image 2-10: Installation view of 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2025. Photography by Astrid Mulder.
A stained glass window lies beneath Daphne Mohajer va Peseran’s Solar Rope.
Draped over the Leckie Window like a second skin, this colour-drenched work recalls petals, leaves and the internal architecture of flowers, forming a vertical organism that seems to grow upward like a hanging garden.
See it as part of A velvet ant, a flower and a bird. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
🐜🌷🦉
Consent. Time. Care. Repair. Language. Water.
These are just some of the ideas we’ve explored through our annual Interdisciplinary Forum.
This year, we turn to Intelligence.
Inspired by our current exhibition A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, and curator Chus Martínez’s call to rethink what intelligence can be, this one-day forum brings together artists and researchers from across disciplines.
📅 Saturday 9 May
🕙 10am to 4pm
🔗 Register at the link in our bio
An open love letter to the many flowers that have found their way into our latest exhibition. 💐
A velvet ant, a flower and a bird is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
🐜🌷🦉
〰️
Installation view of A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2026. Photography by Christian Capurro, Astrid Mulder and Darren Gill.
This ethereal work by Benjamin Armstrong is familiar yet undefinable, attractive yet grotesque.
See this seemingly impossible form created with hand-blown glass and pigmented wax as part of our latest exhibition.
A velvet ant, a flower and a bird is showing Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
Our latest exhibition is titled A velvet ant, a flower, and a bird.
Is it any wonder that we’re being asked, “what is a velvet ant?”
Technically, it’s not an ant at all, but a wingless wasp whose exoskeleton absorbs more than 99% of visible light.
Newly commissioned for the exhibition, ‘Specimen 1963’ involves a series of folding screens that trace the history and behaviour of Australia’s velvet ants. Panel by panel, you're invited to explore the lives of these remarkable creatures.
Visit A velvet ant, a flower, and a bird, Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
〰️
Image 2, 4, 5: Installation view of A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2026. Featuring Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, Specimen 1963 2026. Photography by Christian Capurro.
Image 3: Installation view of A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2026. Featuring Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, Specimen 1963 2026. Photography by Astrid Mulder.
