Lisa Slade to Explore How Collections Shape Australian Art History

Sydney Contemporary will host Making History on Friday, 4 September 2026, from 3:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Collector Lounge at Carriageworks. The talk forms part of the programme for the fair’s tenth edition, which runs from 3 to 6 September.

The session will be led by curator and art historian Lisa Slade. She will examine how collections shape Australian art history, moving across forms that include bark painting and ceramics. The event description focuses on contemporary works acquired at Sydney Contemporary since 2013: how those works draw on earlier Australian art histories and how artists and collections contribute to new historical narratives.

Slade is the Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History at the University of Melbourne’s School of Culture and Communication. From 2015 to 2024 she served as Assistant Director, Artistic Programs at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Her curatorial projects include 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; and national touring exhibitions devoted to Ben Quilty and Kungka Kunpu (Strong Women).

Making History offers fair visitors a focused look at the relationship between collecting and art history: not only how collections preserve existing narratives, but also how contemporary acquisitions and the artists behind them can change the stories institutions and audiences tell about Australian art.