Public Art Commission

Public Art Commission A research initiative focused on the curation, delivery and analysis of public art projects.

Expressions of Interest open | Public Art Commission and Deakin University are thrilled to partner again with Wyndham Ci...
07/09/2026

Expressions of Interest open | Public Art Commission and Deakin University are thrilled to partner again with Wyndham City to support a Wyndham-based artist to work on the international stage during the Venice Biennale.

Curated by Cameron Bishop and David Cross, Venetian Kind is an ambitious practice-led research project presented with the European Cultural Centre. Building on the success of the 2024 Venetian Bind project, Venetian Kind brings together artists and researchers from Deakin University (Australia), Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand), LASALLE College of the Arts (Singapore) and IUAV University of Venice (Italy) to explore new forms of international collaboration, experimental curation and place-responsive artistic practice.

The Venetian Kind project will take place in Venice from 19–24 October 2026, with the successful applicant required to travel to Venice no later than 17 October 2026.

The mentorship aims to support the professional and creative development of a local practitioner while building the creative capacity of the Wyndham community through cross-cultural exchange and international experience.

Applications close: 5pm, Tuesday 15 September 2026

Find out more and apply: https://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/venice-biennale-mentorship

Image: Stills from the Venetian Bind project with previous mentorship recipient , 2024.

"The very limited timescale of the work’s exhibition may suggest that its impact is overtly ephemeral, that it briefly r...
24/07/2026

"The very limited timescale of the work’s exhibition may suggest that its impact is overtly ephemeral, that it briefly resonates and recasts our understanding of place and community before flickering out. Yet such a perspective wilfully overlooks the capacity of dextrously constructed temporary public artworks to exceed their temporality, to continue to oscillate wildly and impact well after the project has officially concluded. The impact of temporary situated artworks can, of course, be greater simply for their inherent and circumscribed constraints, for the knowledge that their beauty, value and impact are based on a fleeting imperative of valuing what is here now rather than what will still be there over extended durations. This condition, we might describe as temporal intensity, prefaces the significance of encounter, of exchange, of dialogues that may continue to extend the artworks’ existence and agency for as long as audiences reflect on it and share their experiences."
-
New in British-based journal Art & the Public Sphere (Vol 14) from PAC's Cameron Bishop and David Cross is a reflection on the Treatment 3 project (2023). Highlighting commissioned work 'Tending a Line in the Year of the Rabbit' by Linda Tegg and other works from the project, the article investigates how notions of ephemerality in temporary public art projects are recast by the unforeseen interference of both natural and commercial forces.
-
Images: Linda Tegg, Tending a Line in the Year of the Rabbit (Treatment Public Art Project) 2023. Spotswood.

Skeleton Creek is a stretch of country in Truganina that, like much of Melbourne’s outer west, carries layers of infrast...
26/03/2025

Skeleton Creek is a stretch of country in Truganina that, like much of Melbourne’s outer west, carries layers of infrastructure and history in ways that are both visible and not. While the creek wends its way across the the volcanic plain, the site itself is inscribed by two major engineering feats: Melbourne Water’s aqueduct and the decommissioned Main Outfall Sewer (MOS) which it shoulders; an artery of urban sanitation that once transported the city’s waste to Werribee. These are the sorts of structures that shape cities while remaining largely unnoticed - unless, of course, you’re paying attention.

The Public Art Commission’s task was to curate and produce a project that wouldn’t just decorate or embellish the place, but would ask deeper questions about how culture, infrastructure, and landscape intersect. Through extensive consultation - with local residents, community groups, multiple stakeholders, and, crucially, the Bunurong and Boon Wurrung peoples on whose unceded lands all this is situated - what emerged was a way of thinking about the site that foregrounded its deep-time histories as much as its engineered present. With this in mind, and as a direct result of the consultation, the commission brief was framed for a First Nations artist: someone whose work could respond to the entanglements of place, history, and culture, while setting the tone for future public art projects along the revitalised pipeline, that connects communities for 35km from the old pumping station at Scienceworks in Spotswood, down to Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment plant.

From an open call for expressions of interest, three artists were shortlisted and supported to develop their concepts further, their ideas refined through dialogue with the many voices shaping this project. And in the end, through this staged and considered process, we were privileged to commission Kait James, whose artwork Narrarrang Ngarri has finally arrived at the site - a bold and profoundly layered work that stretches across the ridegeline of the MOS.

Address

Truganina, VIC

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Public Art Commission posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Public Art Commission:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category