Over two decades, I have presented conference papers, participated in and chaired panels, opened exhibitions and presented guest lectures at numerous venues in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. In my current role at the University of Melbourne, I deliver lectures and tutorials, and communicate regularly with students across all faculties and levels.
Recent speaking engagements include:
An in conversation with photographer Julie Millowick at Castlemaine Art Museum on the occasion of her exhibition Surrounding, curated by Jenny Long, March 2024.
Opening remarks for Doubt (Again) a group exhibition by Lou Hubbard, Sanja Pahoki, Kiron Robinson and Lani Seligman, at Maroondah City Council, Ringwood, December 2023.
A short paper for ‘Paul Knight: Intimacy, AI and the Galaxy’, panel discussion for the closing weekend of Paul’s survey exhibition L’ombre de ton ombre (The shadow of your shadow), at Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, December 2023.
A conversation with Sophia Cai, Patrick Pound and Susan van Wyk to launch the publication Photography: Real and Imagined at The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, October, 2023. Chaired by Megan Patty.
Recent public research presentations include:
‘Self and Other: Inhabiting the Spaces of Artistic Research’, keynote address, Higher Degree Research Seminar I, School of Art and Design, Australian National University, Canberra, 2021
‘Tensile Frontiers’, conference presentation with Dr Cate Consandine and Dr Mark Shorter, presentation at the ACUADS Conference: Engagement, RMIT University/Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2019
‘Collection-based learning in the university museum: A Potter perspective’, with Kelly Gellatly, AMAGA Symposium: University Collections: Object-based Learning, Teaching and Engagement, University of Melbourne, 2019
Keynote lecture, Cutting Through to the Lost World: a John Stezaker Symposium, Centre for Contemporary Photography, 2018
‘A Museum Made Digital’, conference presentation at The Knowledgeable Object, Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2018
‘The Artist as Curator as Artist’, lecture at the Photography Symposium, National Gallery of Victoria, 2017
Here’s a short video of me speaking about an artwork I love in the University of Melbourne Art Collection:
Here’s a video of ‘Zombie Art History’, a panel I participated in at QAGOMA on the opening weekend of the Australian Art Collection in September 2017. Chaired by Dr Amelia Barikin, Lecturer in Art History, School of Communication and Arts, The University of Queensland, ‘Zombie Art History’ used the Australian collection rehang as a launching point for exploring alternative approaches to displaying and conceptualising Australian art, drawing upon the non-chronological hang as a focal point for thinking about broader questions of chronology in museology. With panellists Michael Aird, Adjunct Associate Lecturer and Research Fellow, School of Social Science, University of Queensland and Dr Rex Butler, Professor (Art History & Theory), Monash University.
Kyla McFarlane 