The best art exhibitions in Melbourne this weekend

Italian polymath, painter, inventor and astounding genius Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most celebrated artists and scientists of all time, yet seeing his works is typically out of reach for the average Aussie. Well, all that’s about to change thanks to the Lume Melbourne’s new immersive experience opening on March 16.  Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius will feature massive projections of some of the world’s most famous works of art, including the ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘The Last Supper’. These four-storey high projections showcase da Vinci’s breathtaking Renaissance paintings in a way that’s much more accessible than a trip to the Louvre.  Alongside da Vinci’s visually stunning artworks, this exhibition will also focus on his excellence as an inventor with ideas far beyond his era. His pioneering work in architecture and engineering laid the foundation for the technology we enjoy today. That’s why alongside his art, the exhibition will also feature groundbreaking inventions from his notebooks recreated to scale by Italian artisans, including flying machine concepts that predate human flight by more than 400 years.  As if that wasn’t exciting enough, for the first time in history, original pages of da Vinci’s sketches and writings will touch down in Australia. The Codex Atlanticus is a 500-year-old collection of Leonardo’s innermost workings, previously displayed in the likes of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre. Now, Melburnians and visitors alike will be able t

The Immigration Museum on Flinders Street is getting its first major exhibition in several years and it’s all about leaning into what makes us happy. The exhibition, called Joy, opens on Friday, March 1 and will run through until August 29, 2024. Joy features seven brand new commissioned installations from leading Victorian-based creatives, each expressing the artists’ own personal joy. You can expect an emotive adventure where colour and storytelling combine, and big happy moments that sit alongside more reflective ones. Experience the vibrant power of joy as you walk amongst room-sized interactive artworks, or contribute your own joy with the collaborative ‘share your joy’ wall. Venezuelan-born Australian artist Nadia Hernández has filled the Immigration Museum’s hallway with bold collage works, ‘future positive’ fashion designer Nixi Killick has created a ‘joy generator’ and queer artist Spencer Harrison has created a runway where you can strut your stuff. Jazz Money, a Wiradjuri poet and artist, has fused sculpture, audio and mural for a work reflecting the history of the museum site, while local artist Beci Orpin has taken over a room with a giant toy rabbit made to be hugged. Afghanistan-Australian visual artist and poet Elyas Alavi and Sher Ali have also created a large-scale mural illustrating a Persian myth.  Lastly, much-loved pop artist and designer Callum Preston has constructed a full-scale replica of a nineties video store, a joy he never thought he would miss u

We all know the story of the Afghan Girl. The searing portrait of an anonymous Afghan child with a pair of wildly green eyes has stood the test of time and war – its beauty, mystery and ability to wordlessly capture of the pain of a nation are all things that have struck a chord with millions of people since it was published by National Geographic back in 1985.  This groundbreaking snapshot is the work of American photographer Steve McCurry, whose vivid shots of the most colourful and obscure people and corners of the world have been seen in more places than most of us can count. And now, they’re all on the way to Melbourne.  As of February 28, Melbourne will become home to one of the most complete retrospectives of McCurry’s work ever seen. Named Icons, the exhibition will feature more than 100 large-format photographs of McCurry’s most famous images, including (of course), the portrait of Sharbat Gula, otherwise known as the 'Afghan Girl'. This exhibition gives Melburnians the chance to wander through time, history and the most remote corners of the world. Get transported to a desert in Jordan, a dust storm in rural India, an oil field in ‘90s Kuwait, and a silent green river in Kashmir – along with a whole host of other wild and wonderful places. No matter where you go with McCurry, humanity – in all its complex, beautiful contradictions – is always the protagonist.  All of this visceral travel will be going down at Seaworks Maritime Precinct in Williamstown from February

If you were to ask almost any local what Melbourne is best known for, there’s a chance you’ll get a reference to its laneways. While a good number of Melbourne laneways are already filled with art, eateries, and hidden bars, there are a fair few that are lesser known and haven’t reached their full laneway potential, until now. Supported by the City of Melbourne, Flash Forward is Melbourne’s most ambitious street art project, with over 40 large-scale works commissioned and set to hit the laneways of Melbourne. Among the program are familiar names like Celeste Mountjoy (filthyratbag), Jarra Karralinar Steel, Olana Janfa, Aretha Brown, DREZ, and Ling, with more lighting, music and creative installations in the works.  From Mountjoy’s ‘Your Turn’ on Little Lonsdale Street standing over six metres tall with vibrant pops of colour, through to LING’s gargantuan sculptural piece ‘Crushed Can’ on Wills Street paying homage to the city’s graffiti scene, Flash Forward is encouraging exploration with an element of surprise, as pieces seem to pop up across the city overnight. While a fair few pieces are already up, the ever-growing program list means there are still a bunch more pieces yet to hit the laneways of Melbourne.  If you’re interested in taking yourself on a laneway tour, there’s an interactive and printable map available on the Flash Forward website. Want more art? Check out the best street art spots in Melbourne.

You’ve likely seen the ‘Temple of Boom’ standing tall in the NGV Garden, but now there’s a new architectural work set to take shape in the gallery’s outdoor space. Building on a series of annual commissions including the much-loved Pink Pond and the aforementioned colourful Greek-style temple, this year’s NGV Architecture Commission has been announced and it’s sure to be just as breathtaking as its predecessors. However, unlike previous installations, this one will actually be doing the breathing. Opening on November 23, ‘(This is) Air’ will see a giant inflatable sphere that literally inhales and exhales throughout the day become the centrepiece of the garden. The balloon-like structure will morph throughout the day as it draws in and releases air in a natural rhythm. If you get close enough, you may even get to feel a gust as the sphere ‘exhales’.  The work will be created by award-winning Australian architect Nic Brunsdon in conjunction with Eness, a St Kilda-based art installation studio. At more than 14 metres tall, ‘(This is) Air’ seeks to make the invisible visible, drawing attention to the significance of the air we breathe. By making air seen, heard and felt, the work will encourage visitors to consider their connection with and dependency on air as a finite resource.  “The idea for the project was conceived by the architect during the global pandemic, when the air we breathed was suddenly at the forefront of everyone’s mind”, says Ewan McEoin, NGV’s senior curator o

Lovers of the written word rejoice; a free exhibition over at the State Library Victoria is spotlighting the history of book design, production and illustration from the Middle Ages to the present day. World of the Book features more than 300 rare, remarkable, historically significant items in the State Collection, each unravelling a unique story from its pages.  This year’s themes hone in on books and ideas; books and imagination; art and nature; artists and books; and Egyptology to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb.  Exhibition highlights include a book on astronomy as far back as 336CE, a 17th-century book defaced by cat paw prints, rare editions of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass on display and an edition of Mary Shelley’s science-friction masterpiece Frankenstein. Printed during the author’s lifetime, it is the first edition to contain a preface where Shelley recounts the story of the novel’s inception: on the shores of Lake Geneva during a thunderstorm where Mary, her husband Percy Shelley and Lord Byron competed with one another to tell the best ghoulish story.  World of the Book also includes several masterpieces by female writers on show for the first time, such as an embroidered binding that belonged to Henrietta Maria, the Queen Consort married to King Charles I until he was executed. The physicist Émilie du Châtelet’s most recognised achievement, her French translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, is also

Traversing time and space, Wurrdha Marra is a new exhibition celebrating the diversity of First Nations art and design. From October 12, the ground floor and foyer of the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia will become a dynamic and ever-changing exhibition space that displays masterpieces and never-before-shown works from the NGV’s First Nations collection. Translating to ‘many mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language, Wurrdha Marra will showcase pieces from emerging and established artists from across Australia, including Tony Abert, Treahna Hamn, Kent Morris, Marlene Gilson, Rover Thomas, Christian Thompson, Gary Lee, Nicole Monks, Gali Yalkarriwuy, Dhambit Mungunggurr, Nonggirrnga Marawili and more.  Highlights of the free exhibition include a large-scale installation of fish traps produced by Burrara women from Maningrida – the objects have been crafted over weeks using vines from the bush. Also on display is a new collection of contemporary resin boomerangs by Keemon Williams, a First Nations queer artist hailing from Meanjin/Brisbane. Another unseen work is titled History Repeats by Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku Yalanji contemporary artist Tony Albert, who has used mass-produced objects – from tea towels to ashtrays – to reframe Indigenous histories.  Altogether, the display offers a rich journey through pivotal moments in Australian art history from 65,000 years of First Peoples practices right through to the present day. Wurrdha Marra will be open from October 12 at the Ian