Free exhibitions are a great way to encounter art, whether it is at your local gallery or a big institution.
Here is a hand-picked list of free exhibitions in Tasmania this August.
Free exhibitions – quick links:
Greeno: Generations of Cultural Creation and Design and Helen Wright at Bett Gallery (1-23 August)
Highly respected Elders Aunty Lola Greeno and Uncle Rex Greeno showcase their culture and craft in this exhibition, which includes sculptural canoe made out of organic materials, drawings on paper, Pakana necklaces and more.
Helen Wright is celebrated in a solo exhibition with notable works that highlight her artistic practice over the course of four decades, including delicate pieces of wonder and intrigue on paper. Wright will soon have a survey exhibition at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery from 23 August.
Open Monday to Friday 10am-5.30pm and Saturday 10am-4pm.
Loren Kronemyer: Material World at Contemporary Art Tasmania (9 August to 27 September)
Materiel World explores the physical, logistical and social lives of objects via a highly loaded question: can we put it back in the ground? In this ecological fantasy, the artists will attempt to reverse-mine community e-waste for copper, to shoot back from where it came. For over ten years, Kronemyer has used worldbuilding projects including Ecosexual Bathhouse, After Erika Eiffel, Millennial Reaper and Cryptic Female Choice as pretense to learn and teach a range of skills useful to both individual and collective pursuit of survival.
Open Wednesday to Saturday 12-5pm.
Young Bloods IV at Despard Gallery (20 August to 13 September)
Now in its fourth iteration, Despard Gallery’s Young Bloods exhibition series supports new Tasmanian artists, providing a platform to help launch their careers on the commercial stage. Artists featured this year are Jonny Scholes, Aisha Sherman-Noth and Sam Wilkinson.
Open Monday to Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-4pm.
Vipoo Srivilasa re/JOY at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (until 24 August)
A major exhibition by Thai-born Australian artist Vipoo Srivilasa, re/JOY honours and celebrates the multi-layered personal migration stories of people from all over the world who, like Srivilasa, have made Australia their home. In 2023, the award-winning ceramic artist issued a public call-out for donations of broken ceramic objects that held significant meaning for their owners, and for their stories explaining why. From the responses, Srivilasa chose seven pieces and stories that resonated with him to create his striking new 1.5-metre-tall ceramic sculptures
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am-4pm.
Sam Jinks || Mortal Reflections at Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Royal Park, Launceston (until 8 March 2026)
Sam Jinks || Mortal Reflections marks the first major exhibition in Tasmania by the artist. QVMAG has transformed the entire upper level of its Royal Park site into an intimate contemporary art experience. Throughout this exhibition magical figures are held forever suspended within the uncanny realms of Jinks’ sculpted hyperrealism.
Open everyday 10am-4pm.
Exhibitions at Good Grief Studios (August)
nipaluna/Hobart’s warehouse turned artist-run-space has opened a new suite of exhibitions across its front, back and garden wall galleries, featuring Skye Mescall, Etienne Boura, Evie Palmese and video work by Angela Anderson.
Open Thursday and Sunday 12-4pm.
