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 Victoria this August.
Free exhibitions in Victoria – quick links:
Melbourne: free exhibitions
Darren Sylvester ‘Party up on Skull Rock’ at Neon Parc, Brunswick (1-30 August)
In his latest body of work, Darren Sylvester mines the highly stylised surfaces of contemporary life – its promises, poses, and emotional mechanisms – with a glossy precision that evokes the effects of pop music videos and high-end advertising. Comprising four large-scale photographs, two ‘lightspeed’ paintings, and a suite of sculptures, the exhibition continues Sylvester’s exploration of pop-cultural mysticism and the thin veils of desire, artifice, and identity.
Open Wednesday to Saturday 12-5pm.
Liam Fleming: Glass in Twelve Parts at Tolarno Galleries (2-30 August)
Making his solo exhibition debut in Melbourne, the JamFactory alumnus Liam Fleming has created an exceptional new body of work in glass that explores the aesthetic potential of repetition, variation and colour through simple transitions in form. Riffing on the minimalist rigour of American composer Philip Glass’s Music in Twelve Parts 1971–74, the exhibition comprises 12 large, segmented cuboid forms in kiln-formed, cold-worked and slumped glass.
Open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 1-4pm.
colour.field.echo and Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger & Related Works at fortyfivedownstairs (5-30 August, 5-16 August)
fortyfivedownstaris in Melbourne’s CBD is currently presenting two shows. In colour.field.echo, the respective works of Michele Burder, Susan Watson Knight and Amanda Johnson variously contain figurative and abstract elements, often with unconventional and/or high-key palettes. Meanwhile, a solo exhibition of Chelsea Hickman is devoted to the artist’s textile banner project.
Open Tuesday to Friday 12-7pm and Saturday 12-4pm.
Mike Parr: Human Animals at STATION (9 August to 6 September)
Mike Parr has interrogated political and psychological extremes through his practice for over 50 years. Beneath the shock value often associated with his performances, printmaking, drawings, or sculptures lies a deeper interrogation of self-portraiture – one that questions the boundaries of authentic personal and political expression. This is Parr’s first solo exhibition with STATION.
Opening night 9 August 4-6pm; exhibition open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm.
Katrin Koenning: Mirrors at Manningham Art Gallery (13 August to 18 October)
Katrin Koenning explores connection and belonging through a deeply personal and immersive constellation of images drawn from the artist’s archive across time and space in Mirrors. Koenning’s works have been regularly exhibition in Australia and internationally.
Open Wednesday to Saturday 11am-4pm.
Embodied: Limitless 2025 commission series at Arts Project Australia (23 August to 4 October)
Limitless is a landmark exhibition series that invites APA artists to undertake ambitious commissions on a significant scale. As the first exhibition in the Limitless series, Embodied signals a focus on artistic rigour and experimental, process-driven practice. Featuring major new commissions by Mark Smith and Bronwyn Hack, the exhibition frames the body as both subject and metaphor, inviting expansive and deeply personal interpretations.
Open Wednesday to Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday 12-4pm.
Connie Hart: One Stitch at a Time at Koorie Heritage Trust (23 August to 23 November)
Connie Hart: One Stitch at a Time showcases over 50 works created by the late Gunditjmara Elder Aunty Connie during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, many of which are held in the KHT’s unique collection of Victorian and South East Australian art and cultural belongings. It will also present Gilgar Gunditj Eel Basket – a significant weaving commission by Sandra Aitken, Gilgar Gunditj Elder and niece of the late Gunditjmara Elder.
Open every day 10am-5pm.
Five Acts of Love at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (until 24 August)
This exhibition features 12 local and international artists presenting newly commissioned, recent and more historic works across a range of mediums that explore the unexpected and nuanced manifestations of love as an intrinsic action, one that can harness the utmost depth of our humanity beyond pop culture references to romance and kitsch images of love. ArtsHub gave the show four stars, with “the artworks shining like beacons of light in the darkness of difficult times”.
Open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday to Sunday 11am-5pm.
Rockpools at West Space (until 30 August)
Yindjibarndi artist Katie West’s exhibition Rockpools dwells with the stories of three generations of West’s grandmothers – Wuggi, Sheila and Shirley – and the entanglement of their lives and legacies with colonial expansion in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Rockpools comprises the detritus of colonisation – metal objects scavenged from the tip shops in Karratha on Ngarluma Ngurra (Country) and closer to West’s home in Noongar Ballardong Boodja (Country).
Open Wednesday to Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 12-4pm.
Protest is a creative act at Museum of Australian Photography (until 31 August)
By facilitating a conversation between women and non-binary artists across the decades, Protest is a creative act confirms that many of the issues addressed by women photographers in the 1970s – around the body, sexuality, race, national identity and the environment – have not been resolved. The exhibition features artists including Brenda L Croft, Kawita Vatanjyankur, eX de Medici and Rosemary Laing.
Open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday to Sunday 10am-4pm.
Regional Victoria: free exhibitions
Changemakers: Crafting a Difference at Yarra Ranges Regional Museum (8 August to 12 October)
Changemakers: Crafting a difference consists of eight textile banners that represent a range of historical and contemporary activist movements. Aesthetically, these works draw on the history of textile banners as artefacts used for activism, including the women’s suffrage campaign, as well as banners displayed in town halls and churches. The exhibition demonstrates that Australian women’s quest for freedom and equality is ongoing.
Open Wednesday to Sunday 10am-4pm.
Do You Read Me and Emma Davies: Tethered Threads at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (until 24 August)
Inspired by American artist Bruce Nauman’s use of text in his practice, and especially in response to the work The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths (1967), this exhibition brings together works from the MPRG Collection that use text to convey their meaning.
Meanwhile in Tethered Threads, local artist Emma Davies transforms humble industrial materials into ethereal textile sculptures inspired by the natural beauty of the Mornington Peninsula. This solo exhibition showcases sculptures meticulously crafted from baler twine pressed into repurposed bird netting.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am-4pm.
