ArtsHub takes a look back at the exhibitions that its pool of reviewers gave five stars in 2025. Here are some of their comments about why they felt these shows were so deserving.
Best exhibitions of 2025 – quick links
Historical surveys
Dangerously Modern
This exhibition started at the Art Gallery of South Australia and ArtsHub reviewed it during its Sydney leg at the Art Gallery of New South Wales – but a nod should be given to both institutions on this five-star exhibition offering a fresh take on art history.
We loved that it highlighted the fearless and forgotten, presenting the work of 50 women artists working in Europe at a time when art history looked to the male narrative. Better still, Dangerously Modern stepped up as one of the gallery’s summer blockbusters, usually reserved for big name imports.
Wedgwood: Artists and industry
In April, ArtsHub gave top scores to this coup Wedgwood exhibition from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, in recognition of its ambition and delivery.
ArtsHub‘s review applauded Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s Director Holly Arden, who ‘through sheer determination and a cold email to the V&A, has pulled off this incredible exhibition – 10 years in the planning by the V&A.’
With a sensitive exhibition design and a deep connection with a local tradition of ceramics, this Townsville exhibition deserved those five stars.
First Nations exhibitions
Karla Dickens: Rise and Fall
A clear addition to this list for 2025 was Karla Dickens’ exhibition Rise and Fall, which was described as: ‘A thought-provoking and cohesive exhibition by First Nation artist Karla Dickens that explores climate and the Lismore Floods.’
We reviewed it in March at the Wollongong Art Gallery in coastal NSW, which followed a run at the Bondi Pavilion in Sydney. Our review concludes: ‘This exhibition is testament that art can have a powerful voice, and Dickens has the ability to connect those stories, on so many levels.’
Revealed
Reviewer Wolfgang von Flugelhorn gave this year’s edition of Revealed, the annual showcase of new and emerging Aboriginal artists, a top score. Staged in June in a new venue this year, the Perth Cultural Centre, he praises the exhibition for its ‘strong sense of coherence and vision…imparted by the astute choices of the selection panel’.
Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala
Curated by Cara Pinchbeck for Art Gallery of New South Wales, Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala, took a close look at the trigger moments that ushered forward change in Aboriginal art, led by this incredible Yirrkala community.
It is one of those exhibitions that will always remain a benchmark and reference point – an example of exhibition making at its best.
I conclude in this review: ‘This exhibition is a must. It is far more than just a survey of the oeuvre of a group of artists. It rewrites our understanding of Aboriginal art and its enduring impact, and power, in Australia.’
Archie Moore: kith and kin
Queensland reviewer Pamela See writes: ‘With a Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale, kith and kin brings home an inalienable truth of the suffering upon which our society was built.’
She continues in her September review: ‘In poured art enthusiasts, keen to post in the presence the first Australian artwork to be awarded a prestigious Golden Lion at a Venice Biennale. That this pride of a nation explicates a brutal oppression of the artist’s friends and family is no small irony.’
5th National Indigenous Art Triennial 2025: After the Rain
Led by artist Tony Albert, the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial 2025, After the Rain, is a pivotal point. As Albert says, it’s a space for ‘taking a breath, planting new seeds [and] just taking that moment to reflect’.
It is also an example of the future way in which exhibitions can be framed and staged within the power structure of institutions.
Opening this month at the National Gallery of Australia, After the Rain is another one of those milestone exhibitions for the history books that rupture how we make exhibitions.
Immersive exhibitions
Ryoji Ikeda: Now or Never
As ArtsHub’s Celina Lei said of Ryoji Ikeda’s Melbourne exhibition: ‘Blinding light and digitally synthesised “noise” rattle the body and open a portal to another universe.”
Lei continued: ‘If Now or Never is about the intersection of art and technology, then Japanese audiovisual artist Ryoji Ikeda sits at the pinnacle.’
While this technically was a one-night only live set inside Melbourne Town Hall, it was also a standout work of performance art and immersive installation.
Dale Chihuly: Chihuly Nights
While this exhibition in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens opened in 2024, ArtsHub’s reviewer Trista Coulter gave it her ‘double thumbs up’ during Chihuly Nights, an alternative ticketed experience in the balmy evenings. ‘Stepping into the Botanic Garden after dark is like stepping into another world,’ she concludes.
The daytime exhibition of the American glass artist’s work had been reviewed earlier – also receiving five stars.
Solos & single artist survey exhibitions
Gentle Protagonist: Art of Michael McWilliams
In February, we gave Michael McWilliams’ exhibition Gentle Protagonist at Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery five stars for being, ‘lots of fun, gently probing and elegantly presented.’
ArtsHub‘s review continues: ‘The disarming paintings of Michael McWilliams both delight and probe in their quirky environmental narratives…Walking into the upstairs gallery, it was with sheer delight that I faced this survey exhibition. It is also It is a credit to both the artist and the QVMAG team.’
Tom Polo: in a part of your mind, I am you
Tom Polo’s first major institutional solo exhibition was a cracker, taking place at Ngununggula, the regional gallery in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales in July.
ArtsHub writes: ‘While his canvases and drawings are loose and gestural, there is nothing off-the-cuff about this extremely considered exhibition that takes viewers on a journey. For in a part of your mind, I am you, Polo has transformed the gallery into a series of theatrical acts that are clearly demarcated through shifting carpet and wall colours. So immediately he sets up this push and pull between a homey, personal space, and one that is extroverted, and loves to perform.’
Arcangelo Sassolino: in the end, the beginning
Mona is known for pushing boundaries, and the first Australian exhibition by Italian artist Arcangelo Sassolino is not different. ArtsHub writer Celina Lei gave it five stars, stating: ‘With in the end, the beginning, nothing is stable. Materials are in flux, the reality of their being constantly questioned or threatened.’
She concluded: ‘in the end, the beginning won’t fit into everyone’s description of a blockbuster, and yet Mona is one of the few institutions that can bring works of this scale and consequence to the public sphere. It requires deep collaboration and openness between the team and the artist to happen, and is more of a no-frills exhibition than one might expect, because the artworks bring enough weight and dramatic energy themselves.’
Helen Britton: The Story So Far
Helen Britton is arguably one of Australia’s most celebrated jewellers, perhaps better known in Europe than on our home shores, so a five-star review of her touring survey exhibition with the Australian Design Centre is not surprising.
ArtsHub writes of her exhibition The Story So Far: ‘Helen Britton totally short circuits how we think about jewellery with wonder.’
The review praised the exhibition for encouraging slow looking. ‘It is a reboot of our childhood sense of awe for the world and a consideration of the objects that made us.’
Britton offered anything but a standard delivery – drawing on her multidisciplinary practice as a photographer, painter and installation artist to lead viewers to the threads of connection and wonder in the exhibition.
Museum exhibitions
World of the Book
In July, ArtsHub reviewer Ash Brom gave the State Library of Victoria’s exhibition World of the Book five stars for its historical clout, which involved presenting over 300 books pulled out from its vaults.
Brom concludes: ‘All in all, this exhibition, especially in such a grand (and appropriate) setting as the SLV, is a sea of highlights, an ocean of gems.’
Ocean Photographer of the Year Exhibition
In January this year, ArtsHub reviewer Ash Brom was intrigued and beguiled by Ocean Photographer of the Year Exhibition at Victoria’s Seaworks Williamstown, which also showed at Sydney’s Maritime Museum. Brom describes it ‘as grand and visually exhilarating as one could hope,’ adding, ‘this exhibition comes very highly recommended.’
