Associate Professor Felicity Fenner
Associate Professor Felicity Fenner is a curator of contemporary art in galleries, museums and the public domain. She is currently Chair of the City of Sydney鈥檚 Public Art Advisory Panel, the NSW state government's Curatorial Advisor for Barangaroo, and the Curatorial Consultant to Macquarie Group's collection and public art program.听
Felicity is a widely published writer on art and curatorial practice. Recent sole-authored books include听Running the City: Why Public Art Matters听(NewSouth, 2017),听Curating in a Time of Ecological Crisis (Routledge, 2022) and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery: The First Forty Years (Formist, 2023). Her research focuses on aspects of place and curatorial place-making, encapsulated in exhibitions such as听City Dialogue: Public art interventions + the Biennale of Sydney听at Customs House Sydney (2020-21). Her latest book, Shifting Ground: The evolving role of art in the Australian public domain, is supported by a Creative Australia grant (2024).
Felicity was the inaugural Director of UNSW Galleries (2012鈥2018), which she established as a leading centre for international contemporary art and ideas. In that role she brought to Australia Richard Mosse鈥檚听The Enclave听in 2014, named by ABC Arts as one Australia鈥檚 top three visual arts presentations of the year, and was awarded a major grant by Australia鈥檚 National Exhibitions Touring Strategy to curate an international new media art,听People Like Us, that toured to 15 public galleries around Australia in 2015鈥2019.听In听2017 she premiered in Australia the acclaimed Diller Scofidio + Renfro installation听EXIT听for the Sydney Festival, and again partnered听with the Festival in 2018 to present听In Your Dreams, an international photographic exhibition on the subject of inequality.听
As the visual arts curator with Anne Loxley for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Perth Festivals, she curated for WA鈥檚 university art museums, PICA and Fremantle Arts Centre work by a number of leading contemporary artists including AES+F, John Akomfrah,听Candice Breitz and Jeremy Deller. She has been the sole curator of major exhibitions including:听Australia鈥檚 group exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale; the 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art;听Primavera 2005听at Sydney鈥檚 Museum of Contemporary Art; and听Architypes听at Emily Carr, Vancouver, 2004. In the early 2000s Felicity curated a number of Australian and international exhibitions in her capacity as Senior Curator at UNSW鈥檚 Ivan Dougherty Gallery, including affiliated programs for the Sydney Olympics and Biennale of Sydney. In 2010 she was appointed Chief Curator, National Institute for Experimental Arts and in听2011听curated the first exhibition in Australia of composer Michael Nyman鈥檚 video works,听CineOpera, a site-specific installation at Sydney Park Brickworks,听and in 2012听Making Change听(with Brenda Croft and Kon Gouriotis) for the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, which was a finalist in the Australian government鈥檚 Australian Arts in Asia Award.听
ARC grants include 鈥Curating Cities鈥 (2011鈥2015, with Bennett, Goodwin and Parr) and 鈥Construction, Community and Connection: Measuring Asian Art鈥檚 Contribution to Contemporary Culture in Australia鈥 (2007鈥10, with Bennett, Berghuis, McNeill and Ruan). Felicity has also been the recipient of numerous curatorial grants and residencies, including for curatorial research in Singapore, Istanbul and Venice. She has been Curator-in-Residence at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore and at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, and a Visiting Lecturer on the Royal College of Art鈥檚 Curating Contemporary Art MA program in London.听
Felicity is a frequent judge of art awards and serves on the NSW Churchill Trust arts panel.听She has also published regularly in many Australian art magazines since her early role as听chief art critic for听the听Sydney Morning Herald听1992鈥95, and was the Australian writer for听Art in America听and a Contributing Editor of听ArtAsiaPacific 1999鈥2010. Her听writing has appeared in听The Conversation,听numerous international art and academic books and journals, and exhibition catalogues including the Biennale of Sydney (2022).
At UNSW Art & Design Felicity convenes the Capstone and Curatorial Studio courses on the Master of Curating & Cultural Leadership program, leads the annual World Biennales Field Trip to international biennale exhibitions and is a Higher Degree Research supervisor. Current supervision includes听PhD candidates researching in the field of Environmental,听Indigenous and Public Art curatorial practice.听
听
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision