Research
Research Focus Areas in 2024 - 2026
Thematic Issues: Art + Crime
As a question and a provocation, Art + Crime draws attention to the many intersections of art, violence, creativity, and the law.
Our research encompasses everything from art market frauds and forgery to artists who were killers, Australia’s early convict artists, and contemporary AI deepfakes. An enduring public fascination with Art + Crime is evident in everything from international mega-best-sellers like The Da Vinci Code to the recent ABC documentaries on historical thefts from Australian collections.
We will present a series of six annual public lectures by scholars and community members, on research topics from the Renaissance Italian Art Criminals to Fakes in the Australian art market.
Museums and Collections
The University of Melbourne has some of the most important visual and cultural collections in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Both our city and state have world-leading collections. But many of these cultural collections, including at the University, are not well known. We are committed to producing original and innovative research around our own collections - to make our own riches known and available beyond our own doors. This will include working with the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University Library, and the Cultural Commons, as well as collections from Heide and The Johnston Collection.
Starting this year, we will hold an annual study day on 10 Great Objects, with ten members of the University community presenting research on single objects of their choice. We are also working on the history and archives of the feminist Women’s Art Register (WAR), held in the Visual Cultures Resource Centre of the Faculty of Arts.
Early Career Research Award
The Early Career Research Award (ECRA) is a grants and mentoring program to support innovative and new research by small teams of early career researchers, educators, and curators.
Each year between 2024 and 2027, a competitive grant of $20 000 will be awarded for a research project and public program to be delivered within 12 months. The only stipulation is that there must be a team of at least two people, and the work must have a major public output- and in-gallery or online exhibition, created social media content, an open-source or printed publication.
The program will be delivered in partnership with the national professional association of art historians and artists, the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ).
To find out more, email: aiah-info@unimelb.edu.au or admin@aaanz.info