Archives are Hot! – Panel

This session brings together representatives from four different archives to share insights into their collections, current projects, and ways artists have engaged with their holdings.

Each speaker will offer a short presentation highlighting the scope of their archive, examples of artist collaborations, and opportunities for creative engagement.

Archives are Hot! Artists in the Archive is a two-day program of workshops, talks and activations. This event is a collaboration between Next Wave and CAST.

Savannah Smith

Savannah is the administrator of the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection, as well as currently being engaged as curator of the forthcoming City Gallery exhibition ‘Viva Gibb: a portrait of North and West Melbourne’. Savannah holds an MA in Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne, and an MA in Art History from the University of St Andrews in Scotland (2018).

Nick Devlin

Nick Devlin is the Technical Collections Coordinator of the RMIT University Art Collection. He has extensive experience in collections, preservation, and exhibition production, with roles at the Melbourne University Art Collection, Ian Potter Museum of Art, and The State Library of Victoria.

Ana Tiquia

Ana Tiquia is an artist, futurist and strategist who lives and works in Naarm / Melbourne. Ana’s artworks invite participation with other ways of being, doing, or knowing. Developed through participatory, relational, and speculative processes, Ana’s work asks how we come to ‘know’ the future, what constitutes ‘data’ on our futures, and how different worldviews and practices might seed new possibilities to the present. Their work often takes the form of interventions in workplace, institutional and everyday practices.

For over 15 years, Ana has worked creatively and critically with advanced technology and data in the cultural sector – working internationally across museums, contemporary and performing arts, and design. Ana is Head of Digital Strategy, Research & Insights at State Library Victoria where they’ve recently launched SLV LAB – a digital prototyping and innovation lab for the Library and the Creative Technologist-in-Residence program. They are a proud Board Member of ANAT (Australian Network for Art & Technology).

Nick Henderson

Nick Henderson is a Curator at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, and an independent curator, producer, researcher, and archivist. With over 25 years’ experience in the GLAM sector, Nick is passionate about community-engaged archival practice, with a focus on LGBTIQ+ and marginalised communities. As a volunteer Committee Member, Curator and Archivist with the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) for 20 years, he has developed, co-produced and partnered on hundreds of community-engaged projects, working with small community groups through to international industry peak bodies. His recent projects include curating the exhibition 'Don't be too polite: feminist posters and their collectives' (2025), curating an exhibition on the history of the Mardi Gras for the Australian Embassy in Beijing (2025), and co-producing the oral history and photography project 'Muru–ba: First Nations LGBTIQA+ Trailblazers' (2023-2024).

Content note: the slideshow accompanying this panel includes explicit artistic imagery, including works depicting fellatio, cunnilingus, nudity, needle play, and an erect penis.

Next Wave

Next Wave is a leading not-for-profit arts organisation dedicated to supporting early-career artists working across multiple art forms. Next Wave plays a defining role in the Australian arts landscape by empowering and advocating for early-career and experimental artistic practice in Australia.

This event is part of Next Wave's ALL School programming. ALL School is an artist-led learning program designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and idea swapping.

CAST

CAST produces art research that critically engages with social and public spheres with a particular interest in how artistic practices intersect with issues of equity, access and democracy.

Accessibility

The RMIT Garden Building is located at Level 5, Building 10, RMIT University 376-392 Swanston Street, Melbourne. This is a wheelchair accessible building with an elevator located behind Streat Cafe on Bowen Street (between Swanston and Russell streets).

Some on-street parking is available on LaTrobe Street. Trams operate along Swantson Street – get off at RMIT University stop and go to Bowen Street via La Trobe Street.

Artists in the Archive is supported by City of Melbourne