Escaping the Gallery: Exhibiting University Collections Across Campus

Free event

Join CAUMAC and our event partner RMIT Culture for an insightful discussion on the benefits, challenges, and operating models for exhibiting university art collections beyond traditional gallery spaces. Explore how campus-wide displays can serve as ambassadors for institutional collections, supporting teaching, learning, research, and outreach activities.

To be moderated by Caine Chennatt, CAUMAC Chair and Director, Curatorial and Cultural Collections, University of Tasmania, this session will consist of presentations by colleagues from across a variety of universities followed by a panel discussion.

Themes to be discussed include approaches to managing distributed collections, internal loan processes and best practices, pitfalls and politics of displaying art on campus, assessing acceptable risk and building trust and much more.

This event will be held both online and in person at RMIT. For those joining us online a link will be forwarded prior to the event commencing.

For those attending in person, the session is being held in the The Garden Room, Level 6, Building 10 at RMIT University. The Garden Room is located above the Streat Cafe on Bowen Street (between Swanston and Russell streets). An elevator to level 6 is located behind the Streat Cafe.

The session will be followed by a behind the scenes tour of RMIT’s Art Collection store and an introductory tour of the current RMIT Gallery exhibition Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits between 2.30-3.30pm.  

Presentations

Internal Loans Protocols and Processes – Object Based Learning and Student Experience
Gina Dickson is a Collections Coordinator at the University of Melbourne’s Museums and Collections department. With five years of experience in the Museums and Cultural Heritage industry, she previously worked as Assistant Registrar at the Powerhouse Museum and interned at the United Nations. She can usually be found working outgoing loans, exhibitions, access requests, and when she gets the chance, rehousing collection objects.

Development of RMIT's award-winning Artothek program
In 2020, RMIT Adjunct Professor Christoph Dahlhausen initiated a donation of 210 works on paper to develop an art lending library for RMIT students. This discussion explores the development of RMIT's award-winning Artothek program, focusing on the delicate balance between acceptable risk and preventative conservation, and how trust fosters relationships with key collection stakeholders.
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.

From storage to display: inspiring connection and culture in learning spaces, HC Coombs Building, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Dr Rose Faunce is Curator of the ANU College of Asia and Pacific Collection of Art and Artefacts. She has a background in the study of the history of the illustrated book and is the lead on the Fragmentarium project Manuscripts Across the Seas, developing an inventory of medieval manuscript fragments in Australian and New Zealand collections to improve their discoverability and accessibility to a global audience.

More presentations to be announced.