# Australian Centre for Photography

The Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) was a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia that was established in 1973 and which also provided part-time courses and community programs.
One of the longest running contemporary art spaces in Australia, after a shutdown from 16 December 2020 pending a restructure, it was acquired in October 2022 by the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences and relaunched as Powerhouse Photography. Powerhouse will continue and expand on ACP programs with commissions, acquisitions, publications, learning and research activities dedicated to the promotion and development of photography in Australia.
The Australian Centre for Photography published Photofile, a biannual photography journal, from 1983.

## Function

The Australian Centre for Photography provided a photography gallery and also part-time courses and community programs. Amongst its initiatives were its hosting the Australian Video Festival; presenting public talks by such speakers as Victor Burgin; running an auction in support of Aboriginal protest against the Australian Bicentenary; and administrating displays in Sydney streets and railway stations of posters by Barbara Kruger.

## Photofile

Tamara Winikoff, director of ACP (1982–1985) began publication of Photofile, a small community newspaper in 1983 which became a significant journal showcasing Australian photography in a glossy, large format (44 cm) and hosting the critiques and debates surrounding it. It was issued 3 times yearly from 1991.
Editors included Mark Hinderaker, Mark Johnson, Ingeborg Tyssen & Tamara Winnikoff (with Robert Tuckwell for one issue) (1983); Mark Johnson (1984–85); Geoffrey Batchen (1985–86); Catherine Chinnery (1987); Catherine Chinnery & Carole Hampshire (1987/88); Ross Gibson (Guest Editor, 1988); Helen Grace (Guest Editor, 1988); Adrian Martin (Guest Editor, 1988); Robert Nery (1988–89); Elizabeth Gertsakis (Guest Editor, 1989); Fiona Macdonald (1990); Martin Thomas (1991–93); Jo Holder (1993–94); George Alexander (1995–97); Jacqueline Millner & Annemarie Jonson (Guest Editors, 1996); Bruce James (1997–99); Blair French (Managing Editor 1998–9); Francisco Fisher (Guest Editor 2000).
Without capital to increase circulation to attract more advertising for its funding, its survival in the 1990s was threatened. Alasdair Foster as director (1998–2011) secured increased financial support, enabling its print run to be increased and for the first time the magazine was distributed nation-wide through newsagents.
From 2010 Photofile was issued as a digital-only publication until Kon Gouriotis began as Director in early 2012 and a print version was relaunched in March 2013. The journal was again relaunched in 2017 under the new editorship of Daniel Boetker-Smith.
An anthology of essays from Photofile was published in 1999 as Photo files : an Australian photography reader edited by Blair French, with a preface by Gael Newton, then Senior Curator of Photography at the Australian National Gallery.

## History

On 23 April 1970, leading Australian photographer, David Moore wrote a letter to Wesley Stacey, Grant Mudford and David Beal. In it he asked them to discuss with him the idea of a non-profit, national centre for photography to research, exhibit, publish, collect and advance photography. To examine the situation of photography in Australia he led a committee of other practising photographers Wesley Stacey, Laurence Le Guay, senior curator of the Art Gallery of NSW and Sydney Morning Herald art critic Daniel Thomas, and the director of an architectural and planning firm, Peter Keys, with support from arts commentator Craig McGregor. In July 1973, the Visual Arts Board accepted that there was a need for such a body in Australia and part-funded their proposal to set up a permanent photographic gallery in Sydney.

### Venues
#### Paddington Street

Margaret Whitlam opened the first ACP gallery in a corner terrace refurbished by architect Michael Standley at 76a Paddington Street, Sydney, on 21 November 1974 with the initial exhibition Aspects of Australian Photography under inaugural director Graham Howe. That exhibition, expanded with ten more photographers' work to comprise Godwin Bradbeer, Warren Breninger, John Cato, Ian Dodd, Max Dupain, Rennie Ellis, Richard Harris, David Moore, Grant Mudford, Jon Rhodes, Roger Scott, Wesley Stacey, John Walsh and Richard Woldendorp, but with Max Pam, who was in the original line-up, excluded due to perceived sensitivities about his explicit imagery made in SE Asia, toured to Australian embassies and high commissions in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Burma, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa (given the end of apartheid) in 1975 and 1976, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Women photographers were not included the initial exhibition of Aspects, nor its touring version, despite the added participants, prompting Deborah Ely, a later director of ACP to comment;
   It is a characteristic of the early years of the ACP that its governing culture was exceptionally male ... "debate" between the founding fathers of ACP and feminists grew up over the years and persisted into the 1980s.

#### Oxford Street

The organisation subsequently changed the location of its gallery and offices several times. Christine Godden as director oversaw the moving of the Centre in 1981 to Dobell House at 257 Oxford Street, Paddington but in 1989, subsequent director Denise Robertson, previously of Melbourne University Union's George Paton Gallery, finding the Centre suffering from a deficit and a declining public profile, foreshadowed another relocation due to Paddington becoming "too expensive". It shared space with the Sydney Dance Company theatre at Pier 4/5 refurbished at a cost of $16 million to create a venue "second only to the Sydney Opera House", as announced by the Ministry for the Arts in May 1991.
Director Deborah Ely resisted, later saying; "when I joined ACP four years ago we were committed to a relocation at Pier 4/5. It seemed a real pity given this fantastic location and the fact that we'd been in Paddington for 20 years. I thought we should stay and make the most of the existing site." Accordingly, the Oxford Street premises were upgraded after mediation by NSW Ministry for the Arts persuaded the building's vendor the Dobell Foundation, which, with the help of Premier Neville Wran, had purchased the site from the NSW Fire Brigade for $1.5 million, mortgaged it to ACP for $750,000 a 50 рег cent discount, which Ely expected to pay off within 10 years. Its reopening increased the growing number of photography galleries in Sydney with the Byron Mapp Gallery, also in Oxford Street, Stills Gallery in Elizabeth St., the Josef Lebovic Gallery in Paddington Street and, from 15 February 1996, Toast II in Commonwealth Street. Architect James Grose refurbished the ACP by opening the facade up to the street and adding a two-storey extension with a central staircase in a construction by John Lewis and Luigi Rosselli, which integrated galleries, library, darkrooms, studio, digital imaging facilities, specialist bookstall and a restaurant, the latter through an arrangement negotiated protractedly over 1993–1994 variously with entrepreneur Rene Rivkin with caterer Maggi Agostini, then Victoria Alexander and others, to lease the shopfront, with the ACP offices and gallery behind.

#### Chippendale

A temporary closure in September 1993 saw refurbishments begin, with further assistance from the Ministry of $50,000 and also its loan of $300,000. In the interim the gallery opened at 27–31 Abercrombie St., Chippendale (6 km closer to the CBD and now housing Galerie pompom) under the name Temporary Hoarding to continue with a few shows into November 1994, including Reflex (12–27 August), sustained by curator/publicist Susan Charlton organising brochures and "Sydney Artbus" public tours. It was not until March 1996 that NSW Premier Bob Carr reopened the centre and launched its first show since December 1994, Inheritance, and its café, which was ultimately a joint venture between Stefano Manfredi of Restaurant Manfredi and Barry McDonald (B & J Lizard produce) and named La Mensa.

#### Darlinghurst

From 2011, as photography students increasing turned to courses in tertiary institutions for instruction, revenue from the ACP's film-based workshops continued to fall, and in 2015, the centre was forced to sell its building. It rented accommodation at 72 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney. Its current location is at 21 Foley St, Darlinghurst, a kilometre west along Oxford Street from number 72, and closer to the CBD.

### Directors

* Graham Howe 1974–5
* Bronwyn Thomas 1975–1977
* Laurence Le Guay (Acting) October 1977 – February 1978
* Christine Godden 1978–1982
* Tamara Winikoff 1982–1985
* Lawrence Bendle (Acting) 1985
* Denise Robinson 1986–1992
* Deborah Ely 1992–1997
* Alasdair Foster 1998–2011
* Kon Gouriotis 2012–2015
* Catherine Baldwin (Acting) 2015–2017
* Cherie McNair 2017–2019
* Pierre Arpin 2019-

## Initiatives

The ACP exhibition program delivered the first major retrospectives of Max Dupain, Olive Cotton and Mervyn Bishop. An early opportunity for photographers initiated by the ACP in 1978 was the Colonial Sugar Refinery Project, a commission for six Australian practitioners, Micky Allan, Sandra Edwards, Mark Johnson, Graham McCarter, Lewis Morley and Jon Rhodes, to freely make artistic and documentary work relating to the CSR site at Pyrmont. After its successful exhibition and publication the project was extended into the 1980s and inspired other art-based, non-commercial collaborations with industry. Signature Works - 25th Anniversary Exhibition, in 1999 included works by Fiona Hall, Bill Henson, Carol Jerrems, Maria Kozic, Tracey Moffatt, Max Pam, Patricia Piccinini, Jon Rhodes, Michael Riley, and Anne Zahalka selected by 25 Australian photographic curators, writers, artists and academics, and was a contemporary survey indicative of the national reach of the centre.

## 2020 closure

On 19 November 2020 the Australian Centre for Photography, announced it would go into a 'hibernation' from 16 December "due to a cash crunch brought on by COVID-19 lockdown, the shift to smartphone photography and funding cuts.". A restructure of the organisation would protect it from "ongoing financial losses"; ACP Chairman, Michael Blomfield said: "our organisation will not receive any operational funding from federal or state funding bodies for the next three years as a minimum, it is clear that continuing to operate in our current form is a pathway to extinction." Blomfield, decried the decision as a 'painful one', with 21 staff affected.
Coincident with the closure of the ACP, planning was taking place for a National Centre for Photography, with galleries, library, darkroom, an archive and education program, to be opened in regional Ballarat, funded with $6.7 million from the Victorian state government. The city is home to the Ballarat International Foto Biennale which has been running since 2005.

## Powerhouse Photography

Two years after the Australian Centre for Photography had been mothballed and had laid off staff due to a shortage of funds and COVID restrictions, and after a series of community consultations, in October 2022 it was announced that Sydney's Powerhouse, the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, had acquired the Australian Centre for Photography in an agreement in which Powerhouse acquired ACP's photography archive and fund, worth approximately $1.6 million. New South Wales Minister for the Arts Ben Franklin noted that;
   The Powerhouse Photography initiative declares photography’s cultural value at the precise moment we may have forgotten its significance in art and design, through to science, medicine, law, communication and commerce.
It operates under the new name of Powerhouse Photography, which will continue and expand on ACP programs with commissions, acquisitions, publications, learning and research activities dedicated to the promotion and development of photography in Australia. Funds from the Australian Centre for Photography will provide a photography research fellowship, tertiary internship program, contemporary photography acquisition program, and industry day.
An Advisory group has been formed, and first convened in October 2022, to oversee Powerhouse Photography and to industry connections, and inform curatorship. It is co-chaired by photographer and University of Technology Sydney Associate Professor, Cherine Fahd and Powerhouse Senior Curator Sarah Rees. The panel comprises photographer, filmmaker and ACP board member Merilyn Fairskye; Friends of ACP member Lisa Moore; photographer Garry Trinh; photographer Hugh Stewart; photographer Meng-Yu Yan; photographer Tom Blachford; Powerhouse Director First Nations Emily McDaniel; Powerhouse Head of Curatorial Jacqui Strecker; and Powerhouse Artistic Associate Zan Wimberley.
The 50th anniversary of ACP occurs in 2024, and Powerhouse has plans to deliver a curated digital program to celebrate it, and through its publishing arm, Powerhouse Publishing, to release a major publication on Australian photography. Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah recognised the long-term achievements of the organisation;
   For nearly 50 years, ACP has cemented the importance of photography in contemporary culture by championing a diverse range of artists. It’s our privilege to play a part in shaping the future of photographic practice in Australia, building on the exceptional work of ACP, under the expert guidance of the Powerhouse Photography Advisory Group. We thank the ACP’s Board of Directors and Friends of the ACP for entrusting us with this responsibility and opportunity.

## Exhibitions held by the Australian Centre for Photography

| Year | Dates | Title | Participants |
| 1974 | 21 Nov – 18 Jan | Aspects of Australian Photography | Ian Dodd, Ken Middleton, Grant Mudford, Max Pam, Phillip Quirk, John Walsh |
| 1975 | 22 Jan – 15 Feb | A Statement of Fact-Henry King 1955–1923 | Henry King |
| 1975 | 22 Jan – 15 Feb | Graham McCarter | Graham McCarter |
| 1975 | 18 Feb – 10 Apr | A Question of Attitude | Richard Harris, John Williams |
| 1975 | 18 Mar – 10 Apr | Selected Masters | Robert Capa, Werner Bischof, August Sander, Edward Steichen, F.M. Sutcliffe |
| 1975 | 18 Mar – 10 Apr | Work in Progress | Various |
| 1975 | 15 Apr – 10 May | Time and Space | Greg Weight and Roger Scott |
| 1975 | 13 May – 14 Jun | Elliott Erwitt-Photographs and Anti- photographs | Elliott Erwitt |
| 1975 | 17 Jun – 12 Jul | Instant Images-Polaroid progress | Various |
| 1975 | June | Viewpoints | Ansel Adams, David Baila, Walker Evans, Yousuf Karsh, Ulrich Mark, Sarah Moon, Lennart Missun, Kishin Shinoyama, Jeanloup Sieff, Josef Sudek, Olivieru Juscan, Minor White and others |
| 1975 | 16 Jul – 16 Aug | The Road | Wesley Stacey |
| 1975 | 16 Jul – 16 Aug | Time series | Sue Ford |
| 1975 | 19 Aug – 20 Sep | Snapshots | |
| 1975 | 23 Sep – 18 Oct | The Californian Aesthetic | Ed Douglas |
| 1975 | 21 Oct – 29 Nov | Max Dupain Retrospective 1930–1975 | Max Dupain |
| 1975 | 27 Dec – 17 Jan | Melbourne Viewpoints '75 | |
| 1976 | 17 Feb – 13 Mar | From the Land | John Cato and Laurie Wilson |
| 1976 | 16 Mar – 10 Apr | Sidetripping | Charles Gatewood |
| 1976 | 16 Mar – 10 Apr | Viewpoints | Trevern Dawes, Richard Phillips, John Porter |
| 1976 | 13 Apr – 8 May | South African Report | David Goldblatt and Robert Ashton |
| 1976 | 11 May – 5 June | Photographs of Children | David Cubby |
| 1976 | 8 Jun – 3 Jul | David Moore Retrospective 1940–76 | David Moore |
| 1976 | 6 – 31 Jul | Christine Godden | Christine Godden |
| 1976 | 6 – 31 Jul | Ann Noon | Ann Noon |
| 1976 | 3 – 28 Aug | Building the Sydney Harbour Bridge | Henri Mallard |
| 1976 | 3 – 28 Aug | Viewpoints | Gary Grealy, Katharine Rogers, Ian Tudor |
| 1976 | 31 Aug – 25 Sep | Just Another Sunrise? The impact of bauxite mining on an aboriginal community | Jon Rhodes |
| 1976 | 31 Aug – 25 Sep | Polaroid Experience | Charles Eames, Judith Eglington, Sam Haskins, Ikko Rita, Kohmann, Michael Kostinkar, Monique Jaet, Francois Lamy etc. |
| 1976 | 28 Sep – 23 Oct | Farm Security Administration | FSA |
| 1976 | 28 Sep – 23 Oct | Diane Arbus | Diane Arbus |
| 1976 | 26 Oct – 20 Nov | Fifty Photographs | Edward Weston |
| 1976 | 26 Oct – 20 Nov | Shadow People | Leon Saunders |
| 1976 | 23 Nov – 11 Dec | Selected Photographs | Paul Caponigro |
| 1976 | 23 Nov – 11 Dec | The Other Women | Barry Kay |
| 1976 | 14 Dec – 22 Jan | Ten Photographers-Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney | Stan Ciccone, Sandy Edwards, Steven Lojewski, Virginia Coventry, Gerrit Fokkema, Otten O'Malley, Paul Hopper |
| 1977 | 25 Jan – 19 Feb | American Photographs '75 | Grant Mudford |
| 1977 | 9 Mar – 27 Apr | Bent Photography | Harry Bowers, Ellen Brooks, Steve Colling, Robert Cumming, Steve Fitch, Jack Fulton, Robert Heinecken, Richard Misrach, Carol Tranter (USA West Coast) |
| 1977 | 6 Apr – 7 May | Derry Moore and Stella Snead | Derry Moore (UK), Stella Snead (USA) |
| 1977 | 11 May – 4 Jun | Lee Friedlander | Lee Friedlander |
| 1977 | 11 May – 4 Jun | Recent Photographs | Douglas Hollely |
| 1977 | 8 Jun – 9 Jul | Sydneyphiles and Clermont, Queensland 1916 | Willy Young |
| 1977 | 13 Jul – 20 Aug | Ian Dodd 1967–77 | Ian Dodd |
| 1977 | 24 Aug – 24 Sep | | Jan Saudek |
| 1977 | 24 Aug – 24 Sep | Australian New Work | Anthony Green, Sandra Irvine, Merryle Johnson, Julie Millowick |
| 1977 | 28 Sep – 29 Oct | Diane Arbus | Diane Arbus |
| 1977 | 27 Nov – 3 Dec | Athol Shmith | Athol Shmith |
| 1977 | 27 Nov – 3 Dec | Paul Cox | Paul Cox |
| 1977 | 7 Dec – 21 Jan | Bent Photography | Harry Bowers, Ellen Brooks, Steve Colling, Robert Cumming, Steve Fitch, Jack Fulton, Robert Heinecken, Richard Misrach, Carol Tranter (USA West Coast) |
| 1978 | Jan-Feb | | Rennie Ellis, Godwin Bradbeer and Warren Breninger |
| 1978 | Mar-Apr | | Laurence Le Guay, Stephen Roach |
| 1978 | May- Jun | | Herbert Ponting, Frank Hurley and William Clift |
| 1978 | 21 Jun | | David Mist |
| 1978 | Oct | | John Stockdale |
| 1978 | Oct | Australia | Jon Rhodes |
| 1978 | Nov-2 Dec | Retrospective | Harry Callahan |
| 1978 | Nov- 2 Dec | Portraits | Carol Jerrems |
| 1980 | Jan-Feb | Five French Photographers | Bernard Plossu, D.H. Seylan, Mercelle Dupuis |
| 1980 | Mar | Three Australians | Fiona Hall, Brian Thompson, David Blount |
| 1980 | 5 Apr – 2 May | Robert Cumming | Robert Cumming |
| 1980 | 7 May – 7 Jul | 8 South Australian Photographers | Ed Douglas, Wayne Fimo, Trevor Kenyon, Paul Krieg, Joseph McGlennon, Leonie Reisberg, Rod Trinca, Andrew Zummo |
| 1980 | to 16 Aug | The Suspicious Image | Giorgio Colombo |
| 1981 | 14 Jan | Four and a Half Months in the North | Glen O'Malley (QLD) |
| 1981 | 18 Feb | Cazneaux' Sydney 1904- 1934 | Harold Cazneaux |
| 1981 | 6 Mar | A Day in the Life of Australia | group show |
| 1981 | 17 Apr – 6 May | Living Room Portraits 1979-'81 | John Williams |
| 1981 | July | Selections from the Polaroid Collection | group show |
| 1981 | 12 Aug – 12 Sep | Fifteen Australian Photographers | Wesley Stacey, Fiona Hall, Peter Elliston, Ingeborg Tyssen, Peter Charuk, Dr Charles Gabriel, Henri Murray |
| 1981 | Sep | In and Out of Space | |
| 1981 | Sep | Photographs from the Awesome Universe | |
| 1981 | Oct | Death Valley | John Gollings |
| 1981 | Oct | Sydney Foreshores | Mark Johnson |
| 1981 | Nov | Long Beach | Grant Mudford |
| 1981 | Nov | Eleven Years in Asia | Max Pam |
| 1981 | Nov | India and the Enigma | Jon Rhodes |
| 1981 | Dec-Jan | Four Australian Picture Makers | Wayne Fimere, Arthur Georgeson, Fiona Hall, Graham Howe |
| 1982 | Feb | Heatwave | David Moore, Jill White, David Parker, Philip Quirk, Willy Young, Robert McFarlane, Max Dupain |
| 1982 | Feb | Recent Photographs | Peter Charuk |
| 1982 | Mar | C.S.R.Photography Project-Hunter ValleyCoal | group show |
| 1982 | Mar | This Land of Time | Ed Douglas |
| 1982 | May | Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge | Carole Conde, Karl Beveridge (Canada) |
| 1982 | Jul | Swiss Photographers from 1840 until Today | group show |
| 1982 | Jul | Viewpoints | Carolyn Johns, Margaret Olah |
| 1982 | Aug | Western Australian Photographers | 7 photographers |
| 1982 | 17–26 Sep | David Stephenson | David Stephenson |
| 1982 | Aug-Sep | Viewpoints | Amanda Holt |
| 1982 | Aug-Sep | American Photographs | Mark Burgin |
| 1982 | Aug-Sep | Photographic Works 81–82 | Geoff Kleem |
| 1982 | | Photographs 1966–1982 | Penny Tweedie |
| 1982 | | Colour Works | Ann Noon, Matthew Quaass |
| 1983 | 5 Jan | | Jim Sheldon (USA) |
| 1986 | 29 Jan – 27 Mar | The Melbourne Stage | Seham Abi Elias, Rozalind Drummond, Cassandra Lehman, Fiona MacDonald |
| 1986 | 5 Mar – 13 Apr | Topographies and Traces | Peter Elliston |
| 1986 | 5 Mar – 13 Apr | Thief's Journal | Julie Brown-Rrap |
| 1986 | 16 Apr – 11 May | Robert Mapplethorpe | Robert Mapplethorpe |
| 1986 | 14 May – 16 Jun | Elsewhere (Biennale) | Graeme Hare, Jacky Redgate, Robyn Stacey, Anne Zahalka, Wayne Fimo |
| 1986 | 14 May – 16 Jun | Gold | Brian Thompson |
| 1986 | 18 Jun – 20 Jul | Colour | Mark Kimber, Sue Longbottom, Tony Nott, Tim Handfield, Graeme Johnson |
| 1986 | 18 Jun – 20 Jul | Pentimento | Robyn Outram, Suzi Coyle, Tanya Sparke, Melody Cruickshank |
| 1986 | 30 Jul – 24 Aug | The Hand and the Photograph | Richard Dunn, Mike Parr, Tim Maguire, Adrienne Gaha, John Young, Ruth Waller |
| 1986 | 30 Jul – 24 Aug | The First Australian Video Festival | |
| 1986 | 27 Aug – 28 Sep | Work Sites | Steven Lojewski |
| 1986 | 27 Aug – 28 Sep | Wilcannia | Gerrit Fokkema |
| 1986 | 17 Oct – 27 Nov | Occlusion | Marian Drew, Joanna Greenwood, David Grofton, Robyn Gray, Margaret Rol, Leanne Ramsay, Ivan Nunn, Anna Zsoldas, Jay Younger |
| 1986 | 17 Oct – 27 Nov | The Temptation to Exist | Janet Burchill and Jenny McCamley |
| 1986 | 5 Nov – 7 Dec | Fiona Hall | Fiona Hall |
| 1986 | 5 Nov – 7 Dec | Family 1972- 1974 | Christine Godden |
| 1986 | 10 Dec – 15 Jan | Etc. | Third Year students |
| 1987 | 21 Jan – 15 Feb | The Glamour Show | Curator Helen Ennis. An Australian National Gallery touring exhibition |
| 1987 | 18 Feb – 15 Mar | Reproduction | Janina Green (VIC) |
| 1987 | 18 Feb – 15 Mar | Stories of Romance | Ann Wulff (TAS) |
| 1987 | 18 Mar – 12 Apr | Image Perfect- Australian Fashion Photography in the Eighties | Guest Curator: Sandy Edwards |
| 1987 | 15 Apr – 10 May | Pupil of the Eye | Chris Fortescue (NSW) |
| 1987 | 15 Apr – 10 May | Seasons. Pseudo Panoramas | Ian North (SA) |
| 1987 | 13 May – 7 Jun | Eight Easy Pieces | Pat Brassington (TAS) |
| 1987 | 10 Jun – 5 Jul | Light of Day-The photocopier and time | Lindy Lee and Mike Parr |
| 1987 | 10 Jun – 5 Jul | Scenarios | Peter Burgess (AUS/USA) |
| 1987 | 8 Jul – 2 Aug | Works from on consignment | Various (replaced Resemblance which failed to arrive from Germany) |
| 1987 | 8 Jul – 2 Aug | Red Squares | Rose Farrell (VIC) |
| 1987 | 5–30 Aug | Retrospective | Max Dupain |
| 1987 | 5–30 Aug | Salon Obscura | Curator: Sally Couacaud. Part of the Australian Video Festival |
| 1987 | 17–25 Oct | Origins | Elizabeth Gertsakis (TAS) |
| 1987 | 17–25 Oct | | Christine Cornish (NSW) |
| 1987 | 28 Oct – 22 Nov | A Marginal Body-The Photographic Image in Latin America | Guest Curator: Charles Merewether |
| 1987 | 25 Nov – 20 Dec | Resemblance | Anne Zahalka (NSW) |
| 1987 | 25 Nov – 20 Dec | The Blue Kingdom | Jay Younger (QLD) |
| 1987 | 3 Dec – 8 Dec | Videos by MIMA | MIMA (VIC) |
| 1988 | 14–15 Jan | We Have Survived Art Auction | Auction of works by Tony Tuckson, David and Guy Boyd, Robert Klippel, John Olsen, Susan Norrie, Bruce Petty, Frank Hodgkinson and others with proceeds to National Aboriginal Coalition, The Long March for Justice, Peace and Freedom and the Bicentenary Protest Group |
| 1988 | ? -28 Feb | | Bart Feldman, John Nixon |
| 1988 | to 27 Mar | (Photography) / during Philosophy | Bernard Sachs |
| 1988 | to 27 Mar | Mother Weep While I Think | Helen Kundicevic |
| 1988 | 30 Mar – 24 Apr | Museum | Martyn Jolly |
| 1988 | 30 Mar – 24 Apr | Photographs by Mutlu Hassan | Mutlu Hassan |
| 1988 | 7 Apr | Presentation | Victor Burgin |
| 1988 | 27 Apr – 2 May | Tamworth | Judith Ahern |
| 1988 | to 15 June | A Sixtieth of a Second-Portraits of Women 1961–1981 | Sue Ford |
| 1988 | 2 Jun – 17 Jul | Before the Winter Gardens | Christopher Köller |
| 1988 | 2 Jun – 17 Jul | Real Space: False Time and Space in the Apartment | Kathy Payne |
| 1988 | 22 Jul – 14 Aug | Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense | Fiona McDonald |
| 1988 | 14 Sep – 9 Oct | Mondi Diversi (Different Worlds) | FILEF (Federation of Italian Migrant Workers and their Families) group show and complimentary radio program |
| 1988 | ? Oct – 6 Nov | From the Body of an Archive/From the Archive of a Body | Historical Arthur Foster photographs, printed by Steven Lojewski, curator Mark Jackson, Mitchell Library |
| 1988 | ? Nov – 8 Dec | Faite Urbaine | Rozalind Drummond |
| 1988 | ? Nov – 8 Dec | Photographs | Ruth Frost |
| 1988 | Dec | Union and Eclipse | Warren Breninger |
| 1988 | Dec | Memory or Au Rebours | Pat Brassington |
| 1989 | 17–26 Feb | I Am the Rehearsal Master | Anne Ferran |
| 1989 | 17–26 Mar | Repentance | Rose Farrell & George Parkin (VIC) |
| 1989 | 17–26 Mar | Figure Works | Janina Green |
| 1989 | 29 Mar – 23 Apr | Ordinary Photography | John Lethbridge & John Young |
| 1989 | 29 Mar – 23 Apr | Art Fades 1 2 3 4… | Susan Fereday (VIC) |
| 1989 | 26 Apr – 21 May | Transfiguration | Bashir Baraki & Vince Dzeikan |
| 1989 | 26 Apr – 21 May | Scenes From the Ivory Tower | Ex de Medici (ACT) |
| 1989 | 24 May – 18 Jun | Selected Works | Geoff Kleem (NSW) |
| 1989 | 24 May – 18 Jun | The Divine Comedy | Fiona Hall (SA) |
| 1989 | 21 Jun – 26 Jul | Salle de Reconnaissance | Diena Georgetti, Belinda Gunn, Redford/Webb, Luke Roberts, Hiram To. Curator: Michele Helmrich (QLD) |
| 1989 | 21 Jun – 26 Jul | A Glamorous Private History or (Some People Like to eat alone) | Elizabeth Gertsakis |
| 1989 | 19 Jul – 8 Aug | Roman Portraits-Threshold | Geoff Weary (NSW) |
| 1989 | 19 Jul – 8 Aug | The Voice of No-One-Once Again | Mark Jackson & John Conomos |
| 1989 | 16 Aug – 10 Sep | Something More | Tracey Moffatt (NSW) |
| 1989 | 16 Aug – 10 Sep | World View | Michael Hutak (NSW) |
| 1989 | 13 Sep – 8 Oct | Sons of Empire | Jim Marwood (TAS) |
| 1989 | 13 Sep – 8 Oct | That Ocean | Fergus Armstrong (VIC) |
| 1989 | 15 Sep | Projected Light | Corinne and Arthur Cantrill (VIC) |
| 1989 | 11 Oct – 5 Nov | Transperiphery or travel & connection of peripheries (Chile & Australia) | Eugenio Dittborn (CHILE) |
| 1989 | 11 Oct – 5 Nov | Adam's Apple Chile-Tranvestites | Paz Errazuriz (CHILE) |
| 1989 | 8 Nov – 3 Dec | The Faces of Men | Peter Burgess (USA) |
| 1989 | 8 Nov – 3 Dec | Folly | Jennifer McCamley & Janet Burchill (NSW) |
| 1989 | 6 Dec – 24 Dec | Inhabitation | Christl Berg (TAS) |
| 1989 | 6 Dec – 24 Dec | Traces | Matt Feeney (QLD) |
| 1989 | 6 Dec – 24 Dec | Cartes Postales (video works) | Robert Cahen (FR) |
| 1990 | 31 Jan – 4 Mar | The Oedipus Variations | Curator: Fiona MacDonald |
| 1990 | 7 Mar – 8 Apr | Photophobia | John Voss (TAS) |
| 1990 | 7 Mar – 8 Apr | Unidentified Hostesses | Judith Ahern (NSW/VIC) |
| 1990 | 6 Apr – 6 Oct | Add Magic | Pat Brassington, Juan Davila, Jeff Gibson, Maria Kozic, Robyn Stacey, Peter Tyndall |
| 1990 | 13 Apr – 3 Jun | Le Voyage de Brise-Glace | Alain Fleischer (FR) |
| 1990 | 13 Apr – 3 Jun | Samuel Beckett Teleplays | Curator: Stan Douglas (Canada) |
| 1990 | 6 Jun – 8 Jul | Seven Photo- Micrographs | Curator: Stephen Bram (VIC) |
| 1990 | 6 Jun – 8 Jul | The Cabinet of Photography | John Nixon (NSW) |
| 1990 | 11 Jul – 19 Aug | Evolution After Savagery | Ara Koopelian (NSW) |
| 1990 | 24 Aug – 29 Sep | Living in the Seventies: Photographs by Carol Jerrems | Carol Jerrems. Curator: Helen Ennis. An Australian National Gallery Travelling Exhibition |
| 1990 | | Bill Viola-Video | Bill Viola (USA) |
| 1990 | | David Stephenson-Recent Works | David Stephenson (TAS) |
| 1990 | 3–11 Nov | Video Visions-5th Australian International Video Festival | |
| 1990 | 14 Nov – 6 Dec | Words | Fiona Hall (SA) |
| 1990 | 9 -23 Dec | The History of Photography-SCA student work | Curator: Martyn Jolly |
| 1990 | 9 -23 Dec | Photograms | Curator: Bronwyn Clark-Coolee |
| 1991 | 6 Feb – 10 Mar | Art is Not Enough | group show USA/Australia |
| 1991 | 13 Mar – 14 Apr | In Dreams: Mervyn Bishop Thirty Years of Photography 1960–1990 | Mervyn Bishop, curated by Tracey Moffat |
| 1991 | 17 Apr – 19 May | Flights Home | Hewson/Walker (SA) |
| 1991 | 17 Apr – 19 May | Geoff Kleem | Geoff Kleem |
| 1991 | 22 May – 23 Jun | The Philosophers Stone | Helen Kundicevic (NSW |
| 1991 | 22 May – 23 Jun | Layers of Light | John Daly (NSW) |
| 1991 | 26 Jun – 28 Jul | The Slow War-Luxury and Amnesia | Bronia Iwanczak (SA) |
| 1991 | 26 Jun – 28 Jul | Fields | Anna Zannella (WA) |
| 1991 | Aug-1 Sep | Furniture Fictions | Lynn Silverman (UK) |
| 1991 | Aug-1 Sep | Combust | Jay Younger |
| 1991 | 31 Jul – 17 Sep | Maureen Burns | Maureen Burns (NSW) |
| 1991 | to 17 Nov | One to One | Helen Amanatiadis, Sharon Baker, Maria Barbagallo, Louise Denoon, Gary Frew, Sonia Greig, Craig Hoy, Nicholas Jarman, Joseph Mallard, Kim McClintock, Bronwyn Rennex, Elvis Richardson, Steven Simmons, Frances Tatarovic, Giovanna Trenoweth, Lachlan Warner. |
| 1991 | to 22 Dec | Big shots | Gary Heary |
| 1992 | 6 Feb – 7 Mar | Fuel | 10 artists on the theme of the millennium, curated by Jay Younger |
| 1992 | 2 Apr – 2 May | Portrait of a new South Africa | Peter McKenzie |
| 1992 | 7 May – 13 Jun | Patterns of Connection | Leah King-Smith |
| 1992 | 18 Jun – 11 Jul | Vast: Photographs from Europe and Antarctica 1990–91 | David Stephenson |
| 1992 | 22 Jul – 16 Aug | Elvis Sightings | 6 artists |
| 1992 | to 12 Sep | Possession and Mirth | Christine Webster |
| 1992 | to 10 Oct | Tlacolmmiquiztli-Ills caused by Love and Desire | Christopher Köller |
| 1992 | to 25 Oct | Horizon | Jaap de Jong (Netherlands) |
| 1993 | 16–29 Jan | Original Steal | works by students of the ACP workshop |
| 1993 | to 27 Feb | A Place I've Never Seen | Mathew Jones |
| 1993 | to 27 Feb | S.T.U.D.S. Seductively Transmitted Utopian Dream States | Andy Davey |
| 1993 | to 27 Mar | Surrealism and the Bride | Bruce Searle |
| 1993 | to 27 Mar | Untitled Sequence | Cristel Berg |
| 1993 | 1–24 Apr | Dangling Virgins | Eugenia Raskopoulos |
| 1993 | 1–24 Apr | "Mavri Xenitia | Effy Alexakis |
| 1993 | to 22 May | Mangrove Creek | Axel Poignant |
| 1993 | to 22 May | Cartographics | Kevin Todd |
| 1993 | to 26 Jun | Mien: Chinese Scrolls, Singapore-Adelaide 1990–93 | Alan Cruikshank |
| 1993 | 17–24 Jul | The Big Deal is Black | Brenda Croft |
| 1993 | 17–24 Jul | Cast-Offs | Destiny Deacon |
| 1993 | 29 Jul – 21 Aug | Phantasm | Lynne Roberts-Goodwin |
| 1994 | Feb | Pierre Molinier | Pierre Molinier, auspiced by Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras |
| Closed for renovations September 1993 - March 1996 |||||
| 1996 | 21 Mar – 4 May | Inheritance | Sandy Edwards, Fiona Hall, Bill Henson, Debra Phillips, Jon Rhodes, Lynne Roberts-Goodwin, David Stephenson, Les Walking, Anne Zahalka, Dan Armstrong, Destiny Deacon, Walker Evens, Heather Fernon, Carol Jerrems, Anne McDonald, Stephen Marcus, Susan Nakamarra Boko, Sandy Nicholson, Lyndall Phelps, Paul Saint, Danielle Thompson |
| 1996 | 10 May – 18 Jun | Bad Light | Jane Burton, Jane Eisemann, Pat Brassington, David McDowell |
| 1996 | 10 May – 17 Jun | Silent Measure | Judith Wright |
| 1996 | 24 May – 17 Jun | White | Francesca Da Rimini & Josephine Starrs |
| 1996 | 7–29 Jun | Where are you now? | Anne Ferran |
| 1996 | 7–29 Jun | Landmarks, Watermarks | Bette Mifsud |
| 1996 | 5 Jul – 3 Aug | Horizontal | Graeme Hare |
| 1996 | 9–31 Aug | Sky of the World | Yvonne Lee Schultz |
| 1996 | 9–31 Aug | Screen Options | Mike Stevenson |
| 1996 | 6 Sep – 5 Oct | Beyond the Sublime, Part 1 | Keith Arrant, Jem Southam, Marie Shannon |
| 1996 | 11 Oct – 9 Nov | Beyond the Sublime, Part 2 | Chris Barry, Kurt Brereton, Pip Culbert, Paul Handley, Leah King-Smith, Rosemary Laing, Harry Nankin and Janina Green |
| 1996 | 15 Nov – 14 Dec | Lushus | Robyn Stacey |
| 1996/7 | 20 Dec – 25 Jan | Hearsay; New Photo Artists | Group show |
| 1996 | from March 22 | Inheritance | with Bill Henson, Fiona Hall, David Moore and Anne Zahalka |