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This exhibition is part of Midsumma Festival 2026.
Midsumma Festival - The Banks Are Burning
When: Thursday 5 February, 2025 Time: 5 – 7pm
Where: Artbank Melbourne, 18-24 Down Street Collingwood
RSVP via TBC or rsvps@artbank.gov.au
Artbank Melbourne is open Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm or by appointment.
Featured artists: Nick Breedon, Gary Carsley, Tay Haggarty, Matt Huppatz, The Kingpins, Nick Mullaly, Clinton Naina, Nell.
The Banks are Burning centres on Gary Carsley’s 1986 artwork of the same name, originally commissioned as a backdrop for New York’s influential club The Limelight. Created during the uncertainty and fear of the AIDS crisis, Carsley’s work captures the energy and urgency that defined a generation of queer expression. Recontextualised within Artbank’s collection, The Banks are Burning becomes both a tribute and a provocation, drawing a connection between the artwork’s title and the ‘bank’ of works in the Artbank collection, to the heat and pulse of the dance floor.
This exhibition explores the nightclub as a space of transformation, performance and community. It celebrates the cultural legacy of Australian LGBTQIA+ artists, and their allies, and the connection between art, identity and the spaces where we come together.
