Current exhibition
Observation to Illustration: The inner worlds of Patrick Shirvington
Date: Friday, 7 August 2026
Location: Macquarie University Waranara Library exhibition space,
16 Macquarie Walk on Macquarie University's Wallumattagal Campus at Macquarie Park.
| Patrick Shirvington |
Observation to Illustration: The inner worlds of Patrick Shirvington comprise the artist’s sketches, drafts, compositional shifts and finished illustrations that co-exist like clues in an ongoing investigation. This exhibition, arranged in glass cabinets that echo a small natural history museum archive, borrows the language of specimens and field notes. The cabinets slow the viewer down, inviting a closer look at illustration not merely as entertainment for children, but as a way of thinking, evidence of someone trying to understand the world by drawing it.
The viewing space is open whenever the Library is open. Check Library opening hours to view the exhibition.
Glasnost Thursday, 21 May 2026 |
The word glasnost has long been associated with ideas of openness and transparency.
This exhibition, curated by Sean Morris, brings together glass works from the Macquarie University Art Collection and features significant artists including Dale Chihuly, Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott, Sam Herman and Jenni Kemarre Martiniello OAM. These works are shown alongside those of leading Sydney‑based glass artists Bronte Cormican-Jones, Mark Eliott, Andrew Lavery, NOT, Robert Wynne and Floria Tosca. |
Material Witness Wednesay, 12 November 2025 | Please join us for the opening of this compelling exhibition that explores the delicate balance between cultural tradition and environmental impacts taking place in Papua New Guinea. Through evocative artworks and narratives, this exhibition reveals stories of loss, resilience, and the uncertain future faced by communities where both art and life struggle to endure. Curated by FOAR8040 students Emily Cooper and Sarah Kalule, together with Anna-Karina Hermkens and Rhonda Davis Macquarie School of Communication, Society and Culture Faculty of Arts. |
Παροικία: MUGA & Hellenism @ Macquarie Wednesday, 17 September 2025 | An exhibition celebrating friendship, heritage and language on campus Παροικία: MUGA & Hellenism @ Macquarie exhibition will be on display until Wednesday 5 November 2025. |
Plausible Playground | This exhibition, curated by Michelle Chanique, features works by John Coburn, Troy Emery, Linde Ivimey, Jennifer Keeler-Milne, Rosemary Laing, Joanna Lamb, Tim Maguire, Noel McKenna, Vicky Browne, Harry de Vries, Sophie Lampert, Thomas Marcusson and Michelle Chanique. Plausible Playground is a living laboratory of artistic exploration - an immersive exhibition where contemporary art meets the analytical gaze of the museum, all set within the intellectual heart of campus: the Waranara Library. Here, amidst shelves of accumulated knowledge, art becomes an open inquiry—blurring the lines between observation, imagination, and experimentation. Structured with the precision of a scientific experiment and the unpredictability of artistic play, Plausible Playground offers a unique synthesis of disciplines. The title hints at this dual nature: a space that is both speculative and grounded, playful yet plausible. Photography and video act as instruments of temporal observation, capturing the fleeting phenomena of memory, motion, and change. |