We explore the cultural complexity of art, and the world of galleries, museums, architecture, and visual culture. ​

#1 in Australia in the 2024 QS University Rankings

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We study the fabric of the visual world, how objects, images and symbols move across time and space, how they are displayed, viewed and interpreted. We chart the impact of visual culture on society, politics and life.  

 

Established in 1967, Art History has inspired generations of students to engage with art and visual culture from across the globe. From art and culture of Australia’s First Nation’s people, the Islamic World, Asia and Europe to contemporary global art and the study of museums, galleries, cultural institutions and arts practitioners, we are experts in art history and visual culture, art curating, and museum studies.  

 

The legacy of the John Power Bequest resonates today across our discipline, the Power Institute, the Schaeffer Arts Library and the foundation of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia. Together with the on campus Chau Chak Wing Museum, galleries, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney’s art and cultural institutions, and our world-renowned academics, we offer a unique learning environment that made us #1 in Australia in 2024. 

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Art Curating 

In the expanded field of art curating, arts professionals, curators, and artists work across an ever-changing sector of traditional art galleries, contemporary art spaces, biennales, art fairs, festivals and beyond to present, display and interpret art of the past and art of tomorrow. Today a curator is an enabler, a collaborator, and a cultural agent working with objects, still and moving images, artists, cultures and communities, performance, installations and ephemeral radical ways of thinking about what art is and what is does. 

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Museum & Heritage Studies

Museum and Heritage Studies will equip you with a contextual understanding of core historical and theoretical developments in museum and heritage studies. You will learn the frameworks for managing collections and sites and develop a practical understanding of the modes of interpretation used in the museum and heritage sector.  We examine how meaning is constructed in museums and at heritage sites through material objects, cultural practices, events and performances. We explore how publics engage with museum and heritage sites, including sites of trauma, commemoration and memorialisation and their role in urban and economic development. MHST is an interdisciplinary degree offered across the departments of art history and archaeology. 

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Visit the Art History Discipline Site →

Our academics are leading scholars in the fields of art history, curating and museum studies. In undergraduate studies we specialise in early modern global art, Islamic art, Asian art, Indigenous art, and the global modern to contemporary. 

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Our post-graduate degrees of Art Curating and Museum & Heritage Studies offer studies across theory and practice to prepare graduates for careers in art galleries, museums and the cultural and heritage sectors. Study arts of the world, design, visual and material culture, or curating, collection, exhibition, cultural and heritage management led by our internationally renowned scholars in public galleries and museums and contemporary art spaces across Sydney, in object-learning study rooms at the University’s own Chau Chak Wing Museum, Verge Gallery and Sydney College of the Arts Galleries, at biennales and art fairs,  on location in cities like Berlin and Paris, and through our industry-led internships.

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We also supervise higher degree research degrees such as a Master of Arts, MPhil or Doctorate. See the Department website for more information.