Dark Horse Experiment
‘Art Salon:
An Untitled Exhibition’
Opening Night: 1ST NOV | 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition: 28 OCT - 8 NOV 2025
‘Art Salon: An Untitled Exhibition’ celebrates the contemporality of the Thai
diaspora, a variety of diverse backgrounds, and we are united by our shared
experience of being a Thai creative in this ancient foreign land. This exhibition
allows a platform to celebrate Australian Thai art. Promoting the complex
links, creative diversity and research that exists within the Thai,
Australian creative community.
Opening Night Celebration
● date: Saturday, 1 November 2025
● time: 6:00 – 9:00 PM
● venue: Dark Horse Experiment Art Gallery, West Melbourne
�� Music by DJ Chatchawan Rakyaem @cboscwry
Uncertain Endings
Opening Night: Thr 23 Oct | 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition: Wed 22 Oct - Sat 25 Oct
Designers often begin with clear intentions, creating, duplicating and finally selling
familiar products in neat sets on well-ordered racks. Yet this apparently tidy end
point, the point-of-sale, does not necessarily capture the complex and messy way
textiles move through the world.
As the fashion industry struggles to maintain an old order amid a devolving global system, how can we find new and alternative methods for navigating these spaces, designing outcomes within this uncertainty?
Uncertain Endings explores a shift in focus from producing tidy products, to designing processes for shaping disorder, where the final design may only emerge through the doing.
Red Bull 2000
Show a fizzing fusion of art and energy
Exhibition by Stefan Smith
8–18 October 2025
Opening Night: Friday 10 October
6:00 – 9:00pm
Stefan Smith’s artistic practice stands as a compelling exploration of the intersection between corporate branding and contemporary art.
His work critically examines the pervasive influence of advertising by incorporating sponsor logos and products directly into his art. This approach not only challenges the traditional boundaries between commerce and creativity but also invites viewers to reflect on the commodification of art in a consumer driven society. For instance, his 2009 solo exhibition ‘SUZUKI GSX-R1000’ at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery exemplifies this dialogue, transforming a commercial product into a subject of artistic inquiry.
Smith’s installations are notable for their scale and ambition, often engaging with familiar corporate imagery to create works that are both accessible and thought provoking. By leveraging the recognisability of brands like Red Bull, KFC, and Coca-Cola, he crafts pieces that resonate with a broad audience while simultaneously critiquing the very systems they represent.
However, this strategy is not without its complexities. The direct involvement of corporate sponsors in the creation of his art raises questions about artistic autonomy and the potential for commercial interests to influence creative expression. Yet, Smith navigates this terrain with a critical eye, using the tension between art and commerce as a central theme in his work.
Smith’s work offers a unique perspective that bridges local and global discourses on the role of art in society. His practice encourages a revaluation of how art interacts with everyday life, particularly in a media saturated environment.
Overall, Stefan Smith’s oeuvre is a testament to the power of art to interrogate and reflect upon the structures that shape our visual and cultural landscapes. His work challenges viewers to consider the implications of corporate influence on artistic production, making his contributions both relevant and resonant in contemporary discourse.
Yarro Yarro: Reflections on the River
Exhibition by Nicholas Walton-Healey
10th – 20th SEPT 2025
Opening Night: THURSDAY 11 SEPT
6:00 – 9:00pm
Yarro Yarro: Reflections on the River is a photography exhibition and publication showcasing the surprising and dynamic beauty of the Yarra Birrarung.Focussing on the colours, patterns, and figurative possibilities of reflections captured on the river’s urban surface, photographer Nicholas Walton-Healey presents this familiar stretch of waterway differently. Through his stunning collection of abstract photographs, he invites us to see and celebrate the Yarra Birrarung as a vibrant, expressive presence at the heart of the city.
The opening night event will unveil a series of photographic works capturing the play of reflection, light and texture on the river’s surface. Often overlooked and misread, this industrialised part of the Yarra reveals itself here as rich with colour, pattern and surprising beauty. The artist will also launch a self-produced publication on the night, with drinks and discussion flowing freely.
📅 Opening Night and 🎤 Artist Talk
🕖 Time: Presentation at 6.30pm
📍 Location: The Blender Studios
📆 Exhibition Dates: 10-20 September 2025, 12-5pm Wednesday-Saturday
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Equilibrium & Flow
Solo Exhibition by Tanja Milbourne
20th – 30th AUG 2025
Opening Night: FRIDAY 22nd Aug
6:00 – 9:00pm
Ten years ago, in response to a cancer diagnosis, Tanja Milbourne began a photography series seeking to express how life feels in its most uncertain, suspended moments.
Capturing dancers in moments of poised suspension, where movement and stillness seem momentarily inseparable. These images sought to explore how the human body, held between motion and stillness, can express states of being beyond language.
Then, during a period when treatment left them unable to work with the camera, an unexpected practice emerged: drawing.
Originating as a meditative practice, Tanja allowed the process to unfold intuitively, embracing a dialogue between conscious intent and the agency of the medium.
The resulting intricate linework evokes organic forms and topographies — fine, flowing structures that seem to shift between surface and depth, almost like water in motion, becoming their own quiet meditation on life, nature and movement.
Over time, their photography and drawing began to speak to each other. Lines now drawn directly onto photographic prints opened a dialogue between the frozen instant and the unfolding gesture — between the seen and the felt. This evolving practice became a way to explore the invisible threads that connect us: personal, ecological, existential.
Equilibrium & Flow brings together these three strands — photography, drawing, and hybrid works — for the first time. Across them runs a shared exploration of movement, vulnerability,and impermanence: a search for meaning in the delicate interplay between holding on and letting go.
Un/Real
Opening 20th March 2025 6-9pm
Exhibition: 20-29 March 2025
"An Exhibition showcasing the fluidity of reality.."
Presented by The SIGNAL Curators group, the show Un/Real is concerned primarily with the relationship between perception and reality. Within this overarching concept lies a particular focus on the politics of perception; systems of knowledge and their particular biases explored… the question “who benefits from this message of the truth?” presented for the viewer to interrogate. The diversity of artistic mediums within this exhibition targets a broad sensory base in an effort to infiltrate and re-imagine the perceived reality of the viewer; challenging their pre-conceived notion of perception and encouraging viewers to become more critical in their own experience of reality. Viewers of this exhibition will therefore be invited to examine what lies within, between, and behind the “real”, engaging with mythologies, dualities, and mirrors.
Asian Heritage Week Exhibition
17th – 24th May 2025
Opening Night: Sat 17th May
5:00 – 9:00pm
Join Platform and HOISZN for a week-long group exhibition celebrating the talent, creativity and contribution of Asian Australian artists across generations.
While Asian Heritage Week is not yet formally recognised nationwide in Australia, it is a powerful opportunity for us to come together — to honour histories, amplify voices and celebrate the incredible breadth of talent that exists within our Naarm-based Asian communities.
This exhibition is for everyone. Whether you're part of the Asian diaspora or simply passionate about art and culture, you're warmly invited to come and experience the diversity of perspectives, stories and creative practices that make our communities so rich and vibrant.
✨ Opening Night: Saturday 17th May | 5:00 – 9:00pm
Pocketful of Sunshine
26th Feb - 8th Mar 2025
Opening night: 28th Feb 2025 6-8:30
Pocketful of SunshineOpening Night: 28th Feb 2025. 6-8:30Exhibition period: 26th Feb - 8th March 2025Join us for the opening of Pocketful of Sunshine on Friday the 28th of February 6-8:30pm. “Summer brings that hot yellow sun shining down on us, sweaty sunscreen skin & beautiful, balmy nights.” This is the second in a series of Season-themed group exhibitions curated by Tegan IversenSummer brings that hot yellow sun shining down on us, sweaty sunscreen skin, and beautiful, balmy nights.The season full of fresh fruit, time spent outdoors, beach swims, and adventures with family and friends. Summer is sunshine, the doggo that greets you out the front for a pat, and the kitty that sleeps at the sunny spot near the window. Let the sunshine in, I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine. It's the late walk where you feel the warmth that remains each night. The second in a series of Season-themed group exhibitions curated by Tegan Iversen, Pocketful of Sunshine features visual art by an array of emerging and established Naarm-based artists. Drawing, painting, printmaking, embroidery, photography, textiles, mixed media sculptures, and more will be showcased in this busy, bright, and fun-filled group show. Featuring work by Aleisha Earp, Alice Naish, Amber Cottell, Anna Seed, Ann Iversen, Arabella Strachan, Ashlea Bechaz, Bella Dredge, Bonnie Williams, Carly Candiloro, Diana Story, Elizabeth Nicholls, Emma Sjaan Beukers, Emma Winton, Esther Sandler, Fabiola Ibanez, Fiona Davey, Freya Alexander, Grace Audrey, Grace Taylor, Hayley Sinnatt, Holly Gregory, Imogen Davis, Isabella Radevski, Isabella Zoe Designs, JC Harris, Jess Hall, Jessica Jane, Jiyu Hwang, Kat Weir, Lisa Han, Louis Radevski, Louise Kyriakou, Meg Kolac, Mia Emily Freeman, Misu Juju, Monica Tran, naomi meg, Rachel Derum, Ruby Bovill, Ruby MacKinnon, Samantha Curcio, Sarah McDonald, Scarlet Sykes Hesterman, Shelley Spangler, Steph Lam, Sunny Tandoc, Tegan Iversen, Tom Civil, Trudy Rice, Vanessa Bong, Viet-My Bui, Vonne Beyer, Yan Yan Candy Ng, Yelly and more.Pocketful of Sunshine is inspired by a song you can't help but sing along to and explores the joy, colour, and heat of the hottest season, Summer.
