Potter Museum of Art unveils major new exhibition exploring the natural world

The University of Melbourne’s Potter Museum of Art will open one of its most ambitious exhibitions to date on February 19, with internationally acclaimed curator Chus Martínez presenting A velvet ant, a flower and a bird.

The exhibition promises a sweeping, cross-disciplinary experience that reframes how we understand intelligence across the natural world.

Running until June 6, 2026, the exhibition brings together works from the University’s vast Classics, Biology and Art collections alongside newly commissioned pieces and performances by artists from Australia and across the globe. It is Martínez’s first Australian project and marks a bold new chapter for the Potter following its 2025 reopening.

Described by Martínez as “a garden of knowledge,” the exhibition is structured around three natural figures – the velvet ant, the flower and the bird – each serving as a metaphor for alternative forms of intelligence.

These figures form what Martínez calls “a parliament of beings,” encouraging visitors to consider intelligence not as a uniquely human attribute but as something shared among living systems, materials and environments.

Historic and contemporary works will be placed in dialogue throughout the galleries, dissolving boundaries between the natural and artificial and inviting visitors to reflect on how museums can serve as sites for new ways of reasoning.

Martínez said the project emerged from approaching the University’s collections outside traditional academic frameworks.

“Collections hold many narratives – historical, cultural, economic, material – and by bringing them into living knowledge systems, we’re able to dissolve the binary between the natural and the artificial,” she said.

Each symbolic entity anchors a key theme. The velvet ant – a creature with a uniquely light-absorbing structure currently inspiring renewable energy research – represents adaptive intelligence.

The flower becomes a “sun-fed” symbol of renewal and cyclical creativity. The bird, drawing on Nobel Laureate Giorgio Parisi’s research into flocking behaviour, embodies collective intelligence that transcends individual awareness.

Director of Museums Charlotte Day said Martínez’s approach “champions arts' capacity to drive social change,” creating space for new modes of awareness and interdisciplinary dialogue.

The exhibition features an expansive roster of Australian and international artists, including Salvador Dalí, Joan Jonas, Helen Maudsley, Eduardo Navarro, Noemi Pfister, Nabilah Nordin, Taloi Havini, and Harold Munkara, alongside many others working across painting, sculpture, moving image, sound, performance and installation.

Exhibition designer Nguyen Le and graphic designer Ana Dominguez studio have collaborated closely with Martínez to bring the imaginative curatorial vision to life.

A velvet ant, a flower and a bird will be accompanied by a new publication series titled Art Museums Papers, authored by Martínez, Laura Tripaldi and Neha Cheksi, offering deeper insights into the exhibition’s philosophical and scientific themes.

A lively public program will extend the exhibition’s ideas beyond the gallery, including performances, talks and a special opening weekend celebration on February 21 and 22. The Potter’s annual Interdisciplinary Forum, held on May 9 under the theme “Intelligence,” will further explore the exhibition’s core questions through academic and creative lenses.

As Martínez notes, the project arrives at a crucial moment.

“At a time when fantasies of domination – technological or otherwise – threaten to upend our sense of equality, we urgently need spaces that train free thought,” she said. “A relevant society is one where many forms of knowledge flourish.”

A velvet ant, a flower and a bird opens February 19 at the Potter Museum of Art, Parkville. Admission is free.