The acquisition of works for the Vizard Foundation Art Collection of the 1990s commenced in September 1993 as a collaborative project between the Vizard Foundation, the Ian Potter Museum of Art and the Department of Fine Arts of the University of Melbourne (now the School of Culture and Communication). Its objective was to support Australian artists through the ongoing acquisition, display and educational promotion of their work. The art works in the collection are on long-term loan to the University of Melbourne, where they are displayed at the Ian Potter Museum of Art.
In 2025, The Art Gallery of Ballarat accepted a long-term loan agreement following a period in which the works were held by the University of Melbourne. The Art Gallery of Ballarat’s objective is to further activate the collection through special projects, curatorial opportunities and creative initiatives.
The Vizard Foundation Art Collection of the 1990s includes 124 works by 51 Australian artists presenting key artistic developments of the decade. The Collection addresses major theoretical issues in contemporary art of the time including: the relationships between art and mass culture; art and technology; art and identity and art and gender. In particular, the Collection focuses on issues of identity more broadly within Australian culture, in terms of gender, sexuality and ethnicity, and how these operate in society.
This website tells the story of this important collection and contemporary Australian art in the 1990s, with texts by some of Australia’s most experienced writers and interviews with artists represented in the Collection.
