Creative Antarctica: artists transport audiences to the edge of the world

Creative Antarctica: artists transport audiences to the edge of the world

RMIT Galleries' latest - and one of its largest ever - exhibitions, Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, brings audiences on a journey to the Far South, offering new perspectives, encounters and understandings of one of the world’s most remote and fragile landscapes.

Sound artist, and three-time Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship recipient, RMIT Professor Philip Samartzis stands in front of a projected image. Credit: Keelan O'Hehir Philip Samartzis in front of Philip Samartzis, Martin Walch and Sean Williams, 'The Magnetic Quiet Zone', 2024, in 'Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, 2026, Design Hub Gallery. Photo by Keelan O'Hehir.

Creative Antarctica, is curated by sound artist and three-time Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship recipient, RMIT Professor Philip Samartzis. It has been in development for five years and features the largest ever collection of Australian art and literature solely focused on Antarctica.  

Exhibiting historically significant, contemporary and brand-new site-specific works through a variety of media, Creative Antarctica demonstrates how artists and writers play an increasingly vital role in observing and recording the tension between climate, landscape, technology and humans. 

(L-R) Professor Philip Samartzis stands and RMIT Media & Communications Senior Lecturer, Dr Polly Stanton in a red room. Credit: Keelan O'Hehir Philip Samartzis and Polly Stanton in front of Kirsten Haydon, 'Ice Scaffold Year', 2025, in 'Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, 2026, Design Hub Gallery. Photo by Keelan O'Hehir.

"Australia is one of the few countries that allows artists and writers to visit Antarctica, providing an alternative perspective to the scientific lens we've traditionally viewed the Far South through,” said Professor Samartzis. 

“Throughout the exhibition, the audience is immersed in the complexities and tensions of being on the ice, not just through the imagery of the alien landscape, but through the social, environmental and technological challenges faced by its inhabitants,” he continued.

On the left a bright yellow wall, representing the snow machines they use for transport, has three large prints. The back wall and right wall are white with frames lined up across them. Installation view of ‘Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. Photo by Christian Capurro. 

The exhibition also features work from artist, filmmaker and RMIT Media & Communications Senior Lecturer Dr Polly Stanton, who recently visited Antarctica as part of their 2025 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship. 

Stanton spent three weeks on the ice, capturing sound and moving images at Casey Station, largely focusing on ‘contested spaces’ – capturing the tension and impact of humans intersecting with the natural world. 

“I was fascinated by the fragile connection between the settled and unsettled aspects of Antarctica, and how the continent performs a sense of both absence and excess - the absence of permanent human settlement, and the excess of transnational governance and scientific oversight,” said Stanton. 

Stanton’s experiences in Antarctica inspired her large-scale moving image work featured in the exhibition, Edgelands. It forms part of a larger, evolving creative research project currently in development called The Silence in These Empty Lands is Long which considers how patterns of human movement and occupation in Antarctica signal its significance in the growing climate crisis and shifting global environmental politics.  

A woman is sitting in front of a projector displaying a shrubby antarctic landscapeInstallation view, Polly Stanton, 'Edgelands', 2026, in 'Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, 2026, Design Hub Gallery. Photo by Keelan O'Hehir.

“Edgelands grew out of my time in Antarctica, observing the everyday sites, sounds and movements in and around Casey Research Station and the wider Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica. By tracing these small human routines, I was able to document the rhythms of the station’s operations and human-made environments, showing the implications of the human presence on a continent that is often considered absent of life.” 

“My drive with this work was to observe and capture the more mundane human spaces and gestures, and to consider how these everyday scenes feed into larger dynamics around Australia’s national presence across Antarctic territories and its geopolitical position within the broader region of the circumpolar south,” Stanton continued. 

A woman in a white top stands in a very dark room, a bright screen to the right depicts an arctic ocean with icebergs and whitecaps. There is computer-like text on the screen that is undistinguishable.David Bridie and K. Verell, ‘The Cryosphere – A confluence of uncertainty’, 2025, in ‘Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. Photo by Christian Capurro.

“Creative Antarctica represents not just artistic achievement, but the vital intersection of creative practice, scientific inquiry, and environmental consciousness that defines the most important work being done at RMIT through our signature initiatives:  The Regenerative Futures Institute and Planetary Civics Inquiry,” said Professor Tim Marshall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of RMIT’s College of Design and Social Context.   

“This exhibition also highlights the essential role RMIT Galleries plays in our research mission. Not simply exhibition spaces, RMIT Galleries are vital research infrastructure that enables creative researchers to test ideas, present findings in inventive ways, and engage broad community audiences,” he continued. 

A long shot of the yellow wall, with a red wall backing it in the distance. It has 3 large technicolour prints of the arctic horizon.Installation view of works by Keith Jack in ‘Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South’, Design Hub Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. Photo by Christian Capurro. 

Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South is located across both RMIT Gallery and Design Hub and runs from Friday 20 February - Saturday 2 May 2026. Free entry, no registration required.  

Artists include James Batchelor, David Bridie, Maria Buchner, David Burrows, Stephen Eastaugh, Lawrence English, Kirsten Haydon, William Hodges, Frank Hurley,  Nicholas Hutcheson, Keith Jack, Leila Jeffreys, John Kelly, Janet Laurence, Nel Law, Phillip Law, Alison Lester, Sue Lovegrove, Bea Maddock, Douglas Mawson, John McCormick, Adam Nash, Miranda Nieboer, David Neilson, Sidney Nolan, Lin Onus, Charles Page, Judith Parrott, Christian Clare Robertson, Sally Robinson, Philip Samartzis, Jörg Schmeisser, Jan Senbergs, Polly Stanton, Charles Turnbull Harrisson, K. Verell, Martin Walch, and Sean Williams.   

Two people sit in a dark room, one on the floor and the other on a bench, with a huge screen showing the sky and an arctic landscape.John McCormick and Adam Nash, ‘The Air Through the Ice’, 2026, in ‘Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South’, Design Hub Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. Photo by Christian Capurro. 

The exhibition is also accompanied by a wider public program, and features events, workshops and performances showcasing the vital role the arts play in documenting the Far South.

 

The Thing (1982) - Thursday 19 March, 7:00- 9:00pm 

$15 General Admission | $10 students 

A screening of the iconic sci-fi thriller ‘The Thing’ (1982) on the big screen at Melbourne's most spectacular cinema. 

 

Women of the Ice - Friday 17 April, 2:00-3:30pm 

FREE at Design Hub Lecture Theatre 

Historically male-dominated, visitors to Antarctica increasingly reflect greater gender and cultural diversity, with half of the artists and writers visiting Antarctica through the Australian Antarctic Arts fellowship program being women. Hear from five women who have journeyed to the Far South, offering personal experiences and reflections from the front lines of a changing climate. 

 

Designing for Extremes – Monday 30 April, 6:00-7:30pm 

FREE at Design Hub Lecture Theatre 

As we face a future where extreme conditions are no longer distant, this conversation brings together deep Antarctic experience, sustainable design practice, and First Nations knowledge to ask: are we asking the right questions about how we respond to climate crisis, resource constraints, and systemic change facing Australia and the world? 

Three very large artworks are lined up on against a white wall, they've got textured blue lines that look soft against warm grey backgrounds.Installation view of ‘Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. Photo by Christian Capurro. 

The exhibition is presented by RMIT University in partnership with the University of Tasmania, Flinders University, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Antarctic Program and the Nevada Museum of Art. 

 

This exhibition was produced as part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, in collaboration with project team members. Research was supported by the Australian Government through ARC’s Discovery Projects funding scheme.   

Lead Curator: Professor Philip Samartzis.  

Banner image: Installation view, 'Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South, 2026, Design Hub Gallery. Photo by Keelan O'Hehir.

 

Story: Duncan Scott

20 February 2026

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20 February 2026

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