Melbourne's Must-See Exhibitions This Spring, and the Ones Closing Soon
Cartier, ancient Rome, Kylie's hot pants and a playable piece of video game art. Here are five Melbourne exhibitions worth your time, in order of when they close.
Melbourne's cultural calendar is unusually crowded right now. The winter blockbusters are heading into their final days, and a fresh set of spring and summer shows has just opened. If you've been meaning to get to a gallery, here are five exhibitions worth planning around. They're listed in order of closing date, so the most urgent come first.
1. Cartier at the NGV
Closes 4 October 2026 | NGV International, St Kilda Road | Ticketed
This year's Melbourne Winter Masterpieces show is the one people will still be talking about in a decade. Created by the V&A in London in partnership with the NGV and in collaboration with Cartier, the exhibition brings together more than 300 jewels, tiaras, necklaces, brooches, timepieces and design drawings from the French maison's history. The pieces are extraordinary. What makes the show special is how much of Cartier's creative process it shows, with original drawings displayed alongside the finished work.
With less than two weeks left, expect crowds. Book a timed ticket, go early on a weekday if you can, and give yourself at least 90 minutes.
2. Ragnar Kjartansson at the NGV
Closes 4 October 2026 | NGV International | Children's Play is free, daily 10am to 5pm
The Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson is known for performance and video works that are funny, melancholy and hypnotic in equal measure. His NGV presentation includes the world premiere of Children's Play, his first ever exhibition made for children, in the gallery's Children's Gallery. It's playful and warm, and free to enter.
Because it shares a closing weekend with Cartier and the same building, it's easy to see both in one visit. If you have kids, the Children's Play room makes a good reward after the jewellery.
3. Rome: Empire, Power, People at Melbourne Museum
Closes 25 October 2026 | Melbourne Museum, Carlton | Ticketed
Developed by Museums Victoria with Italian partners, and built on significant loans from institutions including the Museo Nazionale Romano, this is one of the most ambitious ancient-world exhibitions staged in Australia in years. It traces Rome from the fall of Julius Caesar to the height of the Empire, taking in the luxury of imperial life, the spectacle of the games and the everyday lives of ordinary Romans.
It rewards a slow visit. Pair it with a walk through the Carlton Gardens and the Royal Exhibition Building next door.
4. Feng Mengbo: Long March Restart at ACMI
Until 31 January 2027 | Ground Floor, ACMI, Fed Square | Free, daily 10am to 5pm
What happens when revolutionary history meets Street Fighter II? Chinese artist Feng Mengbo has spent years answering that question, and the result is a vast, playable video game artwork. Long March Restart reimagines China's rapid 20th century modernisation as a retro side-scrolling game, projected at a scale that makes you feel like you're inside the screen. You don't just look at it: you pick up a controller and play.
Presented by ACMI and the City of Melbourne's Now or Never festival, it's free and open daily. ACMI has also commissioned three new arcade games to accompany the show, which you can play by donation. It's the easiest recommendation on this list: drop in whenever you're near Fed Square.
5. ENCORE! 50 Objects at Arts Centre Melbourne
Until 9 May 2027 | Australian Museum of Performing Arts, Arts Centre Melbourne
The Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA) opened ENCORE! 50 Objects on 16 September, following its debut exhibition DIVA, which toured from the V&A. This time the focus is local. Fifty objects trace roughly 170 years of Australian performing arts, from theatre and opera to dance and pop. The headline piece is the costume Kylie Minogue wore in the 2000 Spinning Around video, gold hot pants and all.
It's the kind of exhibition that makes you realise how much of Australia's cultural history lives in costume trunks and archives rather than on gallery walls. With a run into May, there's no rush. But it's an ideal pre-show stop if you're seeing something at Arts Centre Melbourne this season.
How to plan it
- This week or next: Cartier and Ragnar Kjartansson together at the NGV, before 4 October.
- Before late October: Rome at Melbourne Museum, before 25 October.
- Any time this summer: Feng Mengbo at ACMI and ENCORE! at Arts Centre Melbourne.
The NGV, Arts Centre Melbourne and ACMI are all within a short walk of each other along the St Kilda Road and Fed Square arts precinct, so a single city day can cover three of the five. Melbourne Museum is a short tram ride north. Check each venue's website for current opening hours and ticket availability before you go, particularly for Cartier in its final days.
Sources: National Gallery of Victoria, Museums Victoria, ACMI, Arts Centre Melbourne
