About
MICHAEL SNELLING
Michael Snelling is an artist and writer based in Hong Kong. His art practice is photo-based, sometimes with accompanying fiction. He often works with books.
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He was formerly a CEO and Artistic Director, curator, project manager, teacher and consultant. He was Director and CEO of the National Art School, Sydney, Australia. He has taught at universities in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. He was founding Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and previously CEO of Major Brisbane Festivals; CEO and Artistic Director of the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane and the Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide; and Director of the Australian Centre for Photography Workshop in Sydney. For five years he managed the visual arts and crafts National Infrastructure and Projects Portfolios in the Australia Council.
He has been Artistic Director of organisations and events, curator of numerous exhibitions, and devised and produced local and international projects and residencies with artists in several artforms. He was a Fellow at the British School at Rome; AJAN Resident at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; curator of Someone’s Universe: The Art of Eugene Carchesio for the Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art; Australian Commissioner for the 10th Indian Triennale; and the survey exhibition Tracey Moffatt, of which he was the curator, toured in Asia.
He has been publisher, editor and managing editor of numerous books and smaller titles in the areas of artist monographs, art history and criticism, and exhibition catalogues.
He is currently a board member of Kaldor Public Art Projects and the Hong Kong Arts Centre School Advisory Committee. Among numerous advisory positions, he has been a board member of the Bundanon Trust, La Boite Theatre, a selector for Australia’s representation at three Venice Biennales and the Indian Triennale, Chair of the New Media Arts Board and a Councillor, of the Australia Council. He was also a member of the Task Force that restructured the Australia Council in 2004, a member of the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Arts Advisory Committee, the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency, the Brisbane Inner City Advisory Committee, the Cultural Network of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO and Deputy Chair of ELISION Contemporary Music Ensemble.
He was Chair of Artbank, President of CAOs (Contemporary Art Organisations of Australia), Chair of the Asialink Visual Arts Committee, Chair of the Queensland Government's Visual Arts, Crafts, Design and Museums Panel and a member of the Queensland Government
Cultural Advisory Council.
He played a lead role in the planning and establishment of the Lion Arts Centre in Adelaide and the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts in Brisbane, Australia.