Down Under with The Nelson-Atkins

After a seven-year renovation of a 1900s sandstone building in the heart of the Central Business District, the transformation of Capella Sydney was completed in the spring of 2023—and the result, extending across an entire city block, is spectacular.From the moment you arrive, it feels like an oasis in the heart of the city. The gorgeous lobby café called Aperture stands out with its abundant greenery, including a 21-foot-high living wall filled with local flora. The hotel also features wellness offerings at their spa, a lap pool, a stand out local art collection, and lovely dining experiences. 

Sydney Contemporary is Australasia's largest and most diverse international art fair, held annually at Carriageworks in Sydney. The Fair provides a critical platform to exhibit vibrant, ambitious and cutting-edge art from emerging and established artists to audiences from Australasia. With a thriving art scene and sophisticated collector base, Sydney is the financial capital of Australia and a dynamic cultural destination with an international reputation, home to significant public institutions, private museums and foundations, leading commercial galleries and the internationally renowned Biennale of Sydney, and newly opened Sydney Modern. The Fair welcomes over 110 emerging and established galleries, showcasing the work of over 500 artists presenting the best in contemporary and modern art.

Established in 1871, The Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of Australia's leading public art institutions. The gallery has grown into a major cultural landmark, housing an extensive collection of Australian, European, Asian, and contemporary art. The gallery is particularly known for its strong representation of Australian art, including Indigenous and colonial works, as well as for hosting the prestigious annual Archibald Prize, a major portraiture competition. In 2022, AGNSW expanded dramatically with the opening of the Sydney Modern Project—a new, architecturally striking building designed that doubles the gallery's exhibition space and emphasizes contemporary and international art.

Sydney-based artist Maria Fernando Cardoso (b. 1963; Columbia) blends nature, art, science, and technology to transform unconventional materials into awe-inspiring installations, sculptures, performances, and videos. Her work invites viewers to experience the wonders of nature. Cardoso has lived and worked in Sydney since 1997 and is represented by Sullivan + Strump. Throughout her career, she has explored nature and its links to culture and science. In 2012, she completed her PhD at the Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) focusing her research on the aesthetics of reproductive morphology. Cardoso has exhibited at New York MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, PS1, Fundacion La Caixa in Barcelona, the DAROS Foundation in Zurich, and the Centro Reina Sofia in Madrid.

The White Rabbit Gallery was opened in 2009 to showcase what has become one of the world's most significant collections of Chinese contemporary art. Dedicated to works made in the 21st century, the White Rabbit Collection is owned by Judith Neilson, who was inspired to establish it after her first trips to Beijing in the late 1990s. She was thrilled by the creative energy and technical quality of the works she saw and wanted to share them with people outside China. She makes regular trips to China and Taiwan to augment the Collection, which now includes almost 3000 works by almost 750 artists and continues to expand. 

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is situated on the Berriedale peninsula just outside Hobart, Tasmania. It is Australia's largest private museum—founded in 2011 by eccentric gambler‑collector David Walsh. Housed largely underground beneath heritage buildings, its architecture creates a dark, labyrinthine space that gradually reveals itself through descending staircases and tunnels. David Walsh envisions it as a "subversive adult Disneyland"—part provocation, part playground. The collection is particularly strong in aboriginal artworks and objects, and its off-site herbarium, which constitutes the world's most comprehensive record of Tasmania's flora. The venue challenges visitors to think, feel, and question, blending ancient artefacts and contemporary installations, all in an immersive, boundary-pushing environment.

D'Lan Contemporary was founded in Melbourne in 2016 by D'Lan Davidson, a prominent art consultant who has specialised in Australian First Nations art for over 20 years. The gallery opened its first ​public exhibition space in 2021 and since then, has undergone significant expansion, opening gallery spaces in New York and Sydney in 2023 and 2024, participating at international art fairs, and collaborating with other galleries such as Gagosian and Pace. With a mission to raise awareness of and appreciation for Australian First Nations art internationally, the gallery presents a programme of exhibitions, educational talks and events that celebrate and promote the rich art and culture of the country's first peoples.

The National Gallery of Victoria is Australia's oldest public art museum. and most-visited art museum. It was founded in 1861 and fueled by the wealth generated from the Victorian gold rush, and there was a strong desire among the colony's leaders to establish Melbourne as a cultural capital. In 1968, the gallery moved into its iconic modernist building designed by Sir Roy Grounds. This building became famous for its bluestone façade and the water wall at the entrance—a beloved feature for generations of visitors. Inside, the Great Hall, with its monumental stained-glass ceiling by Leonard French, quickly became one of Melbourne's most recognizable artistic landmarks. The collection now has more than 75,000 works, covering art from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania, alongside a strong commitment to Australian and First Nations art.

Bangarra Dance Theatre is a company of professional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performers. As one of Australia's leading performing arts companies, their mission is to share their culture with communities and audiences across Australia and the world. The company is made up of contemporary dancers, drawing on 65,000 years of culture. They create powerful works of theatre with dance, music, poetry and design to tell the stories of their Elders. Each dancers is a professionally trained, dynamic artist with a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background. The Bangarra Dance Theatre has been making their mark on the Australian theatre landscape for 34 years. 

Bendigo, Victoria, just two hours north of Melbourne, is home to one of the oldest and largest regional galleries in Australia. The Bendigo Art Gallery was founded in 1887, Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Year, and features Australian Art from the 1850s to the present day, art from the Bendigo goldfields and 19th century European paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. The Gallery expanded its exhibitions spaces during the 1890s with rooms were designed in the grand European tradition with polished wood floors, ornate plaster arches and cornices, and diffused natural sky-lighting through rooftop lantern towers.