News | MUMA appoints two new roles: Senior Curator and Research Curator

  
Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) welcomes two new curators to our team: Hannah Mathews as Senior Curator and Helen Hughes as Research Curator.

MUMA’s Director, Charlotte Day says ‘We are thrilled with these new appointments, which fill important curatorial positions within our team and we are really looking forward to working with Hannah and Helen in the new year’.

Hannah Mathews is an experienced curator who has worked with contemporary art organisations such as the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (ACCA), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and the Sydney Biennale, as well as working prolifically as an independent project initiator and director. She has an impressive track record of ambitious projects including Framed Movements, ACCA (2014), Action/Response, Dance Massive Festival (2013), Power to the People: Contemporary Conceptualism and the Object in Art, ACCA (2011), as well as NEW 11, ACCA and Primavera 2008 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. 

‘What is most impressive is Hannah’s commitment to extending curatorial practice, working within and outside of museums and galleries, examining arts permeability and agency. Hannah is a highly engaged and great contributor to the arts having sat on numerous boards, teaching curatorial studies and taking a leading role in a number of cultural issues such as the fate of Melbourne’s Keith Haring mural. Her particular interests in performativity and the intersections of cross-disciplinary practices bring new possibilities to MUMA’s program’, notes Charlotte Day. 

Hannah Mathews says of her new appointment, ‘I’m truly delighted to be joining the MUMA team. I’m excited to be moving into an area of programming that links contemporary practice with the museum’s excellent collection, desire for experimentation, forward thinking, scholarship, and the broader university context.’

Hannah has a Masters in Curatorship from the University of Melbourne (2002).

Helen Hughes is one of the founding editors of Discipline contemporary art journal and a co-editor of emaj (Electronic Melbourne Art Journal). In a relatively short time Helen has established herself as an influential voice in art discourse in Melbourne. Helen has taught art history at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts, and worked at Gertrude Contemporary and Utopian Slumps. She has co-edited a number of important publications including Impresario: the Melbourne Years 1981-84 (2013) with Nicholas Croggon; and Making Worlds: Science Fiction and Art (2013) with Amelia Barikin. As well as writing exhibition catalogues, she has been a regular contributor to art journals including Broadsheet, un Magazine, Discipline, Artlink and frieze. Her curatorial projects include Marrnyula Mununggurr: Ganybu at Gertrude Contemporary (2015) and working with Discipline on the forthcoming Tarrawarra Biennial (2016). 

‘The Research Curator is a new role at MUMA created to foster deep research into our collection and towards our exhibitions and programs, as well as engagement with our academic colleagues and students. Helen’s teaching, writing and editorial experience as well as her experience in contemporary art galleries makes her ideally suited to this role’ notes MUMA’s Director, Charlotte Day. 

Helen adds, ‘I can’t wait to join the team at MUMA and immerse myself in the Museum’s culture of research. I’m looking forward to working with both the Museum and the University, and deepening the scholarly and creative educational relationships that exist between the two through MUMA’s singular art collection and exhibition program.’

Helen has a Phd in Art History from the University of Melbourne (2015).