Biographical Summary
An Australian arts leader known for developing and delivering innovative artistic programs of significant scale and impact
Kelli Alred has over two decades of experience within the museum, gallery and festival sectors. She has presented exhibitions, commissions and events across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. Kelli has led research projects, served on advisory boards and contributed to the development of acquisition strategies for museums and private collectors.
With broad knowledge of contemporary and post war, twentieth century art, Kelli’s curatorial, creative producing and program management practice demonstrates specialist expertise in installation, sculpture and public art, conceptual art and performance, photography, moving-image, sound art and digital art.
A brief description of individual projects presented between 2000-23 can be found by following the navigation categories above.
Detailed documentation of selected projects is available via links to external websites within the text below.
Professional Appointments
Currently based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, Kelli was most recently Creative Producer for Experimenta 2022-23, managing the touring exhibition Experimenta: Life Forms and programming a series of discussions. In 2023 Kelli also co-curated and creatively produced the Now or Never Art Trail and the Active Interfaces Arts Lab in collaboration with the City of Melbourne.
Previously, Kelli was engaged as Associate Curator to deliver an exhibition of temporary public art titled Interspecies and Other Others at the Abbotsford Convent 2021-22. She was appointed as Artistic Director of Channels Festival: International Biennial of Video Art 2018-19, as well as Visual Arts Associate and Producer for Melbourne International Arts Festival 2017 and 2019. She held the position of Executive Producer for SITUATE throughout 2015, and was Program Manager, Digital Arts at Arts Centre Melbourne 2012-13.
While based in the UK, Kelli worked across Tate Modern and Tate Britain as Curator, Intermedia Art 2006-11 and as Curator, Webcasting and Internet Art 2003-06. She also co-curated and co-produced The Long Weekend festival at Tate Modern from 2006-09. She was Commissioning Producer for Active Ingredient 2002-03, as well as Studios and Special Projects Manager (including co-curating and producing a two-week, city-wide festival of live art) for Site Gallery from 2000-02.
Independent Curatorial Projects + Advisory Roles
In addition to these professional appointments, Kelli has curated a range of independent projects, undertaken residencies, overseen governance and consulted for organisations within Australia and internationally.
Kelli curated and produced the exhibition Temporal Proximities in Melbourne’s heritage-listed Magdalen Laundry 2017-19. She was a Guest Curator exhibiting a selection of work from The Netherlands Media Arts Institute collection 2008, Associate Curator for the exhibition Synthetic Times at the National Art Museum of China 2008, and worked in residence at the Montevideo Art Lab throughout 2003, among a range of other projects.
Between 2008-12, Kelli advised on the development of acquisition strategies and accessioning procedures for Tate, MoMA, the Kramlich Collection, Zabludowicz Collection, and Arts Council England.
She has served as Board President, Vice-President and General Member for arts organisations such as Liquid Architecture, the Live Art Development Agency, Furtherfield, and the Node London festival.
Public Speaking + Academic Engagements
Kelli has delivered presentations, chaired discussions and contributed to industry forums at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Tate Modern, SF MoMA, Pallazzo delle Arti, the National Art Museum of China and others.
She has led research projects, convened symposia, presented lectures and tutored students for RMIT University, Victorian College of the Arts, Goldsmiths College University of London, Manchester University, Amsterdam Maastricht University, University of Florida, Ohio State University and others.
Kelli is in the final stages of a PhD in contemporary art and philosophy at the University of Melbourne, Faculty of VCA and MCM, working toward the completion of a thesis titled Curating Time. Prior to transferring into the PhD, Kelli completed a number subjects in art history and curatorship as part of an Executive Master of Arts, Cultural Leadership at the University of Melbourne. In the mid 90s Kelli completed a BA in Theatre Directing, specialising in post-modern performance and interdisciplinary practice.
Selected Curatorial Projects Presented in Australia
Co-curated and creatively produced the Now or Never Art Trail, spanning a 1.2km promenade alongside Docklands Harbour. This outdoor, after dark exhibition included three commissions and four site-specific displays by Michaela Gleave, Jon McCormack, Jarra Karalina Steel, Universal Everything, Justine Emard and others.
Curated the exhibition Interspecies and Other Others presenting nineteen large-scale works by thirteen artists across four acres of heritage-listed architectural and garden landscapes, including commissions by Abdul Abdullah, Megan Cope, Atlanta Eke and Lyndal Jones, as well as video art and site-specific installations by Tony Albert, Zanny Begg, Marianna Simnett, Karrabing Film Collective and others.
Curated the exhibition Untimely Geographies presenting work by Reko Rennie, Almagul Menlibayeva, Noor Afshan Mirza and Brad Butler, as part of Channels Festival: International Biennial of Video Art
Curated a program of historical video art and lecture performances by Mike Parr, Diana Baker Smith (Barbara Cleveland), Bruce Nauman, VALIE EXPORT, Ken Unsworth, Jill Scott, Peter Kennedy, Marina Abramović, Letícia Parente and others titled Longitudes, Latitudes and Legacies at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Commissioned a new work by David Rosetzky exhibited in conjunction with a suite of sculptural objects by Sean Meilak and a live performance choreographed by Jo Lloyd, as part of Channels Festival: International Biennial of Video Art.
Curated the exhibition Temporal Proximities, including work by Angelica Mesiti, Jill Orr, Bridie Lunney, S.J. Norman, Helen Grogan and others, in the heritage listed North and South Magdalen Laundry.
Curated Identity, Proximity and Place, an episodic exhibition that unfolded in five chapters, presenting work by Candice Breitz, Shaun Gladwell, Lauren Brincat, Oliver Beer, Daniel Crooks, Chiharu Shiota and others, in partnership with Anna Schwartz Gallery.
Presented the Australian premier of The Exhibition of a Film, directed by Mathieu Copeland at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, including work by Lawrence Weiner, Cosi Fanni Tutti, Meredith Monk, Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment), Nick Cave and others.
Executively produced temporary public art commissions for presentation at Dark Mofo and the Vrystaat Arts Festival in South Africa, as part of the SITUATE Arts Lab program.
Curated a solo exhibition titled Hidden Spaces, Ready Stages involving five newly commissioned works by Gabriela Mangano and Silvana Mangano, which were produced in the underground tunnels and machine rooms beneath Arts Centre Melbourne.
Selected Curatorial Projects Presented Internationally
Commissioned a new work by Raqs Media Collective for the Art Now program at Tate Britain.
Curated large-scale, audio-visual works by Ryoji Ikeda, Carsten Nicolia and Monolake presented in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Contributed as curatorial consultant and commissioned new work for the exhibition Synthetic Times at the National Art Museum of China, as part of the Beijing Olympics cultural program.
Worked in dialogue with curator Nicolas Bourriaud to commission new work for the Tate Triennial: Altermodern.
Co-curated an ephemeral public art installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer presented in Trafalgar Square, in partnership with Tate Modern, The National Portrait Gallery, and the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Co-curated a large-scale installation by Mathieu Briand presented in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Part of the curatorial team staging historical re-enactments by Fluxus artists George Maciunas, Alison Knowles, John Cage, Gustav Metzger and others at Tate Modern.
Presented AV performances by Ryoichi Kurokawa, Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Commissioned and executively produced video works and documentaries with Mark Leckey, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Lynn Hershman Leeson, and others.
Curated an exhibition of video art from the 1970s at the Netherlands Media Arts Institute, including work by Joan Jonas, Marina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, Allan Kaprow and others.
Co-curated a two-week festival of live art including exhibitions, screenings and performances presented across five venues and other site-specific locations, including the UK premier of work by Tehching Hsieh.
Co-curated and commissioned new work for three group exhibitions, and contributed to the development of solo shows by Breda Beban, Hugo Glendenning, Susan Collins, Lindsey Adams and George Chakravathi at Site Gallery.
Selected Public Speaking
Programmed and hosted a series of discussions addressing artificial intelligence, urban design, language and cosmology
with artists Michaela Gleave, Jon McCormack and Georgie Pinn, landscape architect Jock Gilbert and Boon Wurrung Elder Aunty Carolyn Briggs
Australian Centre for the Moving Image and Library at the Dock, as part of the Now or Never festival, Melbourne, Australia 2023
Programmed and hosted a series of conversations with artists Tony Albert, Lyndal Jones, Abdul Abdullah and David Charles Collins
Abbotsford Convent, in conjunction with the exhibition Interspecies and Other Others, Melbourne, Australia 2022
Panel Chair hosting a discussion with choreographer Atlanta Eke, architect Tim Birnie and composer Daniel Jenatsch
Abbotsford Convent, in conjunction with the exhibition Interspecies and Other Others, Melbourne, Australia 2022
Programmed and hosted Longitudes, Latitudes and Legacies including discussions and lecture performances with artists Mike Parr, Jill Orr, Archie Barry, Diana Baker Smith (Barbara Cleveland), Lyndal Jones and others presented in conjunction with a screening of historically significant video works
National Gallery of Victoria, Channels Festival: International Biennial of Video Art, Melbourne, Australia 2019
Panel Chair hosting a discussion with artists Reko Rennie, Almagul Menlibayeva and Noor Afshan Mirza
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Channels Festival: International Biennial of Video Art, Melbourne, Australia 2019
Programmed a screening and hosted a conversation with French curator and auteur Mathieu Copland
Australian Centre for The Moving Image, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne, Australia 2019
Presentation and panel discussion Emerging Trends in Digital Art
Australian Centre for The Moving Image, MEL & NYC Festival, Melbourne, Australia 2018
Paper presentation Rhythm and Simultaneity in Exhibition Practice, with reference to Marina Abramović: In Residence presented by Kaldor Public Art Projects
University of Manchester, Temporal Slippage in Performance and the Visual Arts symposium, Manchester, UK 2016
Paper presentation and panel discussion Art Institutions as Agents of Change
Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Experimental Arts Forum, Perth, Australia 2015
Paper presentation and poster session Accessioning and Cataloguing Time-based and Networked Art
SFMoMA, Matters in Media Art symposium, San Francisco, USA 2011
Programmed a screening and hosted a conversation with video art pioneers Steina and Woody Vasulka
Tate Modern, London, UK 2011
Paper presentation and panel discussion The Role of Museums in the Digital Age
Tate Modern, Museum of The Future symposium, London, UK 2009
Presentation on social, participatory and process-based art practices The Fabric of Social Processes
John Moores University, in association with FACT, Abandon All Normal Devices Festival, Liverpool 2009
Contributed to an international industry forum on the presentation of media art within museums
National Art Museum of China, in conjunction with the exhibition Synthetic Times, as part of the Beijing Olympics Cultural Program 2008
Presentation Histories of Intermedia Art
Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Fast Forward on Media Art international museology forum, Naples, Italy 2007
Presentation on audience participation and interactivity within performance and media art practice
Tate Modern, in association with Falmouth University, Disrupting Narratives symposium, London, UK 2007
Panel Chair Mind Shift/Tool Shift: New Architectures for Learning and Collaboration
Cambridge University, Enter Festival, Cambridge, UK 2007
Presentation Sites and Para/sites: Art Beyond the Museum
Institute of Contemporary Art, in association with the London Consortium, London, UK 2006
Programmed and hosted Common Ground: Collective Practice and Intellectual Property with artists Cheryl L’Hirondelle and the Raqs Media Collective, social anthropologist Jane Anderson, sociologist Yuwei Lin, as well as cultural theorists Florian Schneider and Florian Cramer
Chelsea College of the Arts, University of London, in partnership with Tate Britain, as part of Open Congress, London, UK 2005
Guest Lecture Future Histories: Curating the Archive
Westminster University, Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA students, London, UK 2005
Presentation and poster session on creative development and co-presenting across physical and virtual venues
Paradiso, for Virtueel Platform, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2003
Presentation and panel discussion Collaborating Across Networks
The Digital Worlds Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA 2002
I respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners and sovereign custodians of the lands upon which I live and work, the Boon Wurrung and Woiwurrung (Wurundjeri) peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations peoples.