Exhibitions
The City of Adelaide celebrates and elevates contemporary art practice and highlights significant moments in Adelaide’s History through exhibitions and displays throughout the Adelaide Town Hall.
Discover the City of Adelaide’s Contemporary Collection and a series of displays showcasing aspects of our past as we explore and reinterpret our collections.
Current Exhibitions
Purkarari: Slow Down
1 July 2025 to 2 February 2026
'Purkarari: Slow down' is an exhibition of major new works by Zaachariaha Fielding alongside collaborative paintings created with Senior artists working out of the APY Studio in Adelaide. Rooted in the Pitjantjatjara word Purkarari, meaning a deep calm through work, Fielding explores the meditative act of creation in partnership with celebrated artists Sandra Pumani, Yaritji Tingila Young, Nyunmiti Burton, Jennifer Ingkatji, Yaritji Heffernan, Margaret Richards, and Megan Lyons. Together, their work speaks to the restorative nature of painting—where movement, expression, and shared creativity quiet the mind and strengthen cultural connections.
Widely recognised for his musical achievements as one half of the acclaimed duo Electric Fields, Fielding is also an award-winning visual artist whose bold and expressive work continues to gain national and international recognition.
Presented by City of Adelaide as Adelaide marks 10 years as Australia’s first and only UNESCO City of Music, and following Electric Fields being awarded the Key to the City, the exhibition is a powerful tribute to connection, creativity, and Country.
With thanks to Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, APY Art Centre Collective, Hugo Michell Gallery and Jan Murphy Gallery. Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia.
Beatles Take Adelaide
From June 2024
See the fun frenzy and fashion of the weekend Beatlemania hit Adelaide in 1964 to celebrate 60 years since the band’s historic visit to Adelaide.
Memorabilia, newspaper clippings and photography of the record-breaking crowd captured by photographer Vic Grimmett provide an insight into the Beatles visit to Adelaide where the band were met by the biggest crowd of their career when a third of Adelaide’s population turned out. An estimated 300,000 people lined the streets from the Airport to the Adelaide Town Hall where a civic reception was held, ahead of a series of concerts at Wayville’s Centennial Hall on June 12 and 13 1964.
Thanks goes to the Adelaide City Archives and the State Library of South Australia.
Northern Gallery, First Floor, Adelaide Town Hall.
