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
Colleen Strangways: Wathlu Anthunda (My World)
Colleen Strangways is an Adelaide-based Arabana, Mudbura, Gurindji and Warlpiri photographer and filmmaker. Wathlu Anthunda (My World) brings together 38 powerful portraits of First Nations people from 30 communities, drawn from across Strangways’ 15-year career.
Moving between public and intimate worlds, this exhibition places portraits of respected leaders alongside family photographs made on Country at Mpantwe (Alice Springs) and near Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre) in South Australia’s Far North.
High-concept works are staged within natural landscapes or in Strangways’ improvised home studio. Through staging, adornment and special-effects, Strangways creates a cinematic visual language for cultural storytelling. Her subjects are presented through an Aboriginal lens, and depicted, quite simply, in a good light. This is the most comprehensive presentation of her photographic practice to date.
A complementary display of Strangways' UV Songlines: Illuminating Ancestral Roots series will run in the City of Adelaide ART POD at 25 Pirie Street during Adelaide Fringe 2026 (20 February – 22 March 2026).
Adelaide Town Hall is a dynamic civic and cultural centre. At times, the exhibition may be inaccessible due to events. Contact Adelaide Town Hall before visiting to avoid disappointment.
South Australian Music Hall of Fame
Adelaide is a city with music as its heartbeat - home to thriving independent artists, iconic venues, and a dynamic industry. Internationally renowned for its festivals and music institutions, music is central to South Australia's identity and economy. Presented by the City of Adelaide across two levels of Adelaide Town Hall this exhibition celebrates Adelaide's 10-year milestone as Australia's only UNESCO City of Music in 2025.
Founded in 2009, the South Australian Music Hall of Fame honours the people and places that have shaped the state's distinctive sound. To date, more than 160 individuals, 24 bands, and 17 venues have been inducted.
Explore rare memorabilia from the collection of radio legend David 'Daisy' Day, archival material from the State Library of South Australia, vintage guitars, historic sound equipment, gig photography, and honour boards featuring icons like Cold Chisel, The Angels, No Fixed Address, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and more. Curated playlists and the Adelaide: Your Guide to our City of Music map help bring these stories to life through sound and place.
From rock and pop to community radio and classical innovation—this is the soundtrack of South Australia.
Adelaide Town Hall is a dynamic civic and cultural centre. At times, the exhibition may be inaccessible due to events. Contact Adelaide Town Hall before visiting to avoid disappointment.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to these contributors – Annette Day, John Bywaters, Gary Burrows, Gareth Lewis, Peter Millen, Three D Radio, State Library of South Australia, Dr Enrico Morena, Johnny Mac OAM, Rick Brewster, Graham ‘Buzz’ Bidstrup, Sue Hedley and Peter Thurmer.
Curated by Anna Goodhind
The Beatles Take Adelaide
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.
