Exhibition Dates
26 February > 24 May 2026
Exhibition Opening
Saturday 28 February 2026, 1 > 4PM
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair Accessible
Assistance
Animal
Visual
Rating 75%
Quiet
Space Available
Before European arrival in 1835, this land was lived on and cared for by the Yalukit Willam, meaning “river home” or “people of the river”, a clan of the Boon Wurrung people. Situated at the meeting point of land and sea, the site where Linden New Art now stands was a place of social, cultural and economic exchange, sustaining community and belonging for generations.
Within four decades of colonisation, the property was acquired by Jewish immigrant Moritz Michaelis. In 1871, a Victorian mansion was constructed and named Linden, after the German word for the lime tree, a species associated with love, protection and justice. The house remained the Michaelis family home until 1957. It was subsequently sold and operated as the exclusive Linden Court private hotel until 1983, when it was purchased by the St Kilda City Council (now part of the City of Port Phillip). Following significant renovations to serve the wider community, Linden opened as a public art gallery in 1986.
Time Moves Through These Walls: 40 Years of Linden New Art marks four decades of Linden as a cultural institution. Rather than surveying artists who have helped shape or been shaped by Linden, the exhibition excavates the layered histories of this distinctive St Kilda site, engaging with its history from pre-European occupation, to private residence, hotel, and ultimately one of Melbourne's most iconic contemporary art spaces.
At its core is a focus on Linden’s pioneering first decade, when the gallery emerged as a crucible for experimental practice. The building’s domestic architecture became a site for bold artistic interventions, while the artist-run initiative Room 4 established a precedent for installation-focused programming that challenged conventional gallery models.
Positioning this history alongside Linden’s present mission, the exhibition underscores the institution’s ongoing commitment to supporting mid-career artists working across experimental, conceptual and materially diverse practices. Through a dialogue between past and present, Time Moves Through These Walls honours the site’s transformations while signalling its continued evolution as a platform for artistic innovation.
By tracing the intersection of place, practice and institutional identity, the exhibition reveals how Linden’s heritage continues to inform
and inspire the experimental art it champions, laying the groundwork for the next chapter of its contribution to Melbourne’s cultural life.
Exhibiting Artists: Fiona Abicare, Ernie Althoff, Carolyn Eskdale, Ry Haskings, Raafat Ishak, Mitch Mahoney, Callum Morton,
Rose Nolan, Robbie Rowlands.