Natalie King


Natalie King is an Australian curator and writer working in Melbourne, Australia. She specialises in Australian and international programs for contemporary art and visual culture; exhibitions, publications, workshops, lectures and cultural partnerships across contemporary art and indigenous culture.
King was formerly Chief Curator of Melbourne Biennial Lab, the Creative Associate of MPavilion and curator for Tracey Moffatt for the Australian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017.
Since 2017, she has been a senior research fellow at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia and was recently appointed to the role of enterprise professor at the VCA. In that role she was named in The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence awards for Arts, Culture and Sport in October 2018. In September 2019, King was appointed as curator of the first Pacific and transgender artist, Yuki Kihara, to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022.

Early life

Natalie King grew up in North Balwyn, Melbourne Victoria, in a conventional Jewish household. From a young age she had an interest in the indigenous history of the city, including the work of Aboriginal artist Destiny Deacon and long-time collaborator Virginia Fraser.

Education

King completed a Master of Arts, Visual Arts & Museum Studies at Monash University in Victoria Australia, between 1991 and 1993.

Career

Venice Biennale

Natalie King's curatorships include Tracey Moffatt's exhibition for the Australian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017;for the first Pasifika and Samoan artist, Yuki Kihara for the New Zealand pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022; and in 2024, the inaugural Timor-Leste pavilion, Maria Madeira: Kiss and Don’t Tell at the 60th Venice Biennale 2024.

Other institutions and projects

King's previous roles include Chief Curator of Melbourne Biennial Lab, City of Melbourne; senior research fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne and Creative Associate of MPavilion.

Awards

In 2018, Natalie King was selected as a finalist for the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence, an award established to recognise the achievements of Australian women across a broad range of professions and disciplines.
In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, King was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to the contemporary visual arts".
In 2023 King won the Best Artist-Led Publication AWAPA award by the Art Association of Australia & New Zealand for editing the publication Paradise Camp by Yuki Kihara.

Publications

King was co-editor of the anthology Art in the Asia Pacific: Intimate Publics, Routledge, 2014; editor/curator of Up Close: Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and William Yang, Heide [Museum of Modern Art]; and co-editor of a publication on biennial curator Hou Hanru. Widely published in arts media including LEAP, Photofile and Flash Art, she is a member of the International Association of Art Critics, Paris.
Natalie King has conducted a number of public lectures and published interviews with leading international artists and curators including:
  • Curator Natalie King on her new role as Enterprise Professor at the VCA, The University of Melbourne, 2018
  • Pipilotti Rist – artist, 8 January 2018
  • Tracey Moffatt – artist, 1 September 2017
  • Maria Alyokhina – a founding member of Pussy riot, 17 August 2017
  • Entang Wiharso and Sally Smart – artists, 20 January 2016
  • Interview with Raqs Media Collective, Boiler Room Lecture, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 2015
  • Falling back to Earth: Cai Guo-Qiang, Art and Australia, 2014, pp. 508–513
  • Interview with Hou Hanru, Asialink, University of Melbourne, 2013
  • A Human Texture: The video portraits of Candice Breitz, Art and Australia, Vol 51 No 2, Summer 2013, pp. 191–5
  • Polixeni Papapetrou – artist, 2013
  • Bill Henson – artist, 2011
  • The Material of meaning: Illuminating the art of Joseph Kosuth, Art and Australia, Vol. 47, No. 4, Winter 2010, pp. 590–595
  • Anastasia Klose – artist, 2009
  • Interview with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Flash Art, May–June 2008, p. 86
  • Interview with Ai Weiwei, Art and Australia, Vol. 45 No. 4, 2008, pp. 546–549
  • Interview with Massimiliano Gioni, Art and Australia, Vol. 45, No. 2, Summer 2007, pp. 274–9