30 things I learned working in a gallery

Having worked in a regional gallery, a commercial gallery, for a biennale and an ARI, these are the lessons – and the secrets – I can share.
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]

Image: Untitled (Decanted rack) 2013 by Clare Rae, featuring in Melbourne Now. source: www.ngv.vic.gov.au

I had another life before becoming an arts journalist. That is not unusual. Most people who work in the arts can say the same, having moonlighted in other professions, hopscotched across the sector, and moved between the minors to the majors.

This is why arts professionals are so valuable – they have ​a bag brimming with incredibly niche collected knowledge. Such as how to clean a milkstone by Wolfgang Liab, source ants for a Yukinori Yanagi installation, or drain a formaldehyde tank by Damien Hirst. 

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina