SPRING1883 returns to Melbourne

Art fair swaps white walls for hotel beds in its ninth Melbourne edition.

Words: Emily Riches

One of Australia’s most exciting and immersive gallery-led art fairs, SPRING1883, will return to The Hotel Windsor in Melbourne from 13-16 August 2025. Now in its ninth year, the boutique event will see over 30 of Australasia’s leading contemporary art galleries take over the historic hotel, transforming its suites into intimate exhibition spaces.

The fair was founded by Kate Barber and Vikki McInnes (Sarah Scout Presents), Geoff Newton (Neon Parc), and Vasili Kaliman in 2014, and has since grown into a key event on the art calendar. The grand Windsor Hotel on Melbourne’s Spring Street, built in 1883, was the inspiration for the fair’s name, and the event alternates each year between Sydney and Melbourne.

Following the tradition of New York’s 1994 Gramercy International Art Fair – one of America’s first hotel-based art fairs to be organised by art dealers and galleries – the organisers note that SPRING1883 brings “a fresh energy to the traditional art fair model through its immersive setting in an historic luxury hotel, offering genuine discovery and connection between artists, gallerists, and audiences.”

Indeed, SPRING1883 offers a more intimate and unusual alternative to the open plan format of art fairs or the traditional ‘white cube’ gallery space, inviting visitors to instead discover artworks literally everywhere: draped over beds, nestled in bathtubs and arranged throughout the hotel’s grand four-level interior.

This year’s line-up includes big names such as Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sullivan+Strumpf, Neon Parc, Darren Knight Gallery and Michael Lett, alongside up-and-comers like VOID_Melbourne, Mary Cherry Contemporary and Project8. Galleries will be coming from as far afield as Aotearoa/New Zealand, with one regional Victorian gallery, NAP Contemporary, joining the line-up.

SPRING1883 is open to the public. More information can be found on their website.

2025 exhibitors: