Myles Russell-Cook has been announced as the new artistic director and CEO of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). Cook was previously senior curator of Australian and First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), where he worked for eight years. He will take over the role from director Max Delany following his departure this November.
Russell-Cook is the curator behind recently-announced exhibition The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, the largest ever travelling exhibition of First Peoples Art from Australia, set to open in October 2025 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. At the NGV he oversaw the gallery’s collections of Australian Art, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, and Art by Global First Nations Communities. He also contributed to and curated projects including the NGV Triennial, Melbourne Now (2023), and the landmark collection exhibition, QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection (2022).
ACCA Chair Dr Terry Wu said in a statement: ‘As a curator, [Russell-Cook] has a proven ability to transcend the boundaries of what contemporary art can do and be. […] He is a leading light within the next generation of Australian arts practitioners, with boundless ambition and energy, and an expansive vision that will steer ACCA into the next period of success and growth.’
