The Jewish Concept of Nothingness - Paul Forgasz

In this JAHM Session, hear renowned scholar historian and academic, Paul Forgasz, present an exploration of the intriguing Jewish mystical idea that the Divine exists only in ‘nothingness ’, which is the beginning of everything that is something.

Can an Ultramarine Monochrome be a Self Portrait? - Charles Justin

Charles Justin AM - architect, art collector and co-founder of JAHM entered a painted ultramarine, blue monochrome self-portrait in 2025's Archibald Prize. It is titled SELFIE: Self Portrait as a Variation on the Theme of Joseph Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs. This talk explores the purpose of a painted portrait in an age where 92 million Selfies are posted online every day. In this context, Charles' examination of his self-portrait, speculates on what is relevant today in a painted representation of an individual.

Three Threads of Abstraction - Jarrod Haberfield

Join Jarrod Haberfield, scholar and critic, as he delivers an illustrated lecture that reveals his passion for abstraction. In this lecture he will explore and explain the three threads of abstraction – minimalism, chromatics and markmaking, revealing the layers that can be found in works that may on initial inspection seem impenetrable, yet reward a closer look.

Artists and the Built World - Jarrod Haberfield

Following his previous sell-out talks on collecting and house museums at JAHM, Jarrod Haberfield joins us again to present the diverse and unexpected responses to the built world by a broad selection of the world’s contemporary artists.

Infinity White on Infinity White - Christian Bök

Christian Bök is one of the founders of Conceptualism (the literary movement that explores the ‘limit-cases’ of writing after the advent of the Internet) and for his talk, Bök offers a brief intro to his career as a poet, describing two projects that have earned him global renown.

Christian discusses the role of monochromic abstraction in the recent legacy of painting, especially works that feature only the colour ‘white’ in their palette and showcase the influence of these paintings upon the poetics of his own literary movement. This is illustrated by Bok’s work, The Kazimir Effect, currently in the JAHM collection.

Artificial Intelligence and Art: Man vs Machine? - Nathan Jokovich

Ever wondered how an artwork can possibly be made by Artificial Intelligence and who indeed is the artist? 

Visual and Sound Artist, Nathan Jokovich, discusses how he uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool to investigate the relationship between language, image and sound in materialising the digital space. Nathan references his works, including two which are currently in the JAHM collection, to demonstrate how language and code can be used, disruptively, as tools for abstraction.

Women's Art and Feminism - An illustrated lecture - Professor Anne Marsh

Professor Anne Marsh is a contemporary art historian and Professorial Research fellow at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Anne was Professor of Art History and Theory at Monash University. She has written extensively on contemporary art and her latest book, published in 2021, Doing Feminism: Women’s Art and Feminist Criticism in Australia, is the most comprehensive publication on women and art in Australia. Anne's illustrated lecture at JAHM exploreS Women's Art and Feminism.

ART & Life - Penelope Davis and Stephen Haley

Stephen Haley and Penelope Davis are artists who are partners in life. Their works were paired as part of JAHM’s ART & GENDER exhibition. Both are multi-disciplinary artists with separate and distinctive art practices. Stephen and Penelope discuss their respective art practices, what has influenced what they do, how they influence each other’s art practice and if or how gender has impacted on their professional trajectory.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY - John Gollings

John Gollings is one of Australia’s leading photographers specialising in documenting the built environment, both ancient and modern around the world. Like architecture, photography is challenged to achieve both artistic and functional objectives. John’s talk will explore how his work is shaped by these imperatives. John will also talk about “truth” in photography.

‘INFINITE LOOP’ ARTISTS IN CONVERSATION

The artists from the 'Infinite Loop' exhibition, including German artists; Lars Breuer, Sebastian Freytag, Guido Münch, who also operate as the collective known as the Konsortium, and three Melbourne based artists; Justin Andrews, John Nixon and Stephen Bram discuss their art with JAHM director, Charles Justin.