Natalie King

Natalie King (born 1966) 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 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.

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.

In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, King was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) 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. (Thames and Hudson, 2022)

Her 2024 book, The Art of Kaylene Whiskey, won the Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards.

Publications King was co-editor (with Professor Larissa Hjorth and Mami Kataoka) of the anthology Art in the Asia Pacific: Intimate Publics, Routledge, 2014; Jitish Kallat: Circa, edited by Natalie King and Bala Starr, University of Melbourne, 2012, Shadowlife, curated by Djon Mundine and Natalie King, Asialink, 2012, Hou Hanru, edited by Natalie King and Victoria Lynn, University of Melbourne, 2013, Whisper in my mask: TarraWarra Biennial 2014, edited by Natalie King and Djon Mundine, TarraWarra, 2014, Tracey Moffatt: My Horizon, by Natalie King, Thames & Hudson, 1 May 2017 The art of Kaylene Whiskey: do you believe in love? Edited by Natalie King, Thames & Hudson, 2024,

Select exhibition curatorships 2024, Kiss and Don’t Tell, Timor Leste (Democratic Republic of) Pavilion, 60th Venice Biennale, Venice 2022, Paradise Camp, Yuki Kihara, New Zealand, 59th Venice Biennale, Venice 2016, Monyet Gila: Episode One – The Episode with the Crazy Monkey, Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, co-curated with Mikala Tai 2016, Melbourne Biennial Lab: What happens now?, Melbourne Festival 2016, Conversations: Endless Acts in Human History, Entang Wiharso and Sally Smart, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, co-curated with Suwarno Wisetrotomo 2014, One Night Stand: Slow Art Collective & The Telepathy Project, MPavilion, Melbourne 2014, Whisper in My Mask: TarraWarra Biennial 2014 (with Djon Mundine), TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria 2014, Episodes: Australian Photography Now 13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival 2014, Dong Gang Museum of Photography, Korea 2013, Jitish Kallat: Circa, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, co-curated with Bala Starr and Andrew Jamieson 2012, Shadowlife (with Djon Mundine), Bangkok Arts & Cultural Centre; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, Singapore; Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria 2012, Gigi Scaria: Prisms of Perception, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, co-curated with Bala Starr 2010, Up Close: Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin & William Yang, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 2004, Destiny Deacon: Walk & don’t look blak, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington; Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan and Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2004, Supernatural Artificial, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan 1999, aero-zone, Rosemary Laing, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 1998, September: co-curation with Naomi Cass; Haimish, Jewish Museum of Australia, St Kilda 1994, Primavera 1994: Young Australian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 1994, December–January: Bad Toys Australlan Centre for Contemporary Art, Dallas Brooks Drive, South Yarra 1994, December: co-curation with Zara Stanhope of Tableaux, featuring Maria Kozic, Howard Arkley, Peter Booth, Tim McGuire, Brent Harris, Jan Nelson, Phillip Hunter, David Stephenson, Tim Jones, Jon Campbell. Monash University Gallery

Selected interviews Natalie King has conducted a number of public lectures and published interviews with leading international artists and curators including: Tracey Moffatt – artist (Australia), 1 September 2017 Maria Alyokhina – a founding member of Pussy riot (Russia), 17 August 2017 Entang Wiharso and Sally Smart – artists (Australia), 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 (Australia), 2013 Bill Henson – artist (Australia), 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 (Australia), 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