3-4pm
We need to talk
Conversations on art, ideas, and the world around us
We need to talk is a bold new series of public conversations that brings together artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders to explore the art world from every angle.
For our third edition of We need to talk, please join artist Zena Cumpston in conversation with Shelley McSpedden, Senior Curator & Head of Exhibitions at ACCA. We need to talk is a space for spirited exchange, fresh ideas, and unexpected connections. Focusing on themes relating to the current exhibition, Julius von Bismarck: This is not the storm, join us as we look deeper, think wider, and experience art in new ways.
This program is co-presented with The Guardian and will not be recorded.
Biographies
Zena Cumpston
Zena Zada Cumpston is a Barkandji woman with Afghan, English, and Irish heritage. Zena is a storyteller, manifesting across her work as an artist, writer, consultant, educator and curator. Zena seeks out projects that empower community and Country, interrogating what we collectively risk through continued failures in empowering the custodial responsibilities of First Peoples communities. She is a widely published writer, a member of the Birrarung Council, and is a co-author of the 2021 Federal State of the Environment Report.
Zena is the proud recipient of the 2026 Bandalang Artist Residency at ANU and the Ian Potter Emerging Artist Fellowship. In 2026 her art will be featured across many projects, including the Rising Festival’s First Peoples Art Trams, the ‘Watch These Hands’ Exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art and as an artist in residence at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin.
Shelley McSpedden
Shelley McSpedden is Senior Curator and Head of Exhibitions at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in Melbourne, where her recent projects have included Julius von Bismarck: This is not the storm 2026, Tschabalala Self: Skin Tight 2025 (co-curated with Myles Russell-Cook); The Charge That Binds 2024; Tennant Creek Brio: Juparnta Ngattu Minjinypa Iconocrisis 2024 (co-curated with Max Delany, Dr Jessica Clarke and Elyse Goldfinch); Future Remains: The 2024 Macfarlane Commissions 2024; and James Nguyen: Open Glossary 2023.
Prior to joining ACCA, Shelley was Senior Curator and Acting Artistic Director at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), where she oversaw the inaugural exhibition program for the new purpose-built, landmark museum in 2021. Shelley has also held curatorial roles at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) and National Exhibitions Touring Support (NETS), as well as academic appointments at Monash University and RMIT. She has written extensively on contemporary art and edited several art publications. Shelley holds a PhD from the Art History and Theory program at Monash University.
