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Closed: Opens 11am today

A person stands in a gallery, observing a large sculpture of a wooden pipe with oversized, broken orange peel pieces emerging from and scattered around it on the floor.

Poetry goes no further than language: A historical moment of art becoming art again

When

Location

Buxton Contemporary
Corner Southbank Boulevard & Dodds Street, Southbank. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne

Admission

Free
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Opening Hours

Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 5pm

Poetry goes no further than language revisits a defining moment in mid-1980s China, when a group of artists began to question all existing values and presumptions about art.

Among them were the Beijing collective New Measurement Group and Shanghai-based artist Qian Weikang. Dissatisfied with the mainstream visual trends of expression and symbolism, they turned instead to conceptualism, using systems of measurement, process and chance as their artistic material.

Active for only a short time, their experiments circulated among small networks of artists and critics before many of the works were dispersed, dismantled or destroyed.

Drawing on extensive research and careful reconstruction, this exhibition reunites the complete experimental output of New Measurement Group alongside key works by Qian Weikang, bringing this rarely seen chapter of art history to Australia for the first time.

A new responsive commission by Melbourne-based artist Darcey Bella Arnold unfolds throughout the exhibition, creating a dialogue across time, space and language.

Curated by Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu.

Events

Floor Talk: Darcey Bella Arnold

Join Melbourne artist Darcey Bella Arnold and curator Annika Aitken for a floor talk on Poetry goes no further than language.

Guided tours: Poetry goes no further than language

Join a free guided tour of Poetry Goes No Further and explore the artists, ideas and histories that shaped conceptual art in China during the 1980s

Table Poem

Inviting visitors to create automated poetry from falling notes, exploring chance, language and participation within Chinese conceptual art traditions.

Gallery

Two people observe large white panels covered with black text, diagrams, and highlighted phrases in an art gallery with polished concrete floors and modern white walls.
A contemporary art gallery with two text-based artworks on the wall and a large, sculptural orange peel displayed on the polished concrete floor. The space is clean and minimally decorated.
A modern art gallery with minimalist installations, white walls, and polished floors. An abstract white floor piece with black triangles is in the foreground; a person walks past wall text and various art displays in the background.
A sculpture of an open orange sitting on a wooden pipe in a minimalist gallery
A person stands in a spacious, modern art gallery viewing a long, wall-mounted display. Artworks, including text-based pieces, sculptural objects, and paper installations, are arranged throughout the minimalist room.
Five people examine documents and displays on light wooden tables in a modern, minimalist gallery with white walls and polished floors. Some are closely reading, while others interact quietly with the exhibits.
A graphic illustration shows stylized human figures made from bold black letters and punctuation marks, with words like con/crete, c/r///, and c/r/a/c/k arranged on a white background with arrows connecting them.

Curator interview

Access

Download wall labelsPDF (867 KB)
  1. Banner Image:

    Installation view of Poetry goes no further than language: A historical moment of art becoming art again, Buxton Contemporary, the University of Melbourne. Featuring Darcey Bella Arnold, A Pipe is not a Poem, 2026. Courtesy the artist, commissioned with funds from the Buxton Contemporary Circle. Photography by Christian Capurro.