Chris McAuliffe is an art historian, art critic, curator and museum professional. He took a BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from Harvard University with a dissertation on postmodern theory and the visual arts. Dr McAuliffe taught art history and theory at the University of Melbourne (1988-2000), Harvard University (2011-12) and the Australian National University (2020-22).

From 2000-13 Dr McAuliffe was director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, managing a collection ranging from classical antiquity to contemporary art and an annual exhibition program of Australian and international art. In 2008, with the support of philanthropist Basil Sellers, he established the Basil Sellers Art Prize, one of the richest art prizes in Australia. He has served on numerous boards and committees within the arts and museum sectors, including the Council of the National Gallery of Victoria, board of the Samstag Museum (UniSA), board of the Castlemaine Art Museum, selection panel for the Australian pavilion of the Venice Biennale, chair of the program funding committee for Arts Victoria and the Vic Urban public art review panel.

At ANU, Dr McAuliffe served variously as Professor (Practice-led Reserach) in the School of Art & Design (SOAD), Head of the Centre for Art History and Art Theory, and Sir William Dobell Chair. He was active in research policy, especially in NTRO fields, and acted as chair of the SOAD Research Committee and HDR convenor.

Exhibitions curated by Dr McAuliffe include Robert Smithson: Time Crystals (University of Queensland Art Museum, 2018),  We Who Love: The Nolan Slates (University of Queensland Art Museum, 2016), America: Painting a Nation (Art Gallery of NSW, 2013), Game On: Art and Sport (Ian Potter Museum of Art, 2006), See Here Now: the Vizard Foundation Collection (Ian Potter Museum of Art, 2003), as well as collection installations at the Ian Potter Museum of Art.

Prof McAuliffe has published numerous articles on Australian and international art, with a focus on artists' engagement with vernacular and popular culture, including suburbia, sport, punk and rock music. Principal publications include Jon Cattapan: Possible Histories (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008), Linda Marrinon: Let Her Try (Thames and Hudson, 2007) and Art and Suburbia (Craftsman House, 1996). A co-authored book on Fringe to Famous: Cultural Production in Australia After the Creative Industries, (Bloomsbury, 2024) explored discourses of underground and mainstream in design, music, television, gaming and comedy.

Prof McAuliffe has participated in arts programming on ABC radio and television, including acting as an advisor to the recent productions Finding the Archibald and Great Southern Landscapes.

Prof McAuliffe is currently a chief invstigator in the ARC Linkage project, 'Dialogue with Difficult Objects: Mediating Controversy in Museums', 2023-26. This partnership between ANU, Federation University, the Art Gallery of Ballarat and the Eureka Centre applies methodologies of cultural mediation and deliberative democracy to support community engagement by museums in response to social fragmentation and political polarisation.

BA (Hons), MA, PhD