Australia's Multi-Sensory Digital Art Gallery The Lume Has Brought Forward Its Closing Date and Will Now Shut in June 2025
You've only got a couple more months to visit this Melbourne venue, which is saying goodbye when its current van Gogh exhibition ends.
If you're keen to surround yourself with art in the most-immersive fashion on offer and you haven't yet visited The Lume, Australia's digital art gallery, then you'd better get organised: the Melbourne venue will close up on Sunday, June 1, 2025. News that the site was set to say farewell was first revealed in 2024, but with a January 2026 end date; however, those plans have now moved forward. Accordingly, The Lume will shut up shop when its present Vincent van Gogh showcase finishes.
Art exhibitions are fleeting, of course, gracing walls and halls for just days, weeks or months at a time, then moving elsewhere or never being seen again. But when The Lume opened in 2021, you can be forgiven for thinking that it wouldn't be such a brief addition to Australia's cultural scene. The closure comes after Grande Experiences, the company behind it, decided not to extend its lease at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Whether you're an art lover based in the Victorian capital or elsewhere around the country, a last trip to the site means enjoying van Gogh delights, complete with The Starry Night projected large, taking over an entire room; the immersive Sunflower room, where golden petals stretch as far as the eye can see; VR experience Finding Vincent; a cafe inspired by the artist's Café Terrace at Night; and more. The Lume actually launched with the same exhibition.
Also wowing audiences at the gallery since its opening: a celebration of Monet and his contemporaries, a huge showcase dedicated to First Nations artists and all things Leonardo da Vinci. Across its four-year run, The Lume has unsurprisingly proven popular, with 1.5-million visitors heading by to-date.
"The Lume Melbourne has been a defining chapter in Australia's cultural landscape — a place where art, innovation and imagination came to life for millions of visitors. We are deeply grateful to our team, our partners and every guest who stepped through our doors," said Grande Experiences Founder and Chair, and The Lume Melbourne CEO, Bruce Peterson.
"As we look to the future, we see an opportunity to once again redefine immersive storytelling. Rather than simply continuing, we are choosing to evolve — embracing new technologies that will take cultural experiences to even greater heights."
"This was not a decision we made lightly, but one rooted in our ambition to push the boundaries of cultural storytelling even further. The landscape of immersive experiences is evolving rapidly, and we are seizing this moment to lead that evolution on a global scale. Our focus is now on creating even more groundbreaking, transformative stories through innovative new technology," Peterson continued.
Melbourne's The Lume is one of two worldwide, with the other in Indianapolis in US, which is remaining open. Even as its only Australian site confirms its farewell, Grande Experiences hasn't ruled out more Aussie venues, advising that other states have flagged their interest in hosting the gallery — but nothing has been locked in so far.
The Lume Melbourne will close at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 5 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf, Melbourne on Sunday, June 1, 2025. Van Gogh at The Lume displays until then. Head to the venue's website for tickets and further information.
Images: Grande Experiences.
