Protest artist Tim Burns' first retrospective opens in Perth
Tim Burns' first retrospective spans his six-decade practice of radical protest and conceptual art.
In 1972, artist Tim Burns placed flares with timers inside wreaths at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Sydney. The flares ignited during the service, and newspapers reported it as a bomb attack.
Burns and his art collective Tin Sheds were protesting Australia's Vietnam War involvement. For decades he staged radical shock actions.
He set off smoke bombs at memorial sites and gunpowder charges at sculpture parks, which were dismantled as too dangerous. His work forced audiences into discomfort to question what art should do.
His first retrospective, Tim Burns: The Kinetic Moment, is showing at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and runs until February 28, 2027.
Why it mattersBurns' retrospective reminds viewers that artists can challenge social pressures to create safe, profitable work, a radical counter-example in 2026.
AustraliaThe Perth exhibition highlights an Australian artist whose radical legacy shows how protest art can challenge war and government power.
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