Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute

We went for the 12 noon cultural dance performance by a Torres Straight islander named Eddie. The man knows how to charm the audience and his presentation was delightful. Cost $ 5 pp and worth it.

If you’re talking big SA art galleries that every local and tourist should visit at least once, Tandanya is most definitely on the list.
Set in a lovely leafy spot outside of the CBD (across from Rymill Park and on the corner of East Terrace/​Grenfell), it’s a huge old building enclosing lovely spaces for exhibitions. Big and painted white with original fittings and wooden floors, the space itself is great for the varied exhibitions that come through its doors, all highlighting indigenous art and culture.
Like Chloe said the shows are pretty varied — on my most recent visit I saw some exceptional photography by Ricky Maynard as well as cross stitched pieces on colonial Australia and some traditional paintings.
Tandanya also runs programs and cross-​cultural educational courses which I think most of growing up in SA have been a part of in high school.
There’s also a smallish gift shop up front (it’s kind of easy to get lost and walk in there rather than the galleries first) which sells works of art and indigenous artifacts.

I first visited Tandanya when I was studying Indigenous art and design at uni. The reason I’m so interested in art isn’t all that pretentious really — I just think it’s a fun way to learn about other people. For me, visiting Tandanya is a great example of that. As an outsider to Indigenous culture, I don’t immediately understand a lot of art made by Indigenous people. And even after I’ve done my research, there will always be subtexts and underlying complexities that I won’t understand. I’m ok with not always ‘getting it’ though.
The exhibitions here are as wide and varied as Indigenous culture and experience — there is no one way to sum it all up. The programming is varied — featuring local artists, artists from urban areas and rural areas all around Australia, young artists and old artists, well-​known artists and little-​known artists, artists using traditional techniques and artists using more experimental approaches. The galleries themselves are large and well-​resourced — big beautiful rooms with wooden floors.
As well as the gallery spaces, Tandanya is a general place for meeting and learning. They offer educational tours, for adult groups and student groups, a retail store that sells artworks, a professional performance space and they host community events.
If you want to keep up to date on the exhibition program here, subscribe to their mailing list on the right hand side of this page: