As convenor of the 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art (January 2008), I have become increasingly aware of what others want to know about Australia and of the gaps in our agenda. It is equally clear that there is much that we do very well that is not yet recognised internationally.

What do Australian museums collect, and what sort of future are they creating for art historians? What should art history in Australian universities be about? What form should our research take: the publication of books, online databases or the development of new concepts of curatorship and exhibition management – or all of these things? What works of Australian art are collected and exhibited abroad? How does the concept of the cross-cultural, so deeply embedded in each of us, with our fruit-salad genealogies, work at an international level? What do international visitors want to see when they visit Australia? How are we perceived elsewhere? What did international visitors in the past want to know about Australia, and how does that differ from the present?