Mr Yore's contested hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday heard closing arguments from his defence team and a police prosecutor over whether he should be convicted of one count each of producing and possessing child pornography.

Mr Yore, 26, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry maximum jail terms of 10 years and five years respectively.

Police last year removed seven photographs of children's faces that were superimposed on images of male bodies performing sex acts. The collages featured in Mr Yore's exhibit, Everything Is F...ed, which was on display at St Kilda's Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts.

Acting Sergeant Kirei Wall, prosecuting, called on magistrate Amanda Chambers to return a finding of guilt, as Mr Yore had depicted the children's involvement in sex acts, without their permission. The nine children featured were unknown to the court, Acting Sergeant Wall said.

"I ask Your Honour to consider the reaction of the children or the reaction of people who knew the children," she said.

"Placing these children, cutting out their photographs, encroached on the rights and reputations of these children."

Defence counsel Neil Clelland, QC, said the onus was on the prosecution to convince Ms Chambers the artist's actions were criminal, and that any "competing views" would not suffice.

He said everyone was entitled to a freedom of expression and that any reasonable person would realise the photographs in Mr Yore's exhibit were part of a collage.

"There can be no question that this was an example of artistic expression, like it or not," he said.

"There was artistic expression that was displayed as art in a serious way and was not being produced for the purpose of sexual gratification of others."

Mr Clelland said it was incongruous that Mr Yore could hold an image in either hand and be charged with producing child pornography if they were "stuck together with sticky tape".

But Acting Sergeant Wall said images could still constitute pornography even if fictitious, and that the collages depicted sexual images and bodies in sexual poses.

Ms Chambers will deliver her verdict on October 1.

Earlier, Max Delany, the National Gallery of Victoria's senior curator of contemporary art, told the court the contentious images could have been interpreted as part of a critique of teen sexuality and of the sexualisation of society, which were themes Mr Yore addressed in his work.

Mr Delany said the images had their place in an exhibit that was a homage to the late Australian artist Mike Brown, who was renowned for provocatively challenging contemporary moral issues.

Art galleries should be places "where ideas can be discussed in a safe way", Mr Delany said.