BRISBANE'S MUST-SEE ART EXHIBITIONS
Brisbane’s art scene is on fire, offering a year-round calendar of big exhibitions at the major galleries, and smaller niche ones at the boutique art spots around town. Whether you’re looking to reflect and browse through the work of an established local artist, or be inspired by some of the cutting-edge international contemporary art, have a read below to find out what’s on right now.
Permanent
At dusk, the Gallery of Modern Art turns into a captivating light installation that illuminates the Brisbane night sky along the bank of the Brisbane River. Commissioned in 2017 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art, James Turrell’s Night Life 2018 ignites different coloured panels that compliment the architectural design of the gallery from within the building. Running from sunset to midnight everyday, these blocks of light challenge the viewer and play with perception, engaging the inquisitive mind to examine how we are affected by light. We recommend taking in this installation after work, wander down and have a picnic dinner, listen to some tunes and enjoy bathing in the glow.
Permanent
The Queensland Art Gallery has spent over 120 years establishing and building the Australian Art Collection. This collection is comprised of local and indigenous artists from different time periods and cultures that specifically focus on themes of geography, country and identity. These key pieces explore the artists environment while revealing a network of connections to their stories of traversal and encounter, of immigration, colonisation and the expatriate experience.
Indigenous Australian Art Collection: Namatjira Story
Permanent
This exhibition showcases work from Albert Namatjira a Western Arrernete-speaking artist from the MacDonnell Ranges, west of Alice Springs in Central Australia. A pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art in the 1950's, Namatjira landscape painting style is different from traditional Aboriginal art. He adopts bold colours and approaches his landscapes with a western-style. Hanging alongside his works in this exhibition are the paintings by those he influenced, creating a strong narrative of his work and story as an artist.
International Art Collection
Permanent
From the influence of Japanese art on French Modernism to the representation of daily life, the display explores rich dialogues across time and between cultures, punctuated with contemporary works that engage with these themes and histories.
Visual arts at the Brisbane Powerhouse
The walls of the Powerhouse throughout the year become a gallery space for artwork from local and international artists. A calendar highlight out of the rotating body of work is the World Press Photo Exhibition held annually. This exhibit showcases the world’s most compelling, controversial and intimate moments, as captured by award-winning photojournalists, press photographers, and documentary photographers from 125 countries, submitting 73,044 images.
Spoken: Celebrating Queensland languages
Until 19 April 2020 | Free
This exhibition celebrates Queensland languages delving into the complex cultural history of the survival and revival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages. In Queensland, over 125 languages were once spoken and now only 50 remain. Come and be inspired by the work of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who tell their own language stories through art, song and creativity.
Queensland Museum and Sciencentre
Until 4 May 2020
Be amazed by what our arachnid friends get up to at this Queensland Museum exhibition, with 12 live spider species and 200 spider specimens.
High Rotation
30 August - 19 April
Love music? High Rotation delves into the songs, stories and images of Brisbane's killer music scene exploring everything from the fans through to producers and labels. Follow the journey of some of Brisbane's most successful and influential musicians and experience what makes their music so popular and unique. Don't fret and play this one by ear, make sure you check it out before it closes in April 2020.
Starts 4 May 2020
Walking through Brisbane's sunlit streets, have you ever wondered at the history of your surrounds? Who used to walk the same streets as you? Uncover Brisbane’s histories, myths and tales as told by the storytellers of our city.
7 May - 9 July
This exhibition celebrates the stories of regeneration and continuation of important cultural traditions, and the strong women and vital water places that sustain them from Aboriginal and Torress Straight Island communities. This collection curates the work and fibre practices of artists from Yuwaalaraay (North West NSW), Quandamooka (Moreton Bay, South East QLD), Kuku Yalanji (Far North QLD), Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait Islands, QLD), Yurruwi (Milingimbi Island, NT), and surrounding homelands.
This gallery showcases a selection of Australia's leading Aboriginal and contemporary artists work. With a new exhibition every month, you will be able to visit again and again and discover the amazing talent the Australian art-world has on offer. Check out the 2019 exhibition calendar here.
2 - 17 May 2020| Artwork up all year | Free
Over the past three years Brisbane Street Art Festival has connected hundreds of multidisciplinary artists, showcasing the work of local, national and international street artists
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