Sitting at no less than 6,000 square metres, Australia’s largest contemporary gallery, The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Brisbane’s South Bank, turns ten years old this month. To celebrate, the now iconic space has launched a massive, free exhibition dubbed GoMA Turns 10, which revisits some of the curator’s favourite artworks and artists who have featured in the walls of the gallery since December 2006.
I had the chance to preview the exhibition last month, and got to see a few of the returning attractions – some still being re-constructed at the time. Among the most striking of the collection is Anish Kapoor‘s Untitled 2006-07 (pictured in header), which last sat in the gallery in 2008 and 2009.
The exhibition Sugar Spin sits as the centrepiece of the celebrations, with some 250 artworks celebrating light, space, architecture and the senses – some new to the space, and others returning favourites. Of the former, Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir (AKA Shoplifter) will mark your eye immediately as you enter the building; coloured synthetic hair lining the walls and turning it less into a gallery space and more into the sort of thing you’d picture Björk wearing on a wintery afternoon, with Nervescape.
American sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave (not to be confused with the iconic musician of the same name) will also be bringing his colourful piece Heard to the gallery, following its run in Sydney.
As for the returning favourites, Ron Mueck‘s massive sculpture In bed, Olafur Eliasson‘s long table of white LEGO bricks The cubic structural evolution project, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot‘s musical installation of live finches (yes you read that correctly), from here to ear (v.13) and Carsten Höller‘s Left/Right Slide will all be returning to the gallery, the last of which memorably allows guests to ride in architecturally impressive slides from the top of the gallery, down to the ground floor.
The works not only celebrate the age of the building, but also it’s design, with Nervescape literally melding into the high reaching walls, and works like Left/Right Slide which are only possible due to its unique architecture, comparing it more to the Tate Modern in London, where the piece exhibited in 2007, than more restrictive spaces like the MCA in Sydney.
Elsewhere in the gallery, Lucent is showing off Aboriginal and Pacific works from their collection, and A World View: The Tim Fairfax Gift celebrates “a decade of artworks acquired through the support of a single generous benefactor.” Highlights of this collection include Timo Nasseri‘s refracted universe (Epistrophy VI 2012, pictured above), Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira‘s space redefining Xilonoma Chamusquius 2 2012, made entirely of burnt plywood, Candice Breitz‘s King (a portrait of Michael Jackson) 2005 and a new light work from Anthony McCall.
Also keep an eye open for the debut of Judy Watson‘s bronze sculpture Tow Row, near the entry of the gallery, Pip & Pop‘s Rainbow Bridge – which will delight the young ones in particular, a whole Summer season of performances, film screenings (in a season titled This Land is Mine | This Land is Me) and much more.
GoMA Turns 10 is open at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane until 17th April 2017. For more details head to their official website. Photos supplied by the gallery.
While in Brisbane, the author stayed as guest of the Hilton Brisbane.
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