QAGOMA Announces ‘Wonderstruck’—A Free Exhibition Celebrating Awe in Everyday Life

QAGOMA has announced ‘Wonderstruck’, a major free exhibition opening at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane from 28 June to 6 October, inviting visitors of all ages to discover awe and imagination in the everyday.

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines said ‘Wonderstruck’ was a journey through spectacular large-scale installations, captivating small treasures and immersive experiences that reveal how wonder abounds in many things.

“Wonder enters our world through play and imagination, and can be inspired by our interactions with nature and encounters with the intangible,” Mr Saines said.

“This exhibition, drawn from the Gallery’s Collection and the rich catalogue of projects developed by QAGOMA’s Children’s Art Centre in collaboration with contemporary artists, also considers how wonder emerges from combinations of colour, pattern and visual illusion and an appreciation of the extraordinary within the ordinary.”

Presented across six chapters, ‘Wonderstruck’ will include more than 100 works by international and Australian artists including Ah Xian, Nick Cave, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Gordon Hookey, Madeleine Kelly, Yvonne Koolmatrie, Craig Koomeeta, Yayoi Kusama, Rosemary Laing, Ron Mueck, Patricia Piccinini, Brian Robinson, Sandra Selig, Gemma Smith, Yuken Teruya, Judy Watson, Louise Weaver, Jemima Wyman and more.

Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said the free exhibition reflects the Gallery’s 25 years of collaborating with artists to create innovative experiences for families.

“Celebrating work by accomplished Australian and international artists, ‘Wonderstruck’ promises to be an immersive exhibition for visitors of all ages,” Minister Langbroek said.

“The Crisafulli Government is proud to invest in QAGOMA to deliver inclusive, high-quality arts experiences for locals and tourists, strengthening Queensland’s reputation as an exciting cultural destination.”

‘Wonderstruck’ is co-curated by Tamsin Cull, Head of Public Engagement, and Laura Mudge, Senior Program Officer, Children’s Art Centre, QAGOMA.

Tamsin Cull said the exhibition would present multiple interactive projects alongside artworks by major Australian and international artists.

“To be struck by wonder is not to escape reality, but to live with heightened awareness, and this exhibition reminds us that opportunities to experience awe and wonder are everywhere if we just stop and notice,” Ms Cull said.

“Audiences will encounter works that transform familiar objects, such as Slovenian artist Tobias Putrih’s Connection (2004), which reconfigures humble cardboard boxes into a monumental arch, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s display of Neolithic pottery subversively dipped in brightly coloured paint.

“Patricia Piccinini and Ron Mueck’s hyperreal sculptures offer a window into the fragility of the human experience, inviting viewers to bring their own perspective to read the expressions of the woman in Mueck’s oversized In bed (2005), or the child perched precariously on a stack of chairs in Piccinini’s The Observer (2010).

“The dozens of lives represented in miniature in N.S. Harsha’s massive triptych We come, we eat, we sleep (1999–2001) remind us that life is a process, that no one exists in isolation, and that there is beauty in the perpetual cycles of life.

“We’re also thrilled Australian artist Gemma Smith—whose work explores the interaction between colour and surface, intention and chance—recently led a workshop with a small group of Brisbane State High School students to make an ambitious, large-scale painting for inclusion in the exhibition,” Ms Cull said.

Laura Mudge said many artworks in ‘Wonderstruck’ would capture a sense of playfulness and whimsy, while others encouraged taking time to look more slowly.

“Through play, we are transported to different worlds, as in the fantasy-inspired portals into magical lands in Pip & Pop’s vibrant Rainbow Bridge (2011), or Emily Floyd’s Steiner Rainbow (2006), a scaled-up version of the popular children’s stacking toy. American artist Nick Cave’s brightly coloured sculptural horse costumes HEARD (2012) evoke the transformative act of dressing up with a visual feast of fabric, raffia, beads and sequins.

“The influence of colour and pattern on how we perceive the world is explored in the shifting gradient of colours in Syagini Ratna Wulan’s abstract painting Parhelion (2021) and in Yayoi Kusama’s much-loved interactive installation The Obliteration Room (2002–present), which consists of a domestic environment recreated in the gallery space that visitors are invited to transform through the application of colourful dot stickers.

“The capacity of nature to fill us with awe is seen in Parekōwhai’s gravity-defying sculpture of a seal balancing a baby grand piano on its nose, The Horn of Africa (2006), while Brian Robinson reminds us of the wonder found in the night skies in his large-scale print and accompanying animation Lagalgal: The Mysteries of our Land (2022),” Ms Mudge said.

Other exhibition highlights include:

• Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan’s participatory installation In flight (Project: Another country) (2009), where visitors draw from a vast range of found materials to create small sculptures that become part of the overall work.
• Kwaia koromb (2012), a small spirit house that offers a space for quiet contemplation, created by Papua New Guinea-based Kwoma Arts Collective artists Simon Goiyap, Anton Waiawas, Kevin Apsepa, Terry Pakiey, Nelson Makamoi, Jamie Jimok and Rex Maukos.
• Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s expansive six-panel tessellated mirror mosaic Lightning for Neda (2009), which draws the viewer into its highly reflective surface and shifting vanishing points.
• Yuken Teruya’s Notice – Forest (2006), everyday shopping bags that have been refashioned by the artist into intricate sculptures containing hand-cut paper trees.
• Sandra Selig’s wondrous installation mid-air (2003) that sketches form in space using hundreds of metres of delicate white thread and small styrofoam balls.

On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 June QAGOMA invites audiences to the Wonderstruck Festival – a free, joy-filled celebration for everyone, featuring hands-on workshops, talks, storytelling and live music.

A range of ongoing public programs including talks, behind-the-scenes tours and special events will be announced soon.

‘Wonderstruck’ is supported by Major Partners Shayher Group and Carnival Cruise Line alongside Tourism, Media and Supporting Partners.

More information: qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibition/wonderstruck