Yayoi Kusama's Obliteration Room is back. This time, it's a house
The Obliteration Room was developed at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2002 for the Asia Pacific Triennial: an all-white space that changes over time as visitors add thousands of colourful dot stickers to walls, floor and furniture.
Seen and loved by more than 5 million gallery visitors around the world in the intervening years, the piece is making a triumphant return to Brisbane in the Gallery of Modern Art's Wonderstruck exhibition.
QAGOMA senior program officer at the Children's Art Centre, Laura Mudge, said the Obliteration Room this time is taking over a larger space that replicates the rooms of a Queenslander cottage.
'This is a work a lot of people have strong memories about,' she said.
'We can't think of a better example of the delight we see audiences experience than when they become collaborators and stick the dots on the walls.'
Wonderstruck is a free exhibition for all ages that draws upon works already in the QAGOMA collection.
Unusually, it has been curated not by curatorial staff but by Mudge and the gallery's head of public engagement, Tamsin Cull.
The emphasis is on work that is both crowd-pleasing and interactive.
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Sky News AU
14 hours ago
- Sky News AU
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The Advertiser
a day ago
- The Advertiser
Sydney vs Melbourne: Which Australian art city deserves your vote?
A Yayoi Kusama sculture at the Art Gallery of NSW. By Mal Chenu and Amy Cooper Sydney and Melbourne love a rivalry. Coffee, footy, laneways, beaches - you name it, they'll turn it into a competition. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading All articles from our website The digital version of Today's Paper All other in your area Now two of our travel writers are stepping into the cultural boxing ring, each ready to throw a few punches for their city's pride. In the blue corner: Sydney's dazzling Art Gallery of NSW, all harbour sparkle and Archibald glamour. In the black-and-white corner: Melbourne's NGV, with more masterpieces than you can count and a beret-wearing fan club to match. Which one wins your vote? Art should be fun. 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Fans flock to see it, because even Picasso (and AGNSW has 15) can't please a crowd like portraits of Hugo Weaving cuddling a cat or Adam Goodes in his Swannies kit. There's star power on the menu, too, because Sydney knows every party needs good food; flagship restaurants by celeb chefs Matt Moran, Sushil Aryal and Ngemba Weilwan woman Sharon Winsor. Five eateries in all - more than many a five-star hotel. When the stunning $344 million Naala Badu opened in 2022, the gallery's director declared it "could only be in Sydney". He meant the building's sundrenched coastal beauty. But it's deeper than that. AGNSW is Sydney's exuberant spirit personified - the antidote to stuffy and musty, and filled with inviting, inclusive innovations like Australia's first Children's Art Library, where noise and creativity are encouraged, and Art After Hours on Wednesdays, when you can stay until 10pm for activities from dance classes to meditation, films and tours - all with a pop-up bar. 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NGV International welcomes visitors with a giant water wall and fountains at the entrance, before opening into a cavernous interior with an enormous stained-glass ceiling. Similarly, the Federation Square Atrium leads to the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, where thousands of years of Indigenous virtuosity and a couple of hundred years of colonial flair come together to paint a history of the wide brown land. Indigenous highlights include Tommy McRae's Corroboree and the Wurrdha Marra (Many Mobs) collection, plus possum skin cloaks and ochre paintings from the Dreaming. Colonial masterpieces feature Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams and Frederick McCubbin's The Pioneer. From beyond these shores, Giambattista Tiepolo's The Banquet of Cleopatra and Picasso's Weeping Woman lead a star-studded international line-up. The NGV boasts a truly ecumenical and worldly collection. Sydney vs Melbourne: Which Australian art city deserves your vote? Location, location is usually more a Sydney thing, but the NGV venues are slap bang in the middle of the Melbourne Arts Precinct, nestled among cafes where ethically sourced coffee is served with tasting notes printed on recycled bark. The Art Gallery of NSW sits atop The Domain in Sydney, where a sweaty uphill climb culminates in stepping over bin chicken droppings at the entrance. We learned this week that the Art Gallery of NSW is cutting jobs and slashing its budget, which is bad news for Sydney and lousy timing for Amy. Conversely, the NGV is getting bigger and better. In 2028, The Fox: NGV Contemporary will be Australia's largest contemporary art gallery when it opens at Southbank. That is, unless it goes the way of the Commonwealth Games and the state government pays $600 million to move it to Glasgow at the last minute. Amy is painting herself into a corner, brushing over the fact that Melbourne is the undisputed cultural capital of the nation. 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News.com.au
6 days ago
- News.com.au
TV producer lists Qld haven that sparked hit show
A character-filled Queenslander that inspired a hit television show has hit the Townsville property market. Veteran film producer Glenys Rowe bought 47 Stagpole St, West End, in 2020 and drew inspiration from the 1920s home when writing the 'Darby and Joan' series. The crime show follows English nurse Joan Kirkhope and ex-police detective Jack Darby as they solve mysteries across Queensland. And while the series has just celebrated a second season, the time has come for Ms Rowe to part ways with her muse of a house. The four-bedroom home with wraparound verandas is going to auction on Monday, September 1 through Giovanni Spinella of Ray White Townsville. Ms Rowe said she bought the West End home for 'its fabulous architectural value, the history of it and the pleasure of living in a Queenslander'. 'It's been a really creative space for me. I felt right at home,' she said. 'There was something about the light and the air and, because I had so much space there, it changed what I felt I could do. 'I had my desk out on the veranda looking out on the old bus garage from the 1920s, which is now gone, and it was perfect. 'It was a very pleasant way to pass the time – thinking up gruesome murders.' Ms Rowe said living in the old Queenslander with its 47 casement windows, 19 sets of French doors and timber louvres heavily influenced 'Darby and Joan'. 'It was being suffused in Queensland-ness that really sparked it off,' she said. 'I had a slight sense that I was a fish out of water. 'I had never lived anywhere where I could go to sleep at night feeling the breeze on my face. 'While not amazing to people who grew up in Townsville, for an urban girl like me, it was phenomenal.' Ms Rowe said being that 'fish out of water' inspired the character of formal, bluestocking Joan, who was charmed yet confounded by Queenslanders – be they human or house. 'I wondered what it would be like for a British woman in a place like Townsville and nothing was like what she knew,' she said. Ms Rowe said she ensured Queensland architecture had a staring role in 'Darby and Joan', which was filmed in Southeast Queensland, Cairns and Mt Isa. 'It was very important because the architecture is what sets Townsville and Queensland apart for me,' she said. 'And, because I'm wiring for an international audience, I want them to know how special it is.' Since owning the West End property, Ms Rowe has left her mark on the home. 'I just wanted to make it as beautiful as I could,' she said. 'I added on a deck and made two new bathrooms based around ones I'd seen in Morocco.' Ms Rowe said she loved the home's verandas, fans and wildlife, from goannas under the back stairs to birds and Ulysses butterflies popping by. 'But my favourite parts of the home are the vegetable gardens, all the orchids and my jade vine, because it's really tall now,' she said. 'And the kitchens. 'In fact, I've been living with two dishwashers – I don't know how I'll survive with just one now.' The home at 47 Stagpole St, West End, is going to auction on Monday, September 1 at 6pm.