10 memorable Watermall projects

We look back at all the Queensland Art Gallery’s Watermall installations from 1993 — ten memorable Asia Pacific artist projects encompassing almost three decades.  The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) was designed around the Brisbane River and the Watermall within the Gallery runs parallel to the waterway threading its way through the river city. This grand…

A picture of sustainability

Always aspiring to greener galleries, QAGOMA’s sustainability innovations are a priority across the organisation through waste and energy reduction targets. With a goal of carbon-neutral readiness, the Gallery’s environmental sustainability policy means your enjoyment of our Collection needn’t cost the earth. Recycling During National Recycling Week (held every year during the second week of November),…

Once Neolithic urns now painted vases

Ceramics have played important practical, social, and cultural roles for tens of thousands of years. Early pottery traditions have been studied and admired for their technological advances and remain an indicator of societal evolution, marking the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. From Neolithic times pottery has incorporated aesthetic modifications, providing the foundation for…

Boomerang: Ai Weiwei’s waterfall-style chandelier

Composed of 270 000 crystal pieces, Boomerang is an imposing example of internationally renowned Chinese-born artist Ai Weiwei’s strategy of working playfully across cultural contexts. Shaped after the iconic Aboriginal throwing tool, this oversized, intensely lit, waterfall-style chandelier fills the soaring space above the water in the Queensland Art Gallery Watermall as if it were…

Ai Weiwei’s chandelier & other errant objects

Boomerang 2006 was originally the centrepiece of Ai Weiwei’s participation in ‘The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT5). An extravagant, tiered, waterfall-style chandelier shaped after the titular throwing tool, with a span of more than eight metres and a drop of seven, it had an imposing presence as it hung above the water…