An Elephant in the Room

I’m about to embark on a whirlwind-tour of some of the great cities of the world known for their long-standing art and design credentials. But before I go, I’ve decided to take a look at what my own city has to offer in the way of global appeal. I’ve begun with a visitor’s look at a significant new development—our very own Gallery of Modern Art.

I arrived at the newly opened plaza in Brisbane’s South Bank Cultural Precinct and weighed up the situation like a child, examining the pros and cons of eating your vegetables first and saving the best until last, or going straight for the dessert of the new Gallery of Modern Art and if we had time, return to the familiar old offerings of the existing Gallery… I went straight for the dessert, took my metaphorical spoon and cracked the glassy surface of the new Gallery of Modern Art, diving right into its expanse of light, space and guaranteed visual delights. Too much? Just wait until you see it.

Brisbane has been waiting for this building for a long time. For years, discussion of an iconic building for the city had been on the tongues of the cities leaders: a building that would bring the tourists and keep them here for a few days longer. Rumour had it that a Guggenheim would grace the river, or the TAFE campus at Kangaroo Point would soon sport an undulating nod to Frank Gehry, and the Roma Street Parklands would be home to a new hub of culture and community with our very own Smithsonian. The latter haven’t materialised (bar the Parklands, which has breathed much needed life into the transport end of town but does not have its own museum… yet), and perhaps that is fortunate… did we really want knock-offs from far-off places or did we need something uniquely and inherently Brisbane?

What we got, was the Gallery of Modern Art and with it a place worth stopping for en route to the Great Barrier Reef or Gold Coast; a place that seems to echo the elements of Brisbane’s fabric, a place the city can call its own. Perched on Kurilpa Point, is a giant and shiny box, reminiscent of a Queenslander1 with half the front closed in, (a common sight in Brisbane suburbs) with broad awnings, a verandah around two sides and Buffalo grass on the lawn out the front. From afar I criticised the concept of black tiles on a western facing wall in a long hot Brisbane summer, but was struck by its presence as I stood beneath the gallery’s new Cinématèque2—the first of its kind in an Australian art museum. And unlike a Queenslander the gallery’s true beauty lies within… but did we need it?

There was certainly a need for more exhibition space with the Gallery’s visible collection a mere percentage of the entire collection in storage. The continued growth and interest in the Asia Pacific Triennial certainly called for a new and purpose-built venue for the event to be enjoyed and celebrated; and perhaps the most difficult point for the Brisbane public to admit—was Brisbane devoid of recognisable culture to the outsider without a focal point like GoMA?

Has GoMA delivered the Sydney Opera House of the sub-tropical north? The answer may not be known for some time, if ever, and while imposing, I can’t see too many international visitors posing in front of it for a memento, (although, there certainly were some). But it may have delivered an iconic place for Brisbane to express itself, reflect on its role in the Asia-Pacific region, and for the Queensland Art Gallery to continue the development of internationally significant exhibitions of the calibre that have already received international praise. The Queensland Art Gallery is one of the few public galleries in the world to collect contemporary Pacific and Asian work.

An indication of the public sentiment I think lies in the conversations that fill the lofty cathedral of a foyer, the huge galleries and the newest lunch spots in town, GoMA’s two new eateries: the casual River Café and the more formal Foyer Café. That’s where you’ll hear if we needed it and do we love it. And the answer so far seems to be a resounding yes.

Through the children’s noisy banter and clattering of cutlery of the River Cafe I saw a woman clutch an employee’s arm and enthuse how much she loved the new gallery—she’d been four times already to eat in the week that it had opened, and it was now her favourite place to just sit and enjoy Brisbane.

Visitor numbers have exceeded expectation, driven on significantly by the buzz about the new gallery that has reached across the city and across demographics. Many patrons I spoke to were “non-gallery” visitors who had come on the bus for a day out to see what all the fuss was about… and with an internationally significant exhibition in-house it’s not hard to see. The Gallery was even launched with a specially created ‘People’s Day’ where all were welcome, attracting a significant crowd.

At the opening, former Queensland Premier and Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees, Wayne Goss, said GoMA was a major new contemporary art museum for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, and a cultural triumph for Brisbane. While Queensland Art Gallery Director Doug Hall said the five-level GoMA building—designed by Kerry and Lindsay Clare of Architectus—was a pavilion-like space that would bring art and visitors together in galleries that were grand, yet welcoming. Mr Hall also said GoMA would be the only gallery in Australia able to present the art of our time in such depth and in all its forms, including film, and will… ‘present Queensland and Australian works in an international context’.

Currently, the fifth Asia Pacific Triennial is on display across both campuses of the Gallery along with selections from the contemporary collection. Kids APT Summer Spectacular continues the celebration with an action-packed 16-day program including a range of exciting performances, artist-run workshops and activities directly linked to artworks and ideas from the APT5 exhibition, including story telling, games and hands-on experiences. This program, which opened on January 13, began by transforming the new cultural centre into a wonderland enabling our smallest members of society to grab a piece of Brisbane’s global culture and call it their own. The Kids APT guide is a giant green strokeable turtle that provides kid-sized bites of information about the exhibitions. Take the time to read the explanations of these artworks and it might even give you a whole new perspective by which to view the world. Elements of the exhibition are also intuitively hung at child height further adding to the gallery experience.

Kids APT is as much a part of the exhibition as any other. Many exhibitions are tactile and interactive, encouraging adult visitors to participate as well, including a gleaming modernist-white LEGO play area that allows everyone to have a go at building their own dream artistic creation. I can’t wait to get back there and see what I’m missing out on. Even if you can’t make it to Kids APT or your knees won’t let you, there is more than enough to fill your senses in the main exhibitions.

Eko Nagroho’s foyer wall mural It’s all about the Destiny! Isn’t It, is an assault on your neck as you arrive, but one worth viewing from as many angles as you can. Climb the stairs and see it from the third floor as well as from the ground. Gaze in awe at Anish Kapoor’s red, yellow and indigo pigment sculptures that are eerie, confusing and spectacular. A queue and bouncer at the entrance to the exhibition space adds to the anticipation before you can stand and contemplate the objects that Kapoor believes have a ‘sense of themselves’.

Even the bathrooms have a certain modernist quality… black and moody, inspiring one patron to express himself with a mark of his own in the form of a graffiti tag: black on black—one of the fresher and most likely temporary exhibitions on display. What better place to be inspired to create your own mark than in an art gallery?

Brisbane also leaves a mark on this new space. Take a moment to stand in the huge corridor that bisects the galleries and look at the most spectacular display in-house. Through the enormous windows facing the river a picture of Brisbane is framed that sums it up… Blue sky. Brown River. Thick mangroves and an ancient Moreton Bay Fig tree clasping the bank. Gotta love it!

Across the plaza, past the quirky and spectacular refurbishment of the State Library of Queensland (which is also a must see on your day about town offering free internet, reading rooms, activities, outstanding resources and its own new exhibition space), is the existing Queensland Art Gallery sporting a new plaza-facing entrance to draw visitors in like a master fisherman using his favourite fishing lure.

Even if you have been here a hundred times before there is always something new that will spark your imagination. If you have your kids with you, they’ll love Japanese artist Tsuyoshi Ozawa’s futon mountain Everyone Likes Someone as You Like Someone… I jealousy looked with child-like wonder watching the children roll from top to bottom and leap about on an international art work… once again wishing I was eight. The gallery feels touchable.

My companion and I moved on through the gallery to the glowing crystal chandelier Boomerang created by Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, which hangs above a pool of water and was shining its light on a band that matched the intensity with a rousing rendition of I’m Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Gallery staff, children and families alike danced with golden reflections on their faces. Where else can you dance in a gallery to rockin’ eighties tunes under the light of a golden boomerang?
Perhaps the most poignant moment of all, the most touching moment, was experienced by my gallery companion and happened at the most untouchable exhibit. Up the escalators to the gallery foyer is one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of the APT5 collection. A wondrous fibreglass and Indian bindi sculpture of a dying elephant whose eyes convey such deep and almost human sadness at the thought of what will become of her calf once she is gone. The Skin Speaks a Language Not its Own by Indian and United Kingdom artist Bharti Kher seems to strike a chord with all who look upon her work and long to reach out and touch the elephant’s velvet ears.
An Indian family approached the sorrowing elephant and the little boy, who could have been no more than six, broke away from his mother and flung himself on the elephant, hugging it tightly. He looked back to his parents, a look of absolute wonder and joy on his face. The attendant swung away from the group of children she had been giving cards of bindies to, calling to the child to stop touching the exhibit. His mother grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off. The last we saw of them his father was remonstrating vociferously, and the child, all joy and wonder drained from face and body, stood shamed as if in front of the entire gallery.
My companion shared how she desperately wanted to touch that elephant herself as it lay there in its frozen, gentle grief, and wanted to tell the little boy and his parents that a miracle had occurred in the Queensland Art Gallery spaces and who better to run and hug a seductive sculpture of an elephant than a little Indian boy with innocence in his heart. What a contrast this presented—with so many exhibits begging to be touched and explored and an entire program dedicated to children and how they interact with art, we both wondered what had occurred at this exhibit, what impact this untouchable work would now have on the boy and the viewers in the room for that moment.

Once we’d returned to the new gallery (for one last look) with the elephant still strongly in our thoughts, a young woman resting on the wide verandah floorboards lamented to my companion that her boyfriend had bluntly refused to steal the sculpture for her when she expressed how desperately she wanted it. Young and old alike, we all began to feel the gallery’s collection belonged to us. Luckily for us the elephant will lie a little longer at the gallery allowing more people to gaze into its eyes and long to reach out and touch it.

If you are in Brisbane and you do nothing else this summer, take a day or a week if you can spare it, to really explore this new space and wonder at the artistry of the building and the depth of the collection. Queensland is growing to be a significant player in the Asia-Pacific creative arts, so be part of it, fuel the fire and touch something that is outside your everyday life; you won’t regret it.

‘What’s your favourite?’ beamed a friend to me as I rounded the corner to leave. The only truthful answer could have been… the elephant in the room, which everyone is talking about.

The Gallery of Modern Art and the Queensland Art Gallery are both open seven days a week. APT5 runs until May 27, 2007. Check the website for opening times… and mark it in your travel diary as a must see.

1 Queenslander is an architectural style for houses built in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries common throughout Brisbane and Queensland. Raised on stumps and characteristically identified by large verandahs, a central hallway and large windows to create a cross-breeze to cool the house.

2 The Australian Cinémathèque presents retrospective and thematic film programs and exhibitions. Its mission is to collect, conserve, present and interpret film and screen culture.

Mij Bricknell is a Brisbane writer/editor and cultural development worker.