Take a journey through air
Tomás Saraceno, Argentina b. 1973 / Installation view of Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms 2022, ‘Air’ GOMA 2022 / 15 Aerocene spheres, transparent and metallic mylar, tape, pump with overpressure release, polyester rope, kinetic system, backpack, newspaper, pamphlets, books and photographic prints on paper / Purchased 2022 with funds from the Neilson Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Tomás Saraceno / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image
The Gallery’s summer blockbuster exhibition ‘Air’ explores the cultural, ecological and political dimensions of this elemental substance with major works by more than thirty leading international and Australian artists including Carlos Amorales (Mexico), Dora Budor (Croatia), Tacita Dean (UK/Europe), Mona Hatoum (Lebanon/UK), Jonathan Jones (Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi, Australia), Anthony McCall (UK/USA), Ron Mueck (Australia/UK), Jamie North (Australia), Thu Van Tran (Vietnam/France), Tomás Saraceno (Argentina) and Jemima Wyman (Pairrebeener, Australia).
DISCOVER MORE: Delve into the works in the exhibition
‘Air’ presents works of art, many newly commissioned, in a range of media from large immersive installations to intimately scaled objects across the entire ground floor of the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.
At the heart of the exhibition is Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms 2022 (illustrated) by Argentinian-born, Berlin-based artist Tomás Saraceno, a major new commission that takes the form of a mesmerising constellation of fifteen partially mirrored spheres suspended in GOMA’s central atrium space. Saraceno’s Drift engages the poetic and imaginative potential of air as its partially transparent, partially reflective orbs float above the viewer at different heights, some moving gently as if breathing.
DELVE DEEPER: 15 mirrored spheres drift in GOMA
Tomás Saraceno ‘Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms’
Tomás Saraceno, Argentina b.1973 / Installation view of Drift: A cosmic web of thermodynamic rhythms 2022, ‘Air’ GOMA 2022 / 13 Aerocene spheres, transparent and metallic mylar, tape, pump with overpressure release, polyester rope, kinetic system, backpack, newspaper, pamphlets, books and photographic prints on paper / Dimensions variable / Purchased 2022 with funds from the Neilson Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Tomás Saraceno / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image
Through five unfolding chapters — Atmosphere, Shared, Burn, Invisible and Change — the work of contemporary artists in ‘Air’ will inspire visitors to consider the global environmental and social challenges we face, including sustainability, equity and connectivity.
At this moment in history, as global temperatures rise, we are sensitive to air as never before: alert to airborne threats and aware of our reliance on this precious mix of gases. The exhibition asks us to consider the air we share with all other life, to reflect on what it means to breathe freely and to examine air as a metaphor for change and the realisation of our potential. ‘Air’ follows ‘Water’ the major GOMA exhibition of summer 2019-20.
Chalk Fall 2018 (illustrated), a monumental work by leading UK artist and filmmaker Tacita Dean is unveiled for the first time following its recent acquisition. Dean’s textural, multi-panel drawing evokes England’s White Cliffs of Dover in chalk, while Mona Hatoum’s neon-lit sculpture Hot Spot 2006 (illustrated), made to depict a world burning with political turmoil, now aptly describes our ecological crisis.
Tacita Dean ‘Chalk Fall’
Tacita Dean, United Kingdom b.1965 / Chalk Fall 2018 / Chalk on blackboard / Nine panels: 121.9 x 243.8cm (each); 365.8 x 731.5cm (overall) / Purchased 2021. The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust / Collection: The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Tacita Dean / Image courtesy: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: A precipice between land, sea and air
Mona Hatoum ‘Hot Spot’
Mona Hatoum, Lebanon/United Kingdom b.1952 / Installation view of Hot Spot 2006, ‘Air’ GOMA 2022 / Stainless steel and neon tube / 230 x 223 x 223cm / The David and Indrė Roberts Collection / Courtesy: The Roberts Institute of Art, London / Photograph: M Campbell © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Large-scale globe casts earth in an emergency-red glow
Other highlights include Dora Budor’s trio of glass chambers Origins I–III 2019 (Origin II (Burning of the Houses) illustrated), containing eerie volcanic mounds and puffed clouds of pigmented dust, and Jonathan Jones’s untitled (giran) 2018 (illustrated), an installation of bird-like sculptures with an accompanying soundscape created in collaboration with Dr Uncle Stan Grant Sr AM. Carlos Amorales’s swarm of black moth and butterfly silhouettes Black Cloud 2007/2018 (illustrated) is a stark reminder of the fragility of life; Anthony McCall’s solid-light installation Crossing 2016 (illustrated), makes air visible through shafts of light intersecting with smoke haze.
Dora Budor ‘Origin II (Burning of the Houses)’
Dora Budor, Croatia b.1984 / Origin II (Burning of the Houses) 2019 / Custom environmental chamber (reactive electronic system, compressor, valves, 3D printed elements, aluminium, acrylic, LED light, glass, wood, paint), organic and synthetic pigments, diatomaceous earth, FX dust, felt, ed. 3/3 / One of three chambers: 152 x 160 x 86cm (each) / Purchased 2021. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dora Budor / Photograph: M Campbell © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Dora Budor’s colour fields in motion
Jonathan Jones ‘untitled (giran)’
Jonathan Jones, Kamilaroi/Wiradjuri people, Australia b.1978 / Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM, Wiradjuri people, Australia b.1940 / untitled (giran) 2018 / Bindu-gaany (freshwater mussel shell), gabudha (rush), gawurra (feathers), marrung dinawan (emu egg), walung (stone), wambuwung dhabal (kangaroo bone), wayu (string), wiiny (wood) on wire pins, 48-channel soundscape, eucalyptus oil / 1742 pieces (comprising 291 Bindu-gaany; 290 Galigal; 292 Bagaay; 291 Dhalany; 280 Bingal; 298 Waybarra) / Purchased 2018 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © The artists / Photograph: J Ruckli © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Jonathan Jones ‘untitled (giran)’ is a murmuration of winged sculptures
Carlos Amorales ‘Black Cloud’
Carlos Amorales, Mexico b.1970 / Installation view of Black Cloud 2007/2018, ‘Air’ GOMA 2022 / 30 000 black laser-cut and handfolded paper butterflies (30 different butterfly and moth species in five sizes with a wave wing pattern), ed. 1/3 (+ 1 A.P.) / Purchased 2022 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Carlos Amorales / Photograph: M Campbell © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: 30 000 butterflies & moths migrate to GOMA
Anthony McCall ‘Crossing’
Anthony McCall, United Kingdom/United States b.1946 / Crossing 2016 / Two double video projections (20 minutes), haze machine, sound / Commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Gallery of Modern Art / Purchased 2016 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Anthony McCall / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Anthony McCall makes air visible
New commissions also include Portal 2022 (illustrated), Jamie North’s twin concrete towers which feature plant species indigenous to Brisbane, holding growth and ruin in dynamic tension, and Jemima Wyman’s Plume 20 2022, a vast, cloud of air created from a collage of images depicting protest and civil unrest.
Jamie North ‘Portal’
Jamie North, Australia b.1971 / Installation view of Portal 2022, ‘Air’ GOMA 2022 / Cement, ash, slag, expanded clay, graphite, organic matter and plants native to Queensland / Two columns: 290.9 x 60cm (each), plus plants / Courtesy: Jamie North and The Renshaws, Brisbane / © Jamie North/Copyright Agency, 2022 / Photograph: M Campbell © QAGOMA / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Concrete is an unlikely home to an ecosystem of plants
Jemima Wyman ‘Plume’
Jemima Wyman, Pairrebeener people, Australia b.1977 / Plume 2021 / Hand-cut digital photographs / Courtesy: Jemima Wyman, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, and Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney / Photograph: E Mumford / View full image
Katie Paterson ‘To Burn, Forest, Fire’
Katie Paterson, United Kingdom b.1981 / To Burn, Forest, Fire 2021 / Bespoke incense sticks / Originally commissioned by IHME Helsinki, 2021 / Image courtesy: Katie Paterson / Photography: Veikko Somerpuro / View full image
DELVE DEEPER: Incense fragrances released daily under the Bodhi Tree
‘Air’ / Gallery of Modern Art, Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) / 26 November 2022 to 23 April 2023.
The accompanying exhibition publication Air is available at the QAGOMA Store and online.