Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia - Queensland Art Gallery

EXHIBITION SUMMARY
• ‘21st Century: Art in the First Decade’, an ambitious exhibition of contemporary international art from the
first decade of the twenty-first century, will be presented at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)
from December 18, 2010 to April 26, 2011.
• It is a multi-platform project encompassing the major exhibition occupying the entire Gallery of Modern
Art, interactive works for children and a summer festival, three film programs, an innovative range of
public programs, a blog, two publications (including the Gallery’s first book for children), educational and
interpretive programs and resources.
• It showcases over 220 works by more than 140 senior and emerging artists, born between 1911 and
1983, from 42 countries, with most of the work from the Gallery’s own expanding collection.
• ‘21st Century’ builds on contemporary art territory explored by the Queensland Art Gallery over the past
20 years with its Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) exhibition series, Kids’ APT
programs, and Asian and Pacific collections — and signals a new commitment to be broadly
international in contemporary art collection development.
• The exhibition highlights the Gallery’s strategic acquisitions over the past decade with works from
Australia, Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North, South and Central America.
• It will present a series of ambitious commissions, key loans from Australian and international
institutions, and a curated children’s program of interactive works.
• ‘The ‘21st Century’ project will explore artistic responses to the impact of global political, economic,
environmental and technological change, and current ideas about contemporary art and the role of
museums in the first decade of the new millennium.
• Major commissions for ‘21st Century’ include:
o Stockholm-based artist Carsten Höller’s installation of two spiral-shaped slides in GoMA’s foyer. The
slides will allow viewers to participate in the work – sending them hurtling from the Gallery’s third
floor to its ground level.
o Leandro Erlich’s astounding trompe l’oeil sculpture, Swimming pool, which represented Argentina at
the 2001 Venice Biennale.
o A major new installation work by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot in which visitors will share
a gallery with live finches.