Once again, QAGOMA are pulling out all the stops for their program of exhibitions, dropping an epic 2025 line up that will culminate in a vast, rocky landscape with a primeval spring of landscape running throught it. We’re talking running water and 100 metric tonnes of real rock that you can actually walk over (but please, no rock stealing).
The piece is known as Riverbed, and it’s the work of Berlin-based, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. This isn't the first time the installation has appeared in Brisbane—it first appeared back in 2019, as a part of Water, but this time it's returning as a Brisbane-exclusive exhibition dedicated to the three-decade career of Olafur Eliasson alone.
Other immersive installations included in the exhibition will be a massive, all-white LEGO city perpetually built and rebuilt by visitors to the exhibition, a rainbow sunspended in a veil of mist and one that turns audio waves into spectacular visual phenomena. Basically, it'll be a multi-sensory journey through the mind of one of the world's most influential living artists that you can't miss.
Image credit: Ela Bialkowska | Supplied
It doesn't open until 6 December but luckily, there's plenty more on QAGOMA's 2025 program to check out before then. From 28 June until 6 October 2025 you can explore 'Wonderstruck', a free exhibition exploring collective and personal experiences of awe and wonder. The highlight? Yayoi Kusama's interactive Obliteration Room, which allows visitors to stick colourful stickers all over an entirely white room.
You should also save a weekend in September/October for 'Inscribing A Life', a collection of artworks from the QAGOMA Collection that regirster existence, histories and time through the act of mark making. Archie Moore's powerful kith and kin will be one of them, a vast genealogcal chart that captures Moore's First nations Australian connections.
That's just the beginning—you can scope out the full 2025 program of events coming to QAGOMA here. Just here for a stroll on that riverbed? Tickets will go sale for Olafur Eliasson soon, so stay tuned.
The Details
Where: QAGOMA
When: 6 December 2025-12 July 2026
For more info, click here.
Check out what else is coming up in Brisbane soon here.
Image credit: Olafur Eliasson