The University of Queensland Art Museum
Year in Review
2022
The University of Queensland (UQ) acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which UQ operates.
We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.
Message from the Acting Director
We began 2022 with the launch of the multi-year project Blue Assembly, developed in partnership with UQ’s Centre for Marine Science. In addition to the Semester 1 exhibition Oceanic Thinking, the project has included the online journal The Clam’s Kiss | Sogi a le Faisua, highlighting transoceanic perspectives and ways of being, and a transdisciplinary workshop held on the Moreton Island Research Station on Minjerribah.
In Semester 2 we hosted the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony from the National Gallery of Australia. This is the second time we’ve had the privilege of hosting the exhibition and we were incredibly proud that one of the nation’s most significant showcases of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art was on display here on the St Lucia campus for our audiences.
Our Art on Campus program provided opportunities for UQ staff and students to experience works from the UQ Art Collection, with 300 works on display across UQ’s campuses. Almost 600,000 people around Australia also viewed artworks from the Collection through our touring program, in which we lend important works to institutions around the country.
We highlighted important social and cultural issues to audiences as we finalised planning for the national tour of the UQ-developed exhibition OCCURRENT AFFAIR, which shares works by Brisbane-based Aboriginal art collective proppaNOW. The exhibition will tour nationally throughout 2023–24 thanks to a partnership with Museums and Galleries of NSW and funding from Visions Australia and Create NSW.
Art provides new and unexpected perspectives on the world around us, the issues we face, and how we may become active citizens driving positive change and innovation. If 2022 has shown anything, it’s that art also unites us, brings us together and allows us to find common ground as we work towards a better future together.
Acting Director, Peta Rake
The University of Queensland Art Collection
The University of Queensland Art Collection is one of Queensland’s most significant public art collections.
Curated and cared for by our expert staff, the artworks are a teaching and learning resource for students in a range of disciplines, from Business to Art History, and are drawn on to explore research areas including gender studies, history, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies.
Artworks from the Collection are also used in our Visual Thinking Strategies program, in which students from disciplines including Medicine, Midwifery, Veterinary Science and Engineering expand their skills in visual literacy, analysis and communication by studying artworks.
Collection artworks are displayed in exhibitions, in the dedicated Alumni Friends of UQ Collection Study Room, and in buildings across UQ campuses.
Artworks: Ildiko Kovas, Through the line, 2004. Collection of The University of Queensland, Gift of Ildiko Kovas and Stephen Oxenbury in memory of John Peart through the Australian Cultural Gifts Program, 2015. James Tylor, Unresettling (Scar Tree); Unresettling (Totem Poles); Unresettling (Stone Tidal Fish Trap), from the series Unresettling (Hauntings), 2016. Collection of The University of Queensland, puchased 2017.
In 2022, there were almost 300 artworks on display across UQ campuses.
This includes the new Brisbane City campus at 308 Queen St, where works by female artists were carefully selected to counterbalance the historical weight of the building and its past.
Works of art were chosen to recognise the artistic contribution of First Nations people in Brisbane and Queensland, in recognition of the traditional custodians of the land on which UQ Brisbane City stands, and in reflection of the University’s ongoing commitment to reconciliation.
Image: Minnie Pwerle, Awelye Atnwengerrp, 2002, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, overall 120 x 90 cm. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased with the assistance of Cathryn Mittelheuser AM in memory of Margaret Mittelheuser AM, 2017. Photo: Sam Scoufos.
Through our national loans program, 31 artworks were made available from the UQ Art Collection and were seen by almost 600,000 visitors from across the country.
Artworks were loaned to major Australian institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.
In 2022, we welcomed over 30,000 visitors to UQ Art Museum on the UQ St Lucia campus, reflecting an increase in on-campus traffic as larger numbers of UQ students and staff return to on-site teaching, learning, and working.
We also connected with audiences on-site at other locations through our regional partnerships, including on Minjerribah and on Djiru Country in Mission Beach in Far North Queensland.
Our Conflict in My Outlook publication reached local and international audiences through a sold-out print run and a launch event at Brisbane Writers Festival.
Online, our journal The Clam's Kiss | Sogi a le Faisua connected a global audience with rare, out-of-print, or emerging texts from Great Ocean scholars, authors, artists, and thinkers.
Our exhibitions highlight urgent contemporary issues
Through the lens of contemporary art, we provide diverse and nuanced perspectives on the biggest issues of our time, including those addressed by UQ's world-class researchers.
Our exhibitions bring the work of significant emerging and mid-career Australian and international artists to the heart of the St Lucia campus, allowing everyone in the UQ community to learn from and enjoy their work and expand their knowledge and awareness of important issues and perspectives.
Semester 1: Oceanic Thinking
In 2022 we launched our ambitious multi-year program Blue Assembly, which explores our relationship with the ocean by gathering “blue” approaches to research. This program has included the Oceanic Thinking exhibition, a series of public programs, and the launch of our online journal The Clams Kiss | Sogi a le Faisua.
This programming has allowed us to centre diverse perspectives that aim to upend our assumptions about the ocean, its role in human life, and its future - in the hope that we might inform policy around climate and the future of global communities.
Blue Assembly has been developed in close collaboration with leading UQ Scholars including researchers at the Centre for Marine Science, one of Australia's largest and most diverse marine research groups.
Image: Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Tāpū, 2022. Installation view, Oceanic Thinking, UQ Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Marc Pricop.
Semester 2: 4th Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony
We welcomed the the National Gallery of Australia's flagship exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in Semester 2. The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony featured the work of 35 artists from across Australia, to reveal how ceremony is at the nexus of Country, of culture and of community.
We were the only venue in Queensland to show this exhibtion and the first stop on the national exhibition tour.
The exhibition was shared with UQ Art Museum's audiences with the generous support of The Honourable Anthe Philippides SC.
Image: Darrell Sibosado, Ngarrgidj Morr (the proper path to follow), 2022. Installation view, The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, UQ Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Industry leader in sustainability
In 2022, our Oceanic Thinking exhibition was certified carbon neutral by Climate Active, the Australian Government's climate certification authority. We were the first Queensland museum or gallery to be certified and only the 4th nationwide.
We are implementing a holistic and sustained approach to sustainability in all aspects of our work. As an art museum operating within a university context, we are uniquely positioned to seek out and implement innovative tools and methods to address our environmental impact and drive change within our sector.
We are already being recognised for our efforts and won a Galleries and Museums Achievement Award for our carbon neutral certification.
Image: Elise Rasmussen, The Year Without a Summer, 2020. Installation view, Oceanic Thinking, UQ Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
A student views an artwork by Elise Rasmussen in the "Oceanic Thinking" exhibition. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
A student views an artwork by Elise Rasmussen in the "Oceanic Thinking" exhibition. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
A visitor walks through the installation "Vessel" by Sancintya Mohini Simpson and Isha Ram Das. Installation view, Oceanic Thinking, 2022.
A visitor walks through the installation "Vessel" by Sancintya Mohini Simpson and Isha Ram Das. Installation view, Oceanic Thinking, 2022.
Dr Léuli Eshrāghi and artist Angela Tiatia in conversation during a public program at UQ Art Museum.
Dr Léuli Eshrāghi and artist Angela Tiatia in conversation during a public program at UQ Art Museum.
We enriched teaching and learning experiences across disciplines
We are growing the number of students we reach across UQ every year. In 2022, over 2,000 students across multiple disciplines engaged with UQ Art Museum through our education program.
We delivered 49 tailored learning experiences to students through guest lectures, exhibition-specific tours and one-of-a-kind experiences in the Alumni Friends of UQ Collection Study Room.
This has lead to ongoing partnerships with many different schools and institutes in the UQ community. In 2022, we worked with 13 different schools and institutes to deliver education experiences including:
- Centre for Marine Science
- School of Medicine
- School of Biological Sciences
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- School of Education
- School of Communication and Arts
- School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry
- School of Social Science
- School of Architecture
- School of Business
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- School of Public Health
- UQ College
Building regional partnerships
In 2022 our public programs allowed us to establish new regional partnerships in Queensland. Not only did we deliver events onsite at UQ Art Museum we delivered public programs in Mission Beach in Far North Queensland and at UQ's Moreton Bay Research Station on Minjerribah. We established new partnerships with:
- James Cook University Blue Humanities Lab
- Friends of Ninney Rise
- Mision Beach Community Arts Centre
We reached over 1,800 members of the public through our programming and events in 2022.
Award-winning visitor engagement strategy
Our position within a University allows us to be at the forefront of industry innovation and leadership. In 2022 Danielle Harvey, our Senior Team Leader, Engagement and Training, won an Engagement Australia award for outstanding leadership in engagement.
Danielle Harvey won the award for leading our cultural mediation program, which aims to create a welcoming and safe space for all visitors.
Danielle Harvey with Cultural Mediators. Photo: Josef Ruckli
Cultural mediation is a form of visitor engagement that puts visitor experience front and centre, supports two-way conversation and encourages visitors to participate and deepen their own perspectives.
Our mediators are all UQ students
In 2022 there were 20 students employed by UQ Art Museum. They are employed as part of our mission to provide innovative learning and development experiences across disciplines.
Students staff members stand with Marketing Manager Alex Tuite after participating in an exhibition photo shoot. Photo: Louis Lim.
Students bring a range of work and education experience to their roles and are studying in disciplines including science, law, allied health, international relations, museum studies and art history.
Regional outreach
In partnership with Museums and Galleries New South Wales, we supported the delivery of training in cultural mediation to regional galleries, including providing an opportunity for 2 UQ students to travel to regional venues to share their knowledge with staff and volunteers.
Instillation view of Giraaru Galing Gaanhagirri, Joel Bray, 2022. Photo: Louis Lim
In 2022, cultural mediators travelled to Hyphen Gallery in Wodonga and Samstag Museum of Art in Adelaide.
We also have an ongoing partnership with The Condensery, a regional art gallery in the Somerset region that delivers cultural mediation workshops to their team of volunteers.
Image: Joel Bray, Wiradjuri people, Giraaru Galing Gaanhagirri, 2022, commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra for the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, created in consultation with Uncle James Ingram and Wagga Wagga Elders, and with support from City of Melbourne, Phillip Keir and Sarah Benjamin (the Keir Foundation), City of Port Phillip, Create NSW, Blacktown Arts, Arts Centre Melbourne, and Yirramboi Festival 2020, image courtesy and © the artist
Danielle Harvey with Cultural Mediators. Photo: Josef Ruckli
Danielle Harvey with Cultural Mediators. Photo: Josef Ruckli
Students staff members stand with Marketing Manager Alex Tuite after participating in an exhibition photo shoot. Photo: Louis Lim.
Students staff members stand with Marketing Manager Alex Tuite after participating in an exhibition photo shoot. Photo: Louis Lim.
Instillation view of Giraaru Galing Gaanhagirri, Joel Bray, 2022. Photo: Louis Lim
Instillation view of Giraaru Galing Gaanhagirri, Joel Bray, 2022. Photo: Louis Lim
Student experience and training
Our philanthropically funded internships allow students to be paid to learn industry skills in a rich and supportive environment. We are one of the only university art museums in Australia to offer paid internships to students.
In 2022, we trained UQ student interns in areas of museum operations including administration, communications, education and public programming.
Accelerating career opportunities
In 2022, students we've trained gained employment in leading arts institutions including:
- Queensland Gallery of Art | Gallery of Modern Art
- National Gallery of Australia
- Milani Gallery
- Redland Art Gallery
- Shepparton Art Museum
Philanthropic support
Our donors support us to reach, inspire and educate audiences through the lens of contemporary art.
The generous support of Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser AM allowed us to expand our education program and impact more UQ students by enriching their studies and sharing diverse perspectives.
Dr Mittelheuser's support extends to the work of Curatorial-Researcher-in-Residence Dr Léuli Eshrāghi, whose work as part of our Blue Assembly project is highlighting much-needed transoceanic perspectives and the voices of Great Ocean scholars, artists, writers and thinkers.
Vital support from The Honourable Anthe Philippides SC allowed us to share the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony with our audiences, encouraging conversation and education around the intricate relationships between Country, culture, ceremony and community.
We were the only Queensland venue to host this important exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia, and we were the first stop on its national tour.
We were also very grateful for support from the Tynan family for our Conflict in My Outlook publication, which we co-published with award-winning art, design and architecture publisher Perimeter Books.
Philanthropic support for our industry-leading training program allowed us to prepare UQ students for careers in the sector. Through the contributions of Ashby Utting and the late Paula and Tony Kinnane, there are UQ students who have been able to go on to develop the career of their dreams in a highly competitive sector.
Our paid internship model allows students to work as part of our team in a supportive and encouraging environment, to be mentored by members of our team, and to do so without needing to seek additional paid work that would distract them from their studies. These opportunities are truly life-changing for the UQ students who work with us.
2022 Kinnane Endowment Interns
Alex McFarland, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
The Art Museum has provided an ideal setting for me to grow, both professionally and personally. This experience has not only solidified my choice of career in arts communication but given me the confidence and skills to go after it. I leave with a greater sense of confidence in my abilities and with tools that I know I will carry with me no matter where my career takes me.
Myf Halton, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
The internships offered at the UQ art museum are unlike any other internship I’ve undertaken. I’ve been unable to find an opportunity that allows me the same level of professional support as well as independence. Being in an environment where you can actively contribute as well as receive mentorship and guidance with compassion is very rare. This is an incredibly valuable experience that will no doubt be instrumental in the advancement of my career.
Jocelyn Flynn, Kinnane Education and Public Programs Intern
The internship has prepared me to think deeply about audience engagement and building meaningful relationships within the team and with outside stakeholders. I saw first-hand how colleagues build strong relationships across campus, and with artists and arts colleagues to create a community for critical engagement with the arts.
Alex McFarland, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
Alex McFarland, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
Myf Halton, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
Myf Halton, Kinnane Marketing and Communications Intern
Jocelyn Flynn, Kinnane Education and Public Programs Intern
Jocelyn Flynn, Kinnane Education and Public Programs Intern
Kyle McIntyre, Ashby Utting Arts Administration Intern
Kyle McIntyre, Ashby Utting Arts Administration Intern
2022 Ashby Utting Intern
These experiences have had a profound impact on my career and on both a personal and professional development sense. It has solidified my desire and passions for working in the arts and allowed me to be a part of a very kind, welcoming and talented team that will influence the way I perform in any future role.”
In 2022, we laid foundations for exciting future projects and collaborations.
We announced our Semester 1 exhibition We Are Electric: Extraction, Extinction and Post-Carbon Futures.
We Are Electric brings together Australian and international artists to explore the ways in which we extract, exchange and experience energy.
Image: Haines & Hinterding, Encounter with the Halo Field, 2009-2015, still from single-channel video, sound. Commissioned in 2009 by the Australian Network for Art and Technology and Art Monthly Australia with support from the Australia Council for the Arts. Reshot for High Definition in 2015. Courtesy the artists and Sarah Cottier Gallery.
The multi-year project Blue Assembly will continue in Semester 2 with a new exhibition curated by Acting Director/Senior Curator Peta Rake, Curatorial Researcher-in-Residence Dr Léuli Eshrāghi and Curatorial Assistant Isabella Baker.
This exhibition will be accompanied by a second issue of the online journal The Clam’s Kiss | Sogi a le faisua. The online journal is dedicated to forms of transoceanic relation, creativity, and knowledge.
We will be welcoming a record number of student interns in 2023.
Two Ashby Utting Arts Administration interns have been appointed, and recruitment has opened for 5 Kinnane Endowment Internships. These are open to students studying Art History or Museum Studies at UQ, and will provide learning opportunities in specialised areas of museum operations.
A student staff member looking at gudhuwali BURN by Penny Evans, (2020-21).
A student staff member looking at gudhuwali BURN by Penny Evans, (2020-21).
Curatorial Assistant Isabella Baker in UQ Art Museum Collection Study Room
Curatorial Assistant Isabella Baker in UQ Art Museum Collection Study Room
Senior Team Leader, Engagement and Training Danielle Harvey with members of the visitor engagement team.
Senior Team Leader, Engagement and Training Danielle Harvey with members of the visitor engagement team.
Built with Shorthand