The University of Queensland Art Museum
2023 Year in Review
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.
A message from the Director
We began 2023 with the launch of two significant projects, We Are Electric and the national tour of proppaNOW’s OCCURRENT AFFAIR at John Curtin University Gallery in Boorloo/Perth on Whadjuk Noongar Country as part of Perth Festival. This set the tone for a year of great recognition of our long-term initiatives.
Our cultural mediation program was recognised as an official partner for the 2024 Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, which is one of the most high-profile events on the international art calendar, and an international hub of discussion, conversation, and creativity. This is the first-time cultural mediation will be adopted at the Australia Pavilion, and it’s an exciting reflection of our industry leadership in visitor engagement, which was also recognised at UQ’s annual Staff Excellence Awards for Diversity and Inclusion. From Wagga Wagga to Venice, and with a handful of awards for good measure, 2023 has seen exciting momentum for our industry-leading cultural mediation program.
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 also found a new home on campus in the newly renovated Gordon Greenwood Building for our Nat Yuen Collection of Chinese Antiquities, allowing us to publicly highlight this significance of this collection.
Our Blue Assembly program continued with the group exhibition Mare Amoris: Sea of Love which was endorsed as part of the UN Ocean Decade program, a global framework dedicated to education and research on ocean health and sustainability. We also delivered the Northern Conditions / Planetary Practices workshop with regional artworkers on Djiru Country as part of our Kinnane Regional Partnerships Program which brought together arts workers and community members at the picturesque Bingil Bay.
Art brings into sharp focus what is not often reported, or visualised, and remains vital in these uncertain times. UQ Art Museum is committed to continuing to create spaces to platform voices, conversations and practices that gather us towards more hopeful and truthful futures.
– 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.
Through our national loans program, 69 artworks were made available from the UQ Art Collection and were seen by almost 550,000 visitors from across the country.
Artworks were loaned to major Australian institutions including Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, National Portrait Gallery and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art among others.
Image: Judy Watson, sacred water, 2010, and Judy Watson, sacred ground, 2010. Collection of The University of Queensland. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Danielle Milani in memory of Mona Dubois, 2022. Installation view, Mare Amoris | Sea of Love, UQ Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
New to the Collection
UQ Emeritus Professor William Ross Johnston has made a major contribution to The University of Queensland Art Collection with his recent donation of “Nude with crossed legs” (1974) by Australian painter John Brack. The painting comes from Professor Johnston’s personal collection and can be seen at Patina Alumni Court on the St Lucia campus.
Image: John Brack, Nude with crossed legs, 1974. Collection of The University of Queensland. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by W. Ross Johnston, 2023. Installation view. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Art on campus
In 2023, there were over 300 artworks on display around UQ campuses.
The Art on Campus program takes UQ’s extensive art collection outside the walls of the museum and into public spaces, research institutes and learning spaces across campus. In these spaces the artworks become a dynamic tool for education, research and connection across all areas of the University and create numerous opportunities to engage in the diverse cultures, histories, and stories held in the UQ Art Collection.
Installation view of the Nat Yuen Collection of Chinese Antiquities in the Gordon Greenwood Building, St Lucia. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Installation view of the Nat Yuen Collection of Chinese Antiquities in the Gordon Greenwood Building, St Lucia. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Timothy Cook Kulama 2010, natural ochres on linen, 120 x 150 cm. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2012. Installation view. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Timothy Cook Kulama 2010, natural ochres on linen, 120 x 150 cm. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2012. Installation view. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Alexander McKenzie, Self portrait looking for ship 2006, oil on linen. Collection of the University of Queensland. Gift of Alexander McKenzie through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts program, 2009. Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, An end to suffering, 2009-2010. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2016. Installation view, Forgan Smith Building Level 3, 2023
Alexander McKenzie, Self portrait looking for ship 2006, oil on linen. Collection of the University of Queensland. Gift of Alexander McKenzie through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts program, 2009. Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, An end to suffering, 2009-2010. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2016. Installation view, Forgan Smith Building Level 3, 2023
In 2023, we welcomed over 45,000 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.
Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Our exhibitions
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 : We Are Electric
Our Semester 1 Exhibition “We Are Electric” brought together Australian and international artists to explore the ways in which we extract, exchange and experience energy. Interactive immersive instillations, screen-based artworks as well as pieces from the UQ Art Collection highlighted vital perspectives and thought-provoking ideas about energy and a future beyond carbon.
Contemporary art and music collided for a series of performances as part of “We Are Electric”. Students from the UQ School of Music activated Untitled (Death Song), a sound installation by Quandamooka artist Megan Cope, in a series of performances throughout the exhibition. The work is comprised of discarded equipment traditionally used in mining.
Semester 2: Mare Amoris | Sea of Love
In semester 2, we launched the third exhibition in our ambitious multi-year research arc Blue Assembly. "Mare Amoris | Sea of Love" challenges the Eurocentric idea of ‘mare nullius’, that sovereign rights end at the coastline, making oceans void of ownership. To do so the exhibition gathers creative global First Nations practices that embrace love as an uprising to dissolve the colonial boundaries of oceans and their connected waters.
"Mare Amoris | Sea of Love" was part of the Ocean Decade Network, a framework supporting the UN’s Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development by building and sharing knowledge and understanding of ocean spaces and their importance to people and the planet. This exhibition was generously supported by Arts Queensland.
Exhibitions on tour
We highlighted important social and cultural issues to audiences across the country with the national tour of the exhibition "OCCURRENT AFFAIR", which shares works by Brisbane-based Aboriginal art collective proppaNOW. The exhibition has toured to four cultural intuitions across Australia thanks to a partnership with Museums and Galleries of NSW and funding from Visions Australia and Create NSW.
Alongside the tour, we have also published an accompanying exhibition catalogue distributed across the country.
Visitors read the texts offered in Mare Amoris | Sea of Love library, UQ Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Visitors read the texts offered in Mare Amoris | Sea of Love library, UQ Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Image: Santiago Mostyn, DREAM ONE, 2022. Installation view, Mare Amoris | Sea of Love, 2023. Photo: Louis Lim.
Image: Santiago Mostyn, DREAM ONE, 2022. Installation view, Mare Amoris | Sea of Love, 2023. Photo: Louis Lim.
Image: Michaela Gleave, Amanda Cole, and Warren Armstrong, Terrella, 2022. Installation view, We Are Electric: Extraction, Extinction and Post-Carbon Futures, UQ Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Image: Michaela Gleave, Amanda Cole, and Warren Armstrong, Terrella, 2022. Installation view, We Are Electric: Extraction, Extinction and Post-Carbon Futures, UQ Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Teaching and learning
We enriched teaching and learning experiences across disciplines.
We are growing the number of students we reach across UQ every year. In 2023, over 3,500 students across all faculties engaged with UQ Art Museum through our education program.
We delivered 125 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 2023, we worked with 19 schools and institutes to deliver education experiences including:
- Centre for Marine Science
- Centre for Policy Futures
- School of Medicine
- School of Biological Sciences
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- School of Business
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
Student experience and training
In 2023, there were 22 students employed by UQ Art Museum. They are employed as part of our mission to provide innovative learning and development experiences across disciplines.
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.
We welcomed a record number of student interns in 2023.
This internship has given me the unique opportunity to learn and develop skills within diverse areas of Registration and Collections Management. These skills, and this amazing practical experience will increase my employment prospects within the GLAM sector.
I aspire to be a curator and arts writer, so this position has been incredibly informative and educational for me.
This role has offered me a unique perspective on museum operations. The flexibility to be able to work across various operational teams from finance to engagement is invaluable.
Under the guidance and supervision of Alex Tuite, this experience has not only given me a valuable knowledge base, but has improved my ability to write well, work across disciplines and develop strong researching skills to find new ways of engaging audiences in an institutional context
The internship at the Art Museum is an incredible opportunity that is allowing me to develop skills and knowledge in inclusive engagement practice.
The skills I am developing in event planning, marketing, relationship building, analytical thinking, and creativity will greatly benefit my future career.
The Kinnane Access Internship has given me real-world experience in working in the accessibility space and developing initiatives that will improve access and inclusion for visitors, staff, contractors and artists of UQ Art Museum. It is also giving me an understanding of how the different museum departments intersect and collaborate on accessibility initiatives.
National leader in visitor engagement
The success of our award-winning visitor engagement strategy, Cultural Mediation, has led to a major partnership with Creative Australia.
Our visitor engagement team delivered Cultural Mediation training for the staff of the Australia Pavilion for the 2024 Venice Biennale who will greet audiences for artist Archie Moore and Curator Ellie Buttrose's kith and kin.
Creative Australia selected eight Australian creative and cultural workers from across Australia to participate in this professional development program, and we are thrilled that UQ Art Museum Mediator and recent UQ graduate Luisa Randall is among them!
Accessible for all
We launched our first Disability Action Plan in 2023 which outlines our priorities, plans and goals to ensure d/Deaf people and people with disabilities can access and enjoy the work that we do.
The plan includes targets related to employment and training, as well as goals and plans specifically related to our work as an art museum. For example: industry-specific training; the production of audio descriptions and audio recordings of exhibition text.
We acknowledge that accessibility and inclusion is an area in which we are always learning and growing.
Building regional partnerships
In 2023, our Kinnane Regional Partnership Program allowed us to establish new regional partnerships in Queensland. Not only did we deliver events onsite at UQ Art Museum we delivered public programs across Queensland in Cairns, Townsville, Magnetic Island and Mission Beach in Far North Queensland. We established new partnerships and built on existing connections with:
- James Cook Universities, Blue Humanities Lab
- Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts
- NorthSite Contemporary Arts
- Friends of Ninney Rise
- Mission Beach Community Arts Centre
- Australian Renewable Energy Alliance
- Cairns and Far North Queensland Environment Centre (CAFNEC)
- Girringun Aboriginal Corporation
Philanthropy at the Museum
In 2023, philanthropy drove opportunity and outreach in student training, community engagement, creative enrichment, and disability and inclusion. Our philanthropically-funded internship program supported students to develop practical skills in curatorial, registration, communications, access, and administration. On graduation, students who have been trained through our internship program went on to secure roles with Museum of Brisbane, QAGOMA, and here in UQ’s Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty.
Artworks gifted to the UQ Art Collection opened avenues for important discussions with students from all disciplines around issues ranging from climate change to career development, and enriched our exhibitions. Donated funds were used to support access and inclusion initiatives, and the work of our first-ever access intern. Through generously donated funds we were also able to begin the refurbishment of the pipe organ located in our building at UQ St Lucia, and in 2024 we are bringing it to life through an exciting series of performances and events.
Once again, we were moved to receive support from Dr Cathryn Mittelheuser AM, whose gift allowed us to build engagement and deep connection with artists and communities from across the Great Ocean, through the work of Curatorial-Researchers-in-Residence Dr Léuli Eshrāghi.
Your gifts to UQ Art Museum allow us to inspire new ideas and ways of thinking within UQ students; preserve and share the diverse experiences and perspectives of artists so they can be felt and understood for generations to come; and bring shared understanding, curiosity and joy to UQ students, staff and alumni as well as our wider community.
Thank you to each and every individual and organisation who supported our work in 2023; we look forward to continuing our partnership with you in the years to come.
UQ Art Museum at dusk. Photo by Joe Ruckli.
Curatorial Assistant Jocelyn Flynn and Curatorial Researcher in Residence, Dr Léuli Eshrāghi. Photo: Rhett Hammerton.
Curatorial Assistant Jocelyn Flynn and Curatorial Researcher in Residence, Dr Léuli Eshrāghi. Photo: Rhett Hammerton.
Staff members Kyle McIntyre, Jocelyn Flynn, Isabelle Lawrence, and Darby Jones. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Staff members Kyle McIntyre, Jocelyn Flynn, Isabelle Lawrence, and Darby Jones. Photo: Joe Ruckli.
Collaborations and projects
In 2023, we laid foundations for exciting future projects and collaborations.
The multi-year project Blue Assembly will continue in Semester 1 with a new exhibition How we remember tomorrow curated by Director Peta Rake, Curatorial Researcher-in-Residence Dr Léuli Eshrāghi, Assistant Curator Isabella Baker and Curatorial Assistant Jocelyn Flynn.
How we remember tomorrow celebrates storytelling across generations, through oceans and waterways and transcending eras and perspectives.
Blaklash x UQ Art Museum
In 2023 we laid the foundations for an industry-leading collaboration that invests in First Nations arts workers. Brisbane-based creative agency Blaklash Creative have worked with UQ Art Museum to announce a 3 year internship program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander undergradute students in the UQ Humanities, Arts and Social Science (HASS) school.
The first ever 'Blaklash Curatorial Internship' position was launched in November 2023, with overwhelmingly positive response from industry and an impressive group of applications. The successful applicant will start their internship in March 2024.
Thank you for an excellent year in 2023.
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