Culture Watch: Nine Queensland Art Exhibitions To Catch in 2026

Spring is here, and there’s a hot line-up of exhibitions across the state in the latter part of the year. Check out a world-first behind-the-scenes look at Jim Henson’s puppetry to the fifth National Indigenous Art Triennial transforming two full levels at Hota. And, at the Institute of Modern Art, Canadian artist Jon Rafman turns the internet’s strangest corners of culture into his first major Australian show.

The Red Dress, Museum of Brisbane

A team of 380 embroiderers from 51 countries all contributed to one elegant red dress over 14 years. The global collaborative embroidery project, The Red Dress, was conceived by British artist Kirstie Macleod to provide a platform for individuals – especially women in vulnerable situations – to tell their stories through embroidery.

From 2009 to 2023, the dress travelled the world and into the hands of 367 women, 11 men, and two non-binary artists. Eighty-seven panels of burgundy silk dupion each hold a tale of self-expression and place. Twenty-seven members of Brisbane’s Allthreads Embroidery community created Australia’s contribution, capturing our unique landscape, flora and fauna. The completed dress weighs 6.8 kilograms, is covered in an estimated 1.5 billion stitches, and holds a Guinness World Record for the largest collaborative embroidery project.

Until September 13, free. 

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, Hota

After the rain, the land is cleansed. Seeds begin to sprout, and new life emerges. That’s the thinking behind this fifth iteration of the National Gallery of Australia’s Indigenous Art Triennial, curated by Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji artist Tony Albert as artistic director. It brings together leading First Nations artists from across the country.

Hota is the first stop on the exhibition’s national tour after its debut in Canberra, and the first time the gallery has given two full levels to a single show. Painting, sculpture, video and installation sit alongside each other, tracing themes of renewal and resilience across generations.
Until September 27, free.

Jon Rafman: Memento Hikikomori, Institute of Modern Art

Memento mori is Latin phrase used as an artistic symbol and stoic reminder of mortality. Hikikomori is a Japanese term for extreme social hermitude, gaining significance during Japan’s economic “ice age” in the 1990s. Canadian artist Jon Rafman combines the two ideas for his first major Australian exhibition, treating terminally online recluses as a kind of modern ascetic who cultivates detachment from earthly desires – just with a wi-fi connection instead of a mountain.

Described as an anthropologist of the digital world, Rafman explores the darker corners of the internet such as 4 Chan and fringe online communities. Featured here are his long-running Nine Eyes series, which mines Google Street View for accidental human moments, sitting alongside an AI-generated television project, immersive video pods, and key works spanning more than a decade, including Punctured Sky and Kool-Aid Man in Second Life.

Until September 27, free. 

Stories You Wear: Magpie Goose, Museum of Brisbane

Aboriginal-owned and -led fashion and social enterprise Magpie Goose has teamed up with the Museum of Brisbane to celebrate its ongoing collaborations with First Nations artists and designers. Directed by co-owners Amanda Hayman (Wakka Wakka and Kalkadoon) and Troy Casey (Kamilaroi), this exhibition sees clothing used as a canvas for storytelling – and a vehicle for conversations. There’s a particular focus on works from South East Queensland communities Jinibara and Quandamooka, including senior artists Sonja Carmichael and Belinda Close. Visit and explore the creativity, innovation and cultural expression that goes into each piece of the Magpie Goose collection.

Until October 5, free.

This Moment: Highlights from the White Rabbit Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hota

White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney showcases the private collection of philanthropist Judith Neilson, whose focus is experimental and political art from 21st-century China. Though White Rabbit’s exhibitions are always free, Neilson’s collection rarely travels beyond Sydney – until now. In a Queensland exclusive, visitors to Hota will get to see 40 artworks from White Rabbit, including by ceramicist Geng Xue, multimedia artist Xu Zhen and video and installation artist Zhang Peili. Expect mind-bending pieces such as a 3D-printed Noah’s Ark, twisted and appearing to melt to the ground; neon and LED sculptures; and a haunting chorus of wooden chairs with mechanical arms.

Until October 11, free.

Archie Moore kith and kin, QAGOMA

Awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, Archie Moore’s kith and kin is a powerful and contemplative work that charts the artist’s family tree over 65,000 years. The hand-drawn chart is written in chalk on blackboard,and includes animals, plants and waterways – proving not only that Aboriginal people have the oldest continuous living culture but also that all living things are connected. A reflective pool sits in the middle as a memorial to First Nations people who have died in while incarcerated. There are also floating pages of coronial reports detailing Indigenous deaths in custody. It’s a stark reminder of the ongoing over-representation of First Nations people in Australia’s criminal justice system. This exhibition marks the first time kith and kin has been shown anywhere outside of Venice.

Until October 18, free.

The God of Small Things: Faith and Popular Culture, Queensland Art Gallery

The world is experiencing big feelings at the hand of big decisions from bigger egos. Arundhati Roy’s 1996 novel of the same name explores something steadier: faith in the mundane, and how cold political forces crush the tender details of everyday life. It’s the spirit behind Queensland Art Gallery’s new show, built around a rare collection of oleographs by Raja Ravi Varma, who is often called India’s first great modern artist.

Using cutting-edge (for the 1890s) chromolithographic printing, he turned his paintings of Hindu deities and epic stories into affordable prints that could hang in homes, shops and shrines across India, shaping how millions have pictured their gods ever since. The exhibition displays 48 of them, on loan through a conservation and research exchange with Bengaluru’s Museum of Art and Photography, many hand-embellished over a century ago with brightly coloured cloth, beads and zardozi embroidery.

Until October 26, free. 

Unleashed+, Hota

Unleashed+ has been an incubator and launchpad for emergent Queensland makers for more than two decades, exposing them to curators, collectors and the architects and designers who go on to commission them. This year’s expanded edition, Unleashed+, debuts at Hota for the first time, bringing together 12 makers working across jewellery, ceramics, furniture, lighting and object design – from Rhiannon Sothern’s coral-like porcelain jewellery to Michelle Le Plastrier’s ceramics that resemble politicised Polly Pocket playsets.

Alongside it, companion exhibition Personal Languages tracks what comes after that early discovery, with new work from five inaugural artisan-in-residence alumni, each pushing further into their material of choice, including Erin Conron’s blown glass and Regi Cherini’s embroidery.

Until November 8, free. 

Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of the Jim Henson Company, QAGOMA

Jim and Jane Henson revolutionised the old artform of puppetry and dragged it into a technicolour modernity, leaving fingerprints on entertainment, education and popular culture globally. This exclusive-to-Brisbane show, marking 70 years since they started, is the most ambitious look at that legacy anywhere in the world. 

The drawcard is a world-first: the actual Great Hall set from Emmy-winning series Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, letting you walk straight onto a working puppeteer’s film set. Around it sits hundreds of objects charting the company’s arc from practical puppetry to animatronics and digital performance – original drawings, costumes, Creature Shop puppets and moving image, tracing everything from The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth’s fantasy worlds through to the Muppets themselves. QAGOMA’s Australian Cinémathèque runs three free film programs alongside it.

September 12, 2026, to April 18, 2027. Ticketed.

Past Events

Ties that bind, Ipswich Art Gallery

What ties you to a place? For some, home is a fixed point on a map where community and kinship exist. For others, it’s something less solid: memory, migration, and things carried across generations after displacement and colonisation. Ties that bind is a group show gathering 12 Australian artists working across painting, photography and installation to trace those threads and explore home as a place both real and imagined.  Among them are Michael Cook, Julie Fragar, William Yang and Sancintya Mohini Simpson, who together create a patchwork of lived experiences shaped by Country, lineage, memory, trauma and the promise of connection.

Until September 6, free.

Konstantina: Mudang Butbut, One Space

South Brisbane’s One Space gallery is ringing in the year with Mudang Butbut by Konstantina (Kate Constantine), an exhibition exploring trees as metaphors for the living heart through acrylic paintings on linen. Konstantina is a Gadigal woman of the Eora Nation. Her work acts as repositories of memory, connection and resilience, as she invites viewers to consider the invisible threads that bind ancestry, land and the human heart. Konstantina’s works are part of collections in galleries across the globe, including Sydney’s Art Leven, Melbourne’s Mitchelton Gallery Of Aboriginal Art, London’s JGM Gallery and the Galerie Arts d’Australie in Paris.

Until January 24, 2026. Free

Under a Modern Sun, QAGOMA

Under a Modern Sun highlights the work of Queensland artists in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The exhibit focuses on the works of artists such as William Bustard, Kenneth Macqueen and Joe Rootsey, and explores their connections to interstate luminaries like Sidney Nolan and Max Dupain. There’s a specific focus on female artists such as Vida Lahey and Daphne Mayo. The major exhibition puts the beauty of Queensland on display through skilfully crafted tableaux.

Until January 25, 2026. Free

Ken Done: No Rules, HOTA

Ken Done is the youngest octogenarian in the game. For decades, his vibrant, rule breaking work are exuberant celebrations of colour and form. The aptly named Ken Done: No Rules includes pieces from the past 45 years, largely pulled from Done’s personal collection. The pieces capture everything from the grandeur of Aussie landscapes to the quiet comfort of the artist’s home and garden. Also in the exhibition is a series of outfits from local designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales of Romance was born, who collaborated with done in 2023 for their “Done Zone” collection.

Until Feb 15, 2026

Nicole Slater: Rose Gold, HOTA

Australian artist Nicole Slater hosts a solo exhibition, showcasing a series of large-scale equestrian portraits. Both a professional thoroughbred breeder and self-taught painter, Slater reflects on her deep connection to horses through her work. Alongside her husband Billy, Slater cares for rescue horses and other wildlife in need at their rural Victorian property. A sharp understanding of equine anatomy informs a remarkable physical accuracy in each of Slater’s portraits – the fading tones of sunset also bring inspiration as she captures warmth and light in each work

Until March 8, 2026. Free

Lost in Palm Springs, Ipswich Art Gallery

The mid-century modern architecture of Palm Springs, California is the subject of Australian writer and conceptual artist Dr Greer Honeywill’s national touring exhibition. It brings together multidisciplinary works from 14 internationally recognised artists, photographers and thinkers, including Kate Ballis, Tom Blachford, Anna Carey, Sam Cranstoun, Paul Davies, Rosi Griffin, Vicki Stravrou, Robyn Sweaney and Gosia Wlodarczak. Iconic cacti and desert landscapes also feature heavily throughout the pieces.

Until March 8, 2026. Free

Christopher Bentley – Machine, Man, Ipswich Art Gallery

Ipswich-based digital artist Christopher Bentley blends obsolete media, interactive digital works and sculptural forms to deliver this technology-driven exhibition. The artist invites his audience to step into the body of a cyborg – part flesh and part machine – and through this experience, he interrogates our shifting relationship to memory, ownership and legacy.

Until March 15, 2026. Free

The Grass Tides, Onespace

Paula Savage, a Kala Lagaw Ya-speaking artist from the Kubin Community on Moa Island in the Torres Strait, weaves incredibly vibrant sculptures and vessels from raffia and seagrass cord – including jellyfish, an anchor as tall as the artist, and baskets decorated with painted seed pods. In her second exhibition at Onespace, you’ll find objects made using her self-taught “one twist” weaving method, as well as paintings that echo the woven patterns seen in her textural works.

Until April 11. Free.

Giibum, Gulayi Murmurings – Story Bags, Onespace

Also at Onespace is an exhibition of gulayi (women’s bags), drawing on traditional techniques and stories, by Quandamooka weaver Sonja Carmichael. The artist works with materials from the natural environment, including freshwater swamp reeds, and discarded fishing lines or “marine debris”. Her use of marine debris is a statement on the ways humans are mistreating the environment, and a reminder of our responsibility to care for Country. She also uses shells, banksia nuts and seed pods to decorate or fill the sculptural dillybag designs. The exhibition showcases a range of Carmichael’s sculptural bags, from colourful, textural shapes to traditional ungaire (swamp reed) mission bags.

Until April 11. Free.

Shimmer by Gerwyn Davies, Museum of Brisbane

Originally created for Brisbane’s Melt Festival and on display until mid-April, this exhibition of lively photographic portraits was created in collaboration with trans and gender diverse young people from Open Doors Youth Service. Each participant worked with Sydney-based artist Gerwyn Davies to create a shimmering sculptural outfit – complete with abstract face coverings and extravagant headwear – before he took their photos. The result is a series of spectacular, anonymous images where the subjects are both seen and unseen.

Until April 19. Free.

Inside Pompeii: Origins of a European Way of Life, Hota

While we were baking sourdough and playing Wordle, Italian artist Luigi Spina spent his Covid lockdown taking photos of the ruins of Pompeii. While the World Heritage site was closed to the public – as most places were – Spina was granted access to photograph hundreds of spaces using a purpose-built camera. At Hota, visitors can ogle a selection of those evocative images of the ancient city, empty of visitors, including intricate frescoes featuring chickens, dogs and ducks.

Until May 31. Free.

Leonard Brown – Painting the Celestial, Ipswich Art Gallery

A Brisbane-based painter who lived in Ipswich for 20 years, Leonard Brown is a local legend and an accomplished artist working in contemporary abstraction and Byzantine religious iconography. His works range from two-toned minimalistic canvases to golden-beaming depictions of John the Baptist. Painting the Celestial is the first comprehensive retrospective of his work, charting more than five decades. Ipswich Art Gallery is even creating a golden “sanctuary” in which to hang the artist’s more sublime pieces.

From March 28 to June 14. Free.

A Bigger View, Hota

Explore a selection of monumental landscape works from the National Gallery of Australia in this large-scale exhibition. Take in David Hockney’s A Bigger Grand Canyon and Imants Tillers’s Mount Analogue, alongside pieces by other revered figures such as Bridget Riley and Australians Sally Gabori and William Robinson. This Gold Coast show presents diverse approaches to landscape painting, offering a fresh perspective on the cornerstone genre that has shaped Australian art history.

Until June 21, 2026. Ticketed

Olafur Eliasson: Presence, QAGOMA

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is known for his immersive installations that draw on elements of water, light and air temperature to transport viewers to a new realm. This Brisbane-exclusive exhibition delivers a multi-sensory journey that celebrates his three‑decade career. Visit to see, feel, hear and touch two much-loved QAGOMA works, including Riverbed – wear comfortable shoes to explore the rocky landscape and running water – and The Cubic Structural Evolution Project, an all-white Lego city perpetually built and rebuilt by visitors.

Until July 12, 2026. $14–33

Editor's note: This article was published on January 20, 2026 but was updated on April 24, 2026 and again on August 28, 2026 to include new exhibitions and updated information.