Destination Art: The best exhibitions to see around Australia while on holiday

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It’s that strange period again – from the days before Christmas into the new year – where everything goes both very quickly and very slowly. Whether you are staying put, heading back home or setting off elsewhere for a holiday, now’s the perfect opportunity to go and see some of the great visual art on offer across the different states.

Victoria

Women Photographers 1900-1975: A Legacy of Light
National Gallery of Victoria until May 26

Women Photographers 1900–1975: A Legacy of Light celebrates the images, lives and careers of more than 70 influential artists who worked between 1900 and 1975 – and works to fill a gap in art history. Featuring the work of some of the best known photographers in world, including Diane Arbus, Dora Maar and Lee Miller, alongside locals Christine Godden, Ponch Hawkes and Olive Cotton, this exhibition offers a peek into lost moments and hidden worlds. – Kerrie O’Brien and Elizabeth Flux

Westwood | Kawakubo
National Gallery of Victoria until April 19

Items from the Vivienne Westwood Les femmes collection, spring-summer 1996.

In an exhibition that fashion editor Damien Woolnough described upon its announcement as “the most unlikely fashion collaboration since Karl Lagerfeld and Diet Coke”, Westwood|Kawakubo at the NGV combines the work of Dame Vivienne Westwood and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo. Kawakubo’s work, in particular, challenges your ideas of what fashion is and should be with work that is intricate and unexpected and free of inhibition. As an exhibition, it’s an interesting journey back through the decades, with some particularly iconic outfits on display, including Carrie’s wedding dress from Sex and the City: The Movie and the skirt worn by Kate Moss as she walked topless down the catwalk eating an ice-cream. – Elizabeth Flux

Game Worlds | Playable Exhibition
ACMI until March 29

From text adventures to endless open-worlds, video games have come a long way since the 1970s. This is made clear in Game Worlds, ACMI’s current playable exhibition that features more than 30 iconic video games, including the likes of Zork, The Sims and World of Warcraft. Gamers and non-gamers alike can test out pioneering titles, Australian-made microgames and even step back in time by joining a ’90s-style LAN party. If you’re curious about how both game design and game mastery have evolved over the past 50 years, this is the exhibition for you. – Nell Geraets

Nell: Face Everything
Heide Museum of Modern Art until March 1

Sydney-based artist Nell makes work that riffs on the big ideas: life and death and impermanence – informed by her practice of Buddhism – nesting and domesticity, mothers and babies, ghosts and spirits. There’s also pop culture, especially rock ‘n’ roll, nature and the environment. Her themed show at Heide, called Face Everything, plays with that title in a literal sense, as well as metaphorically. She uses simple faces from open-mouthed “oohs” and smiley faces in eggs and ghosts in just about everything to invite an immediate, emotional response. It’s also why she often uses text – her meaning is clear.
With 85 works, including 50 new pieces created for the stunning Heide Modern building, the show is tender and poignant and at times laugh-out-loud funny. – Kerrie O’Brien

Diva
Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA) until April 26

An outfit worn by Kylie Minogue on display at Diva.

In the depths of Hamer Hall there is an eclectic collection of items that tell Melbourne’s performing arts history. This year, a new museum has opened up in the building dedicated to telling these stories as well as looking at performing arts more broadly. Their debut exhibition, Diva, opened this month. Combining an exhibition travelling from the Victoria and Albert museum in London with pieces from the Arts Centre’s own collection, Diva takes a word we think we all know and turns it on its head – while also showing us some pretty spectacular outfits by artists including Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kylie Minogue and Joan Sutherland. Amy Taylor from Amyl and the Sniffers’ whoopee cushion matching set is a must to see. – Elizabeth Flux

r e a: c l a i m e d
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) until March 15

Look Who’s Calling the Kettle Black series (1992) by r e a at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.

r e a: c l a i m e d is a survey of significant works by Gamilaraay, Wailwan and Biripi artist r e a, tracking their work from the 1990s until now. Spanning digital, video and sculpture, the exhibition also includes a new commission, tRAKa-tRAKn (burra beedee). ACCA is also currently hosting a second show, Tourmaline: Transcendent, the first Australian solo show by contemporary artists Tourmaline – the exhibition includes the world debut of the work A Flower That Lives Forever. – Elizabeth Flux

The City Wakes, The City Sleeps
TarraWarra Museum of Art until March 21

In The City Wakes, The City Sleeps, TarraWarra Museum of Art has delved into its collection to tell the story of city life. Bringing together works by artists including Howard Arkley, John Brack, Peta Clancy, Clarice Beckett, Charles Blackman, Sidney Nolan, Inge King and Jeffrey Smart, over the course of eight key “scenes”, this is an opportunity to take in some rarely seen works by some of our most beloved and interesting artists. – Elizabeth Flux

NSW

Ron Mueck | Encounter
Art Gallery of NSW until April 12

The works of Ron Mueck on display at the Art Gallery of NSW.

The first thing to greet visitors at Ron Mueck’s largest-ever Australian exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW is a pair of towering, naked buttocks. It is the rear view of a giant, heavily pregnant woman standing 2.5 metres. Mueck is renowned for his hyper-realistic, fleshy sculptures that play with scale, ranging from massive monuments to delicate miniatures. This exhibition features 15 of his 49 notable works, including the iconic Couple under an Umbrella. However, it is his debut work, Havoc – which features a pack of snarling, barking dogs turning on one another – that speaks most powerfully to our conflict ridden times. – Linda Morris

Data Dreams: Art and AI
Museum of Contemporary Art until April 27

Christopher Kulendran Thomas is among artists embracing AI with his work The Finesse.

Regardless of whether artificial intelligence turns out to be the saviour or the destroyer of humanity (or maybe just an overhyped bubble ripe for bursting), there’s no denying it is the defining technology of the current era. This intriguingly diverse show from a group of international artists holds up AI for examination from multiple angles. As you’d expect, it’s heavy on immersive installations, all of which are well worth spending some time interrogating as a viewer as we consider where we have arrived and try to imagine where the technology might lead us – and our children – in future. – Nick Galvin

Australian Capital Territory

Super Kaylene Whiskey
National Portrait Gallery until March 9

Dolly Visits Indulkana was a finalist in the 2020 Archibald Prize.

If you’ve yet to come across Kaylene Whiskey’s work then you really haven’t been paying attention. Whiskey seems to be everywhere, from a number of major galleries to the sails of the Sydney Opera House and even on a line of high-end knitwear. And it’s all richly deserved. Whiskey is the latest superstar to emerge from the APY lands south of Alice Springs and is affiliated with the same art centre (Iwantja Arts) that produced Vincent Namatjira. Don’t miss her first major solo show in Canberra. Spend time with her bright, pop culture-infused work and you can’t help but come away feeling a little better about the world. – Nell Geraets

5th Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain
National Gallery of Australia until April 26

Tony Albert, artistic director of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial, in front of House of Namatjira.

This year’s 5th Indigenous Art Triennial has the theme “After The Rain”, tackling ideas of cleansing, rebirth, renewal and the cyclical nature of life. Curated by Tony Albert, a wide range of First Nations projects are represented in 10 separate installations. Among those featured are Vincent Namatjira, Thea Anamara Perkins and Aretha Brown. The show brings together work from as far north as the Torres Strait and as far south as Melbourne, reflecting Albert’s extensive travels to meet with his chosen artists. If you don’t manage to catch the show in Canberra it is due to tour. – Nick Galvin

Hallyu! The Korean Wave
National Museum of Australia until May 10

The Squid Game display at Hallyu! The Korean Wave.

It’s difficult to miss the Korean wave, or Hallyu, these days. Squid Game, tteokbokki, BTS, Parasite – they’re all part of a massive phenomenon that has meant South Korean culture has dominated well beyond its borders. The National Museum of Australia captures the breadth and power of this movement in Hallyu! The Korean Wave, an exhibition that explores the history behind hallyu as well as how it’s being re-imagined Down Under. From ATEEZ outfits to classic Oldboy posters, the exhibition features about 250 objects, costumes and studio props originally displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. – Nell Geraets

Queensland

Olafur Eliasson: Presence
QAGOMA until July 12

Olafur Eliasson’s Presence is one of three new works created for the exhibition.

In a show that ranges from a long table covered in white Lego, a space where a glowing orb has drained all colours but yellow, to a room where a riverbed has been brought indoors, it can be hard at first to see what it is that brings it all together. When you take a step back, however, it becomes clear that Olafur Eliasson’s Presence is about connection. Each work invites you to see things from someone else’s point of view or plays with the idea that two people looking at the same thing will have an entirely different experience. Each piece on its own is worth the visit, but the ideas that drive them stay with you long after you’ve walked out the door. While at QAGOMA, be sure to head upstairs to see Kith and Kin, Archie Moore’s poignant artwork that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, and made him the first Australian work to every receive this accolade. – Elizabeth Flux

Northern Territory

2025 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory (MAGNT) until January 26

Visiting Darwin is always a great chance to check out the Top End’s compact but elegant gallery in beautiful Fannie Bay. If you happen to be there before the end of January you can catch the finalists in the 42nd NATSIAAs – which is well worth your time. As ever, the awards are an excellent survey of current trends in First Nations art in Australia. This year’s worthy winner is Arnhem Land artist Gaypalani Wanambi and her work Burwu, blossom 2025, which features road signs with delicate engravings on the rear. – Nick Galvin

Western Australia

Pippin Drysdale: Infinite Terrain
Art Gallery of Western Australia until April 6

Pippin Drysdale Devil’s marbles – Seedlings Sprout (2018).

Fremantle-base ceramicist Pippin Drysdale has built a reputation both here and abroad with her exquisite work. Her technical mastery is matched by her exuberant use of colour in her pieces. “I just wanted to work with colour, colour, colour,” she says. Much of her inspiration and the characteristic rich hues are drawn from the Australian landscape, in particular the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This show charts the evolution of her practice over 40 years. At 82, she continues to make work, endlessly fascinated by the possibilities of form and colour. – Nick Galvin

South Australia

Too Deadly: Ten Years of Taranathi
Art Gallery of South Australia until January 18

For 10 years, Taranathi Festival has been showcasing and celebrating the work of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Including works by Tony Albert, Vincent Namatjira, Reko Rennie and Kaylene Whiskey, Too Deadly: Ten Years of Taranathi at the Art Gallery of South Australia marks this milestone with a remarkable exhibition that puts more than 200 works on display, drawn from across the past decade. – Elizabeth Flux

Tasmania

In the end, the beginning
Museum of Old and New Art until April 6

It’s impossible to go to Mona and have the same experience twice. Part of it is the scale – unless you dedicate a large chunk of time, you’ll never see it all. The rest is its ever-changing nature. Case in point – quite literally, while writing this article, Mona announced the opening of a new wing, all of which houses a new artwork by artist Anselm Kiefer. If you’re in Hobart over the summer, don’t miss Arcangelo Sassolino’s exhibition in the end, the beginning. The individual works are mesmerising and tense; from colourful oil seemingly defying gravity by clinging to a spinning wheel, the boulder perfectly balanced on a table of bent glass, the wood being painfully split by very slow application of pressure, to the final room where sparks fly. It’s the kind of show that stays with you for a long time. – Elizabeth Flux

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