The sound of balcony rain woke me. Fluttering my eyes open, I caught a glimpse of lightening behind the window shade. Counting the seconds after the flash, I finally heard the thunder. Almost 12 hours later, the storm returned with a torrential downpour and epic light show. After drenching the city and my t-shirt, the clouds cleared and a rainbow appeared. And I thought Australia was all sun and surf.
After the first shower cleared in the late morning, Chris and I ventured out to the conglomerate of arts and culture venues in Brisbane’s Southbank. Our first stop was at the Queensland Art Gallery for the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. The show was comprehensive and captivating. Ever since I picked up a calendar featuring his work when I was fourteen, I’ve loved Cartier-Bresson’s lines, use of shadow and ability to capture the ‘decisive moment.’ It was a treat to see both his framed prints and original copies of the magazines where his work appeared.
En route to our second stop, the Gallery of Modern Art, we explored ‘The Edge’ a digital media centre for young adults, and the State Library of Queensland. Both spaces were incredibly intriguing in terms of architecture and available content/resources. The Edge was hosting a digital writing conference that I wish I could have attended. State Library of Queensland featured an area called ‘Infospace’ which housed computers, comfy work stations and ‘The Corner’ space for kids. I couldn’t help but think the libraries at UBC could take a page from SLQ.
The Gallery of Modern Art didn’t disappoint. Their exhibitions on fabric and/as art, Torres Straight, and family/ritual were informative and in some cases, awe-inspiring. The exhibit that took the cake was the Alfred Hitchcock retrospective, which featured all of his films. We watched ‘Number 17’ in a beautiful in-house theatre; the film bordered on mystery, crime and comedy. While the plot development left a little to be desired, watching the original film complete with a dodgy soundtrack and cigarette burns was highly amusing.
Apart from the art, GoMA features multiple cafes, one of which hosts high tea. Australian’s sure have civilized art galleries. I’m looking forward to taking in the permanent exhibits at the Queensland Art Gallery and checking out the galleries hosted at Brisbane’s universities.
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- From the balcony, the rain seemed to pummel the sidewalk.
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- RYOGBV makes everything better.
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- The Art Gallery is attached to the other venues through a series of concrete corridors.
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- The Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition has travelled world-wide, now landing among the fig trees and serpentine rivers of Australia.
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- Beautiful books should be held by beautiful buildings.
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- The tables at SLQ were striking and helpful.
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- GoMA is celebrating 5 years in 2012.
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- Hitchcock films on our list: Topaz, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Vertigo.
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- Contemplating the homewares.
fedOZsenko 