In 2016, the UQ Art Museum celebrates its 40th anniversary. Over its history much has changed: four directors have guided the institution’s core cultures; the Art Museum, first established in the top two floors of the University’s Forgan Smith Tower, moved to the repurposed Mayne Centre – formerly the University’s Graduation Hall; and the University’s Art Collection has increased tenfold.
In keeping with the Art Museum’s foundational aims, the development of the Collection and the exhibition program has been led largely by the desire to unpack ‘the contemporary’ – works of art that interrogate, critique and record the present moment. beyond the Tower provides us with the opportunity to look back over the changes and challenges of the past and, with that as context, to set the compass for the decade ahead.
