Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Feeling the Universe is presented at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art from 21 November 2026 to 29 August 2027.

The exhibition brings together artworks exploring humanity’s relationship with the sky, cosmos, and spiritual imagination.

Rather than approaching the universe through astronomy or scientific measurement alone, the exhibition focuses on the cultural, emotional, and contemplative experience of looking upward.

Artists use stars, moons, birds, atmospheric phenomena, and cosmic imagery to examine beauty, mortality, peace, transformation, and the human desire to understand something larger than ourselves.

Works include Australian and international artists such as Brett Whiteley, Marion Borgelt, and Shane Cotton.

The exhibition takes its title from Brett Whiteley’s lyrical painting White dove feeling the universe, created between 1985 and 1992.

For ArtExpoWorld readers, Feeling the Universe offers a quieter alternative to blockbuster contemporary exhibitions: an exhibition built around contemplation, symbolism, and the ancient human habit of looking at the sky and asking what it means.

Feeling the Universe occupies Galleries 3.1 and 3.2 and the Media Lounge at GOMA.

The exhibition brings together works connected by their relationship with the sky and cosmos.

Some artists look directly toward celestial forms.

Others use birds, light, abstraction, or symbolic imagery to explore ideas of spirit and transcendence.

Brett Whiteley’s White dove feeling the universe provides both the exhibition title and one of its emotional reference points.

The painting presents the white dove as a poetic and hopeful image.

Marion Borgelt’s Moondance mural: no 1 uses a large eight-panel composition to evoke rhythm and celestial movement.

Shane Cotton’s Red Shift brings another visual language into the conversation, connecting cosmic imagery with complex cultural and symbolic references.

The Media Lounge extends the exhibition beyond conventional painting and static display.

Together, the galleries create a journey through different ways artists have responded to the vastness above them.

Feeling the Universe 2026/2027 Event Overview

Feeling the Universe 2026/2027 – Art, Sky and Spirit at GOMA Brisbane

The exhibition takes its title from Brett Whiteley’s White Dove Feeling the Universe, painted between 1985 and 1992. Whiteley repeatedly used birds in his art and regarded them as symbols of hope and poetry within a troubled world.

Dates:

21 November 2026 - 29 August 2027

Location:

Gallery of Modern Art, Stanley Place, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Mission:

The mission of Feeling the Universe is to examine the emotional and cultural meanings people attach to the sky. Human beings have always looked upward. The sky has been used to navigate journeys, organize calendars, tell stories, understand seasons and imagine spiritual worlds. Artists continue this relationship. The exhibition asks what happens when the sky becomes more than a landscape element. A moon can represent time. A bird can become a symbol of freedom or peace. Stars can produce feelings of distance, wonder or human insignificance. The cosmos can become a space for scientific imagination and spiritual reflection at the same time. Feeling the Universe brings these responses together without trying to resolve them into one interpretation.

Organizer:

Feeling the Universe is organised by Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. The exhibition draws from works within the QAGOMA collection. QAGOMA operates two neighbouring institutions: Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art. Its collection encompasses Australian, Indigenous Australian, Asian, Pacific and international art. Feeling the Universe uses that collection thematically, placing works from different artists and contexts together according to their relationships with sky, spirit and cosmic imagination.

Why attend to Feeling the Universe 2026/2027?

Feeling the Universe is worth visiting because it offers a theme almost everyone can understand while leaving room for very different interpretations.

For painting audiences, the exhibition includes significant Australian works.

For visitors interested in spirituality and symbolism, the exhibition demonstrates how celestial imagery can carry meanings far beyond simple representation.

For families, the theme provides an accessible starting point for conversations about art, nature and imagination.

For students, it creates connections between visual culture, astronomy, philosophy and cultural history.

For cultural travellers, free admission allows the exhibition to be combined easily with other exhibitions throughout QAGOMA.

The long run also means visitors attending Brisbane across most of 2027 can include Feeling the Universe in their itinerary.

Ticket Information

General admission costs

Admission to Feeling the Universe is free.

No general exhibition ticket is required.

GOMA is normally open daily from 10:00 to 17:00.

It opens from 12 noon on Anzac Day.

The gallery is closed on Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.

Some public programs connected with the exhibition may require advance booking.

Visitors should check the official calendar before traveling if they want to attend talks, screenings, or guided events.

Getting There:

The Gallery of Modern Art is located at Stanley Place in South Brisbane.

It forms part of the Queensland Cultural Centre beside the Brisbane River.

South Brisbane railway station is within walking distance.

Cultural Centre bus station provides extensive connections across the city.

Visitors staying in Brisbane CBD can walk across the river using nearby pedestrian routes.

Taxi and rideshare services provide direct access to the cultural precinct.

Paid parking is available at the Queensland Cultural Centre.

Brisbane Airport is connected with central Brisbane through rail, taxi, rideshare, and private-transfer services.

Accommodation

South Bank is particularly convenient for visitors planning several visits to QAGOMA.

The neighbourhood offers hotels, restaurants, riverfront walks, and other major cultural institutions.

Brisbane CBD provides a broader range of hotels and easy access across the river.

West End offers independent restaurants and a more residential creative atmosphere.

Fortitude Valley provides nightlife and boutique accommodation farther from the gallery.

Visitors focused on museums should generally prioritise South Bank or central Brisbane.

Both areas make it easy to structure a multi-day cultural itinerary.

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Gallery: Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

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History & Context of a Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

The sky has been one of the most persistent subjects in human visual culture.

Across different societies, celestial movements have influenced architecture, religion, navigation, storytelling, and systems of knowledge.

Australian art has particularly complex relationships with landscape and sky.

First Nations cultures hold sophisticated systems of astronomical knowledge developed over countless generations.

European Australian artists have also used the landscape and sky to construct ideas about environment, identity, and belonging.

Contemporary artists approach these histories through a wider range of media and perspectives.

Feeling the Universe places this long cultural fascination within a contemporary museum context.

Brett Whiteley’s work provides one important reference.

Birds appeared repeatedly in his practice, connected with his interest in animals, nature, and Japanese artistic traditions.

For Whiteley, the white dove could represent hope and poetic serenity within a troubled world.

The exhibition extends that impulse into a wider investigation of why artists continue to look upward.

Tips for Visitors of Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Allow approximately one hour for the exhibition.

Visit slowly.

This is not a show that benefits from rushing between highlights.

Spend time with Brett Whiteley’s White dove feeling the universe and look closely at the economy of the brushwork.

Compare works that use recognizable celestial imagery with those that approach the cosmos abstractly.

Consider how scale affects your response.

A large mural can create a physical sense of immersion, while a smaller painting may produce a more intimate feeling of contemplation.

Check the Media Lounge programme during your visit.

Moving-image works may require additional viewing time.

Combine Feeling the Universe with another GOMA exhibition to create a broader visit.

Tips from the ArtExpoWorld

Do not look for one intellectual explanation connecting every work.

The exhibition works better emotionally.

Notice which artworks make you feel distance, calm, wonder or discomfort before reading why.

The sky is universal, but the meanings people place within it are not.

That difference is what makes the exhibition interesting.

Be the First to Access Official "Feeling the Universe 2026/2027" Tickets

Don’t miss your chance to attend one of the world’s leading art fairs. Get direct access to the official ticketing page, exclusive updates, and important visitor information.

Early access. Limited availability. Global art at your fingertips.

Editor’s Note

Feeling the Universe matters because some of art’s oldest questions remain unresolved.

For ArtExpoWorld, the exhibition’s appeal lies in its simplicity: human beings look upward and try to understand what they see and what they feel.

Artists turn that gesture into painting, abstraction, symbolism, and moving image.

The exhibition does not need to explain the universe.

Its achievement is smaller and more human.

It reminds visitors why we keep looking.

Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Feeling the Universe 2026/2027 Event Overview

Feeling the Universe 2026/2027 – Art, Sky and Spirit at GOMA Brisbane

Dates:

Location:

Why attend to Feeling the Universe 2026/2027?

Ticket Information

Getting There:

Accommodation

Don't Miss an Exhibition

Gallery: Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Secure Your Spot at Feeling the Universe 2026/2027 — Before It's Too Late

History & Context of a Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Tips for Visitors of Feeling the Universe 2026/2027

Tips from the ArtExpoWorld

Be the First to Access Official "Feeling the Universe 2026/2027" Tickets

Editor’s Note

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