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QUT Art Museum will reopen after a 13-month closure following the double-whammy of storm damage and funding issues.
Flash flooding across south-east Queensland in November and December 2024 damaged the flooring of the gallery, which occupies the basement level of U Block at its Gardens Point campus.
The gallery’s closure came after cutbacks had already forced the cancellation of its 2025 program in a move criticised by artists and arts organisations nationally.
It is reopening on Monday, February 16 for the launch of an exhibition by Los Angeles-based Australian artist and Palawa woman, Jemima Wyman.
Wyman’s exhibition was one of those cancelled in 2024, when the museum was told to present just one exhibition a year drawn from the university’s art collection.
However, the remounted Wyman show is only partly drawn from the museum’s collection and includes works from “numerous private and public collections”.
It is also not the only exhibition planned for the museum in 2026, with three other major exhibitions scheduled.
A university spokesperson said: “QUT is delighted to welcome visitors back to the QUT Art Museum, following extensive repairs.
“The QUTAM 2026 program will also feature exhibitions drawing upon the QUT Art Collection as well as the restaging of Leah King‑Smith’s Rhythm wRites, and a vibrant art-fashion collaboration between Hope Vale artists and QUT students.”
An exhibition of 1980s photography featuring Bill Henson, Tracey Moffatt, Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe is also scheduled for late in the year.
Arts Queensland, Creative Australia and a range of other galleries and donors contribute funding for the exhibitions.
The 2026 program represents an apparent end to a “pause” in programming due to budget issues announced by vice chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil in November 2024.
Sheil told a forum of QUT staff then that the museum was an example of activities that would be halted, saying: “It’s looking at some of the nice-to-do things that had more benefits for the community than QUT.”
“This decision is short-sighted and undermines QUTAM’s critical role in advancing the university’s priorities, including equity, Indigenous excellence, and creativity,” Penelope Benton, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, said at the time.
José Da Silva, director of UNSW Galleries and chair of University Art Museums Australia, who previously criticised the funding cuts, welcomed the reopening.
“I’m sure Professor Sheil and her colleagues will see in [the Jemima Wyman exhibition] how Australia’s university art museums can successfully connect campuses and communities through the visual arts and make important contributions to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life,” he said.
Wyman, a QUT alumna, has been based in Los Angeles for over 20 years creating colourful paintings, video and photography exploring protest culture.
The exhibition Deep Surface is her first career survey.
QUTAM director Vanessa van Ooyen said she was delighted to stage the Wyman show “after the challenges our sector has faced”.
“Jemima has supported this project from its earliest conversations, and her commitment has been extraordinary,” she said.
Jemima Wyman: Deep Surface will later tour to Adelaide’s Samstag Museum of Art and to UNSW Galleries in Sydney.
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Nick Dent is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts and things to do in the city.Connect via email.From our partners
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