Frontier Imaginaries

Overview

To explore the concept of the frontier, aka the area that lurks around borders, you really do have to break a few boundaries. Like staging an exhibition across two galleries, splitting one show into site-specific sections and weaving everything around the city's own watery dividing line (yes, we're talking about the Brisbane river), perhaps?

That's Frontier Imaginaries in a nutshell — and it really is just the start of the creative, contemplative extravaganza. No Longer at Ease takes over IMA, while The Life of Lines settles into the QUT Art Museum, with both bringing together leading Australian, indigenous and international artists to reflect upon barriers, divides, and their physical, digital, geographical and cultural impact.

Of course, work by the likes of Gordon Hookey, Tom Nicholson, Megan Cope, Rachel O'Reilly, Alice Cresicher and Wendelein Van Oldenborgh is only part of the puzzle too, and not just because the two-year effort will eventually grow and evolve, complete with an offshoot in Jerusalem. Courtesy of an accompanying event program, convening to talk, read, meet and learn is just as pivotal. That's how you really do eradicate limits, after all.

Image: Gordon Hookey, HISTORY is his story, MYSTERY is my story (A History according to me)', 2016 and ongoing, oil on canvas.