The Thousands

Five years ago in Brisbane: your friends probably hadn’t moved to Melbourne yet, The Thousands Brisbane was talking about coming into fruition, the New Farm River Walk was a really good place to ride your bike or take a walk, Ai Wei Wei hadn’t been arrested, and GoMA was unveiled, opening with the fifth incarnation of the Asia Pacific Triennial. Now, not to get sentimental or anything, but Tsuyoshi Ozawa’s futon mountain really did incite some hilarity, we all fell in love with Ai Wei Wei (again) and escaping the forked tongue of Brisbane summer into the cool air of GoMA was really just the only thing to do.

Five years later, the gallery is celebrating with flair and an exhibition program to match. There’s Yayoi Kusama‘s ‘Look Now, See Forever’, (the lady who’s obsessed with dots and infinity), the Matisse drawing exhibition, five years’ worth of Australian Indigenous art, the James C Sourris AM Collection, which features ten years’ worth of contemporary Australian art, and an amazing installation by Perth’s Pip And Pop called ‘We Miss You Magic Land’.

Oh, and there’ll be a million artist talks and lectures where you can learn that Mattise wasn’t and Kusama isn’t just about pretty pictures. Attributed to ‘helping Brisbane turn back its backwater vibe’, celebrate GoMA’s fifth birthday and look forward to the next five. Leave them a birthday card – Tanya from Pip & Pop made templates for just that reason.