Skip to main content
Skip to footer Skip to Acknowledgement of Country
National Gallery of Australia
What's On Art & Artists Visit
Login
  1. Home
  2. Stories & Ideas
  3. Touring the collection
Touring Exhibitions

Touring the collection

The Aboriginal Memorial touring Europe. St Petersberg. Loading cargo into the nose of plane.

The Aboriginal Memorial touring Europe. St Petersberg. Loading cargo into the nose of plane. 2000 Image: Beata Tworek-Matuszkiewicz

From touring a Fred Williams retrospective to regional centres in 1988 and sending The Aboriginal Memorial to St Petersburg in 2000 to travelling a major exhibition of First Nations art ever to Asia in 2022, National Gallery exhibitions have toured to the far reaches of the country and across the globe. For 34 years, the Touring Exhibitions team have been instrumental to making this happen.


31 October 2022
Read time 15 minutes

For over three decades, the National Gallery has been touring works of art from the collection through exclusive loans and dedicated exhibitions. Since 1988, Touring Exhibitions have reached almost 12 million visitors, with audiences around the country and overseas experiencing over 10,000 works from the national collection at more than 1795 venues. In our 40th year, we reflect the past, present and future of Touring Exhibitions with the specialised team at the National Gallery.

Home to some of the finest art in the world, the Gallery’s collection deserves to be seen outside of Kamberri/Canberra. Helping the Gallery fulfil its remit to be a truly national institution, the Touring Exhibitions team is led by Touring Exhibitions Manager Mary-Lou Nugent, with Camilla Greville, Kathleen Worboys, Isobel Taylor-Rodgers and Ruby Rossiter.

In the Gallery’s 40th year alone, the team has implemented the national and international tours of Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, Skywhales: Every Heart Sings, The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, Spowers & Syme, Terminus: Jess Johnson and Simon Ward, Ned Kelly, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends and the National Gallery Art Cases.

(left to right) Ruby Rossiter, Kathleen Worboys, Mary-Lou Nugent, Isobel Taylor-Rodgers and Camilla Greville in front of Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2022

‘The program features a range of exhibitions, big and small, across all mediums, yet at its heart is the goal to reach all Australians no matter where they live’

Mary-Lou Nugent

The national collection belongs to the Australian people and through the diversity of exhibitions going on tour, the Gallery shares the various artistic voices and cultures that are represented onsite. Featuring history’s best-known artists and leading contemporary artists from abroad, touring exhibitions also demonstrate the breadth of artmaking in this country.

The Gallery is home to Sidney Nolan’s iconic Ned Kelly series – a popular home-grown favourite for local audiences as it distils the infamous bushranger’s story into a visual narrative in which the Australian landscape plays a key role. Ned Kelly has just returned from a four-year tour of every state and territory across the country. Over this time, 25 of Nolan’s depictions of the notorious outlaw were seen by over 151,000 people.

According to Kathleen, helping people access the national collection is a great motivator for the team: ‘That’s important to us. It is the gallery’s mission statement – on site, online, on tour – to get the collection out to the people,’ she says. ‘One of my favourite parts of the job is getting to meet such a range of people and having the opportunity to learn from them as well.’

The Touring team essentially acts as a microcosm of the Gallery when on the road – or on the air – undertaking everything from installation to condition checking to negotiating exhibition contracts. Sometimes a curator or conservator will also travel to a venue, but other times it can be a one-person job. Before the tour begins, the team works closely with the Curatorial, Conservation and Registration departments to ensure venues are suitable for the exhibition. All have come from an exhibition or art handling background – a critical skill in this context. As the tour approaches and throughout exhibition seasons, the team also works with the Learning and Engagement and Communications, Content and Marketing teams to support tour delivery and promotion.

Fresh from the first international stop of Ever Present in Singapore, Touring Exhibitions Manager Mary-Lou says 'Sharing the collection with the widest possible audience is a top priority. Ever Present gave us an opportunity to share over 170 works of art by First Nations artists with new audiences in Singapore.’

Working closely with Gulumirrgin/Larrakia/Wardaman/Karajarri Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Tina Baum and key National Gallery of Australia staff, Wesfarmers Arts and the National Gallery, Singapore, a huge collaborative effort was made to tour the works of over 150 First Nations artists to Singapore, but also to ensure the curation of the exhibition would translate to local audiences.

As Tina indicated ‘With the impact of colonialism also prevalent in Singapore and Southeast Asian cultures, this exhibition felt important to not only us but our Singapore colleagues and their audiences.’

Various works, Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, installation view in National Gallery, Singapore's South East Asian Galleries, 2022 Photo by: Joseph Nair, Memphis West Pictures

Image of exhibition install with Australian First Nations works and blue wall detail

Various works, installation view, Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, National Gallery Singapore, 2022. Photo by: Joseph Nair, Memphis West Pictures

Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia install team at National Gallery, Singapore, 2022

National Gallery staff installing Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia at National Gallery, Singapore, 2022

Mary-Lou says the recent tour of Patricia Piccinini’s skywhales was unlike anything the team had done before. Mary-Lou, who has been on the Touring team for 14 years says the successful touring program of the skywhales was one of the most exciting and challenging experiences of her time in the role.

With an intensive program of flights across the states, the Skywhales: Every Heart Sings Touring event has seen Skywhale and Skywhalepapa take the skies over regional towns and metropolitan cities across Australia, with only few impacted by mother nature. Despite weather related disruptions to flights, the people who gathered together to see the Skywhale family tether always left full of wonder.

‘The skywhales create a sense of care and community, which is the artist’s intention and people always leave the event feeling inspired. It’s been an honour to take them around the country.’

‘Taking these wonderful works to small towns across Australia and to see the impact they have in regions, is a truly magical experience makes all the hard work worthwhile.’

MARY-LOU NUGENT

hot air balloon sculptures flying over The Grampians mountain range

Patricia Piccinini, Skywhales: Every Heart Sings, Hamilton Gallery, VIC, 2022, image supplied, © Patricia Piccinini.

Patricia Piccinini, Skywhales: Every Heart Sings Touring Event, Melbourne, 2022, © Patricia Piccinini, photo by Damien Hayes

Patricia Piccinini's Skywhale, 2013 and Skywhalepapa, 2020 for the Skywhales: Every Heart Sings National Gallery Touring Event, The Grampians, VIC, 2022, image supplied from Hamilton Gallery.

These touring exhibitions are made possible through generous support of the Gallery’s partners and donors and secured through the Touring Exhibition team’s relationships with galleries, particularly across Australia.

‘Our relationship with the regional venues is one of the most important elements of our job – it underpins the success of the tour,’ Mary-Lou says. ‘It is always a very collegiate experience. You have this wonderful creative period when you are installing a show together, working with this new team.’

Camilla adds: ‘Our regional colleagues are all very accomplished and they’re so grateful for the opportunity to host these exhibitions.’

According to Kathleen, regional institutions are thrilled to be able to share the national collection with their locales. ‘People are so excited to have the collection in their community, as well as the projects and programs around it.’

Going forward, the increased accessibility of the collection will remain key focus of the National Gallery and the touring program is to remain at the heart of this.

‘We are currently working on some exciting and dynamic touring exhibitions coming to a range of venues – here and overseas – for 2023’ said Mary-Lou.

Continuing on tour in 2023 is Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, Skywhales: Every Heart Sings, The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, Spowers & Syme, Terminus: Jess Johnson and Simon Ward, Yayoi Kusama: THE SPIRITS OF THE PUMPKINS DESCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS, Judy Watson & Helen Johnson: the red thread of history, loose ends and the National Gallery Art Cases, with new touring exhibitions to be announced.

This story has been published as part of the National Gallery's 40th Anniversary. For more visit 40 Years.

Related


National Gallery x Volley

National Gallery x Volley is an invitation to First Nations artists to illustrate what it is like to ‘walk in their shoes’.

Story

Buy the Whole Damn Thing: The Tyler Collection

Man in an art workshop using a large paint roller to press paint ink on stone

78 artists, 7400+ works of art and 120,000 archive photographs. Curator David Greenhalgh shares how the collection came to call the Gallery home.

Read Time 20 minutes
Guided Tours

Forty years of guiding

A photograph from the 1980s shows a group of people on stools, sitting in front of Jackson Pollock's Blue poles, with a guide discussing the work.

Still guiding today, Volunteer guide Kerin Cox looks back at the very first days of guiding visitors through what would become the National Gallery.

Read Time 8 minutes

Influencing a national collection

Lucina Ward explores how Robert Hughes’ approach to Modernism and internationalism influenced the formation of the Gallery's national collection.

Read Time 24 minutes
Story

Know My Name: A new chapter

Two women stand looking at a wall hung with prints and paintings of various sizes.

With the launch of Know My Name in 2019, the National Gallery celebrates radical, revelatory, diverse and overlooked art by women.

Read Time 28 minutes
Story

PLACE

A building is nothing without strong foundations and ours are rooted deeply in Ngunnawal Country. Bruce Johnson McLean discussed importance of place.

Read Time 7 minutes

Browse more Stories and Ideas

Read more

Yuuma, Gurruburri

The National Gallery acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.

  • National Gallery On Demand
  • Art & Artists
  • What's On
  • Visit
  • Membership
  • Donate
  • Jobs
  • About Us

Connect

+61 2 6240 6411
information@nga.gov.au
Get art in your inbox

Open every day

(except Christmas day)
10am – 5pm

Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country
Parkes Place East, Parkes ACT 2600

View Street Map
View Gallery Map


Contact us

National Gallery of Australia

Follow the National gallery of Australia on:

  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Website Privacy Website Disclaimer Website Copyright
Opening Acknowledgment of Country

The National Gallery acknowledges the First Peoples of this land and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country

Learn More
Aerial view of artist Lola Greeno walking along Rocky Beach
Aerial view of artist Lola Greeno walking along Rocky Beach
    • View All
    • Today
    • Exhibitions
    • On tour
    • Access Programs
    • All Programs
    • On Demand
    • About the Collection
    • Sculpture Garden
    • Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
    • Provenance
    • Conservation
    • Copyright
    • Search the Collection
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Getting Here
    • Parking & Transport
    • Art Store
    • Dining
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Research Library & Archives
    • Admission tickets
    • Browse Stories
    • Browse Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Audio Tours
    • Virtual Tours
    • The Annual
    • Publications
    • Learning Programs
    • For people with access needs
    • For Teachers & Students
    • For Young People
    • For Kids & Families
    • For Adults
    • For Your Community
    • Art Cases
    • Educator Programs
    • Get Involved
    • Membership
    • Voluntary Guides
    • Partnerships
    • Support
    • Donate
  • First Nations
  • Access
  • Art Store
  • Media
  • Venue Hire
  • About Us
  • Contacts